15 Interesting Facts About Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark will forever hold a special place in the annals of pop culture. The first film in the hit Indiana Jones franchise, it’s one of the most popular entries in the action genre. Its accolades at the time of its release in 1980 and in the years since speak for themselves, with the movie serving as a critical success, a box office smash hit, and achieving coveted iconic status among modern-day audiences.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford, written by Lawrence Kasdan, and featuring a beloved soundtrack by John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark might just be the best Indiana Jones film ever released. As wonderful a movie as it is in its entirety, there are plenty of facts many people don’t know about the finished film.
From George Lucas’s original idea for the film to fascinating behind-the-scenes trivia, here are some of the most interesting facts about Raiders of the Lost Ark.
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg Came Up With Raiders on Vacation
In his early career, George Lucas avoided the pressure of releasing a film by strategically going away on vacation during his movie’s premieres. In 1977, to escape the release of Star Wars – a movie he felt sure was going to bomb among mainstream audiences – Lucas met with his friend Steven Spielberg in Hawaii. As they rested on the beach, Spielberg pondered his next project after the release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which was nearing the end of its post-production phase). When Spielberg mentioned wanting to shoot a James Bond film, Lucas countered by bringing up an idea for his own original adventure story, the basis of which was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
While this conversation ultimately got the ball rolling for their eventual collaboration together, Lucas had been thinking about a fedora-wearing, bullwhip-cracking adventurer for several years. Initially, the idea for the character came around the same time Lucas was formulating plans for Star Wars. The filmmaker wanted to create two films based on a bygone movie genre he held dear as a boy: the space opera and the ‘30s adventure film. Ironically, these movies would become massive hits, elevating Lucas and Spielberg to international fame.
Most of the Cast and Crew Were Sick During Filming
As incredible as the final film turned out to be, filming for Raiders of the Lost Ark was nothing short of a nightmare. Plagued by scorching heat that made shooting nearly unbearable, the cast and crew’s problems were further exacerbated by serious illness caused by the local Tunisian cuisine. It’s estimated that roughly 150 crew members, including star Harrison Ford, were afflicted with dysentery.
One of the few people who managed to avoid the illness was Steven Spielberg, who chose to rely on bottled water and canned food shipped to him from the United Kingdom. According to Ford, Spielberg was cautious when on location in Tunisia, with Ford saying, “Every time [Spielberg] went in the shower, he put gaffer tape over his mouth, and he traveled with a trunk full of Spaghetti-O’s.”
Harrison Ford Thought Up the Famous Cairo Swordsman Sequence
As a result of contracting dysentery along with a majority of the crew, Harrison Ford’s ability to perform on Raiders of the Lost Ark was severely limited as he fought off the illness. As serious as his sickness was, it helped lead to an unintentionally great moment that lives on as one of the best in Indiana Jones’ history. This moment comes when Indiana searches for Marion in Cairo, eventually coming across as a scimitar-wielding swordsman who challenges Indy to a duel. Preparing to face off against this formidable henchman, Indiana instead chooses to draw his pistol, unceremoniously shooting his foe rather than combating him in a duel.
Given how hilariously orchestrated this entire sequence is, it’s hard to believe Ford thought of the scene at the last minute before shooting, primarily due to his ongoing bout of dysentery. Originally, the fight sequence was meant to last much longer, likely requiring several days of filming. Knowing he was in no shape to carry on such an extensively physical fight sequence, Ford approached Spielberg with the idea of having Indy gun the swordsman down, saving him the hassle of a multi-day shoot.
Harrison Ford Suffered a Nearly Disastrous Injury During the Flying Wing Sequence
Dysentery wasn’t the only ailment to befall Harrison Ford while shooting. During the famous fight scene between Indiana and an imposing German mechanic on an airfield, Ford’s leg got caught underneath the flying wing spinning out in the middle of the brawl. As Spielberg remembered, the incident occurred when Ford fell in the middle of shooting, the flying wing’s wheel rolling over his foot.
Fortunately, the intense Tunisian heat had caused the plane’s rubber tires to significantly soften, with Ford also managing to land on sand rather than asphalt tarmac – a combination that Spielberg said was “the only thing that saved his leg from shattering in a hundred pieces.” To help free Ford’s leg, around 40 crew members shook the plane back and forth, allowing Ford to slip his foot out from beneath the plane’s wheels.
A Star Wars Easter Egg Can Be Spotted In the Well of Souls
George Lucas is not above referencing his previous movies in his later films, having included callbacks to earlier works like American Graffiti, THX 1138, and Star Wars in many of his movies. In the case of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucas and Spielberg included a humorous blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from a pair of beloved Star Wars characters.
Amid the Well of Souls scene, as Indy and Sallah prepare to move the Ark of the Covenant, you can spot some interesting hieroglyphic figures on the pillar to Indy’s left. When you stop and look closely, you’ll notice these figures are none other than hieroglyphic carvings of R2-D2 and C-3PO, the bickering droid duo who play a prominent role in Lucas’s Star Wars series.
The Character of Indiana Jones Went Through Several Major Changes
While George Lucas was the primary person responsible for dreaming up Indiana Jones, the character went through several renditions before ending up the larger-than-life hero we find on-screen. In an early film cut, it was initially shown that Indy was a playboy-type character, modeled largely after James Bond, the primary fictional precursor to Lucas and Spielberg’s character. This was especially made clear in an unedited version of the movie’s first act when Jones is shown escorting a young woman from his home when Martin Brody visits him.
In the end, Spielberg ended up having a change of heart, asserting his preference for having Indy appear as a more bookish scholar rather than as a relationship-hopping adventurer. As a result, he omitted the above scene from the finished film entirely. The only remaining hint at Jones’ promiscuity is earlier in the movie, with several female students fawning over Jones in his classroom.
