Lauded as one of the greatest movies ever made, Raiders of the Lost Ark introduced the movie-going world to one of its most timeless icons: Indiana Jones. Even though the dream team of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who had each directed a record-breaker for the highest grossing movie ever made at this point, were behind the production, they struggled to garner any interest from the major Hollywood studios.
After a lot of convincing, they managed to get Paramount to fund the project. So, here are 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Raiders Of The Lost Ark That Are Guarded By Top Men.
Everyone Besides Steven Spielberg Got Sick During Filming
While the cast and crew were out in Tunisia, shooting the Cairo-set scenes for Raiders of the Lost Ark, they all got really sick from food poisoning. John Rhys-Davies, who played Sallah in the movie, apparently got so sick that he soiled himself during a scene that required him to bend over. The only person involved in the production who didn’t get food poisoning was Steven Spielberg, because he had brought his own food from home – which reportedly consisted of dozens and dozens of cans of Spaghetti-O’s – and didn’t eat any of the local food that everyone else was having.
Ben Burtt Used Unorthodox Methods To Capture The Sound Effects
The Indy movies are renowned for their over-the-top sound effects, and there’s one legendary sound designer that we have to thank for that: Ben Burtt. Burtt is also responsible for all the sound effects in Star Wars and the voice of WALL-E. The sound of the snakes slithering in the Well of Souls was created by Burtt sliding his fingers into a cheese casserole. The sound of the Ark of the Covenant’s lid being removed was created by Burtt sliding the lid off the back of his toilet. The sound of the boulder rolling after Indy was actually the sound of a Honda Civic driving over gravel. And famously exaggerated punching sounds were created by Burtt beating a pile of leather jackets with a baseball bat.
It Was Harrison Ford’s Idea For Indy To Shoot The Swordsman
One of the most iconic moments in Raiders of the Lost Ark sees Indy facing a swordsman with ostentatious choreography. Indy just shoots the guy and moves on. This wasn’t in the original script. Initially, Indy was supposed to use his whip to yank the sword out of the guy’s hand, but since the entire cast and crew was sick from a bad case of food poisoning during the shoot in Tunisia, Harrison Ford suggested simply “shooting the sucker,” to cut down on how long it would take to film. Steven Spielberg loved the idea and decided to use it.
Dozens Of Actors Were Considered For The Roles Of Indy And Marion
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas auditioned a ton of different actors for the roles of Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood. For Indy, they considered David Hasselhoff, Tom Selleck, Michael Biehn (who would go on to play Kyle Reese in The Terminator), Mark Harmon, Christopher Guest (who starred in This is Spinal Tap), and A Star is Born’s Sam Elliott.
(Lucas resisted casting Harrison Ford for a while, because he didn’t want him to become the Robert De Niro to his Martin Scorsese, but eventually, he couldn’t deny that Ford was perfect.) For Marion, they considered Michelle Pfeiffer, Debra Winger, Mary Steenburgen, Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Seymour, and Barbara Hershey.
The Melting Face Almost Got The Movie An R Rating
When Raiders of the Lost Ark was first sent to the censors to be rated, it was hit with an R rating, because the MPAA felt that the melting face at the end was too graphic. The producers really wanted a PG-13 rating to allow it to become the box office hit that it would eventually become, so a layer of fire was added on top of the shot of the melting face to make it less horrifying and it was given a PG-13 rating. Steven Spielberg didn’t want to cut the melting face scene altogether, because he felt that it was the most impressive special effect he’d ever seen up to that point.
An Easter egg Suggests That Star Wars And Indiana Jones Are Set In The Same Universe
In the temple in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, little hieroglyphs of R2-D2 and C-3PO can be seen engraved on the wall. They can also be seen engraved on a golden pillar in the Well of Souls. This could just be seen as a fun Easter egg. But on top of that, the use of R2-D2 and C-3PO as hieroglyphs also seems to suggest that those droids actually went on their cosmic adventures a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises take place in the same universe.
A Lot Of Unused Script Ideas Ended Up In Temple Of Doom
The script for Raiders of the Lost Ark went through various different drafts, in which a number of scenes and concepts came and went. A lot of those ideas would later be reused in the second movie (which was technically a prequel), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. These include Indy traveling the Shanghai and avoiding machine gun fire by hiding behind a gong and a high-speed chase on mine carts. Originally, in Raiders, the trip to Shanghai was to recover a piece of the Staff of Ra and the mine cart pursuit followed the opening of the Ark.
Danny DeVito Was The First Choice To Play Sallah
Steven Spielberg’s original choice for the role of Sallah, Indy’s international contact who functions as the movie’s comic relief, was Danny DeVito. DeVito was interested in playing the role, but ultimately, the production conflicted with his shooting schedule for Taxi. John Rhys-Davies played Sallah in the end and, although DeVito would’ve done a fine job with the character – especially since he’s Raiders’ comic relief and DeVito is hilarious – Rhys-Davies’ take on the character was great. Years later, when Raiders had inspired a long slew of copycats, DeVito played a similar comic relief character in a similar action-adventure movie, Romancing the Stone, alongside Michael Douglas.
Originally, Toht Had A Mechanical Arm
Since Raiders of the Lost Ark was inspired by the pulpy adventure serials of the 1930s, the early conceptual designs for the characters were a lot pulpier. The pulpiest of the bunch was the initial design for the Nazi villain, Arnold Toht. Whereas he’s just a sinister man in black in the final film, he was originally supposed to wear a cartoonishly kitted-out Nazi uniform.
He would’ve also had a mechanical arm that functioned as a machine gun and a radio antenna sticking out of his head. George Lucas eventually vetoed this design, feeling that it was too far-fetched, and the character’s final design came to be.
Neither Harrison Ford Nor Steven Spielberg Are Afraid Of Snakes
“Snakes…why did it have to be snakes?” Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes is one of his defining characteristics, and it’s put to excellent use in the narrative of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy enters the Well of Souls and finds that it’s filled with hundreds of hissing cobras and pythons. However, as it turns out, neither Harrison Ford not Steven Spielberg are afraid of snakes, so it’s unclear where exactly this character quirk came from. It was a good thing for Ford and Spielberg, because it meant that they could focus on their work during the snake-infested scenes.