Steven Spielberg Created A Rough Outline For E.T. In Between Takes
As most people who worked on the film will tell you, making Raiders of the Lost Ark was anything but a cakewalk. Between the heat and rampant dysentery, most people on location in Tunisia were largely miserable while filming, Steven Spielberg included. Thousands of miles away from home, Spielberg was struck by a serious case of homesickness on set, spending much of his time reminiscing about his own childhood.
With these nostalgic thoughts in his mind, Spielberg could recall an imaginary friend he had had as a boy – a lovable alien companion who supported Spielberg through his parent’s divorce. Working with Harrison Ford’s wife, the screenwriter Melissa Mathison, Spielberg devised the basic idea behind what would eventually become his next film, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Harrison Ford Completed The Boulder Chase Multiple Times
Like Indiana’s stand-off against the Cairo swordsman, another memorable moment in Indiana Jones’ history is the famous temple run at the very beginning of the film. Running through the ruins of an ancient Peruvian temple, Indiana is forced to outrun a massive boulder barreling after him, narrowly avoiding getting crushed.
The concept for this famous stunt was one of the first ideas thought up for the film. While it might look convincing, the boulder is actually made up of a composite of fiberglass, wood, and plaster, weighing in at a whopping 300 pounds. Impressively, Harrison Ford volunteered to perform the stunt himself, completing the temple run a total of ten times to accommodate the different camera angles. His brief stumble during this sequence was genuine, with Ford apparently tiring himself out from the repeated strain of the stunt.
The Monkey Is Voiced By Abu’s Actor in Aladdin
Along with the boulder run, another concept that originated during Raiders of the Lost Ark’s earliest production phase was including a capuchin monkey when Indiana and Marion venture to Cairo. The loyal pet to the mysterious Monkey Man, the monkey is consequently loyal to the Nazi regime, at one point proving her loyalty by performing the notorious Nazi salute to the disguised Gestapo agents.
To get the monkey to perform said salute, the animal’s handlers had to think up a clever technique to get her to raise her right arm. They managed to do this by dangling a grape overhead, the monkey instinctively reaching out to grab it. It’s estimated it took around 50 takes for the monkey to perform the move satisfactorily. To create the impression that the monkey is saying “sieg heils,” the movie employed Scooby-Doo voice actor Frank Welker to provide vocal sound effects for the monkey. Interestingly, Welker would voice another notable fictional monkey in the form of Abu, Aladdin’s mischievous monkey companion in Disney’s 1992 film, Aladdin.
Indiana’s Name Came From George Lucas’s Dog
When it came time to name his intrepid archaeologist, George Lucas took inspiration from his faithful dog, an Alaskan Malamute named Indiana. Incredibly, the canine Indiana also inspired another notable Lucas creation in the form of Chewbacca – Lucas having gotten the idea for his lovable Wookiee sidekick after seeing Indiana in the passenger seat of his car.
Early on in the character’s genesis, Indiana was originally named Indiana Smith. After Spielberg expressed uncertainty over the character’s surname – believing audiences would confuse him with the titular character in 1966’s Nevada Smith – Lucas suggested the name Jones instead.
Indiana’s Costume Required Some Careful Modifications
Indiana Jones’ costume is one of his defining traits as a character, easily recognizable based on his silhouette alone. To keep in line with the character’s basis in B-movies and adventure serials, most of Indiana’s costume was derived from Charlton Heston’s outfit in the 1954 action film Secret of the Incas.
To find the perfect hat for Indiana, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis collected several boxes of fedoras that Ford tried on. When they finally settled on one, Landis intentionally worked on “aging” the hat, coating it with clay and mineral oil and deliberately squeezing and crushing it to give it a more worn-in and weathered appearance. The brim was also modified to better conceal the character’s face during fight sequences, allowing a stunt double to step in more smoothly in-between cuts.
There Were Thousands of Snakes in the Well of Souls
One of the most striking (and terrifying) moments in Raiders of the Lost Ark comes as Indiana and Sallah venture into the enigmatic Well of Souls. Exploring the Well and searching for the Ark of the Covenant, they encounter countless venomous snakes, triggering Indiana’s deepest, darkest fears towards the reptiles.
When filming this scene, Spielberg hired his production team to assemble as many snakes as possible. After around 500 snakes were gathered, Spielberg collected a few closeup shots but delayed shooting to round up even more snakes. After issuing an international request to snake handlers across Europe, as many as 10,000 snakes were flown into Spielberg and his team. Most of the snakes shown in the film are non-venomous grass snakes and pythons. The cobras depicted in the movie are all real, with a plexiglass barrier erected around them to safeguard the cast and crew.
The Well of Souls Set Was Used For The Shining
With how dimly lit the Well of Souls is when Indiana and Sallah first venture into it, it can be challenging to notice the physical characteristics of the room at first glance. In point of fact, this room was actually used in another influential ‘80s film: The Shining. As Spielberg remembered it, Stanley Kubrick Kubrick had just wrapped up production on the soundstage – used as the main lobby for the ghost-riddled Overlook Hotel – when Spielberg and his team ventured on the set to construct the Well of Souls.
This set also allowed for the two celebrated directors to interact for the first time, laying the groundwork for a friendship that would last until Kubrick’s death roughly two decades later. However, their initial encounter wasn’t entirely without issue. When Kubrick and his daughter Vivian visited the Well of Souls set during filming, production on Raiders of the Lost Ark was briefly delayed after Vivian reported Spielberg to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, owing to what she believed was animal abuse towards the thousands of snakes on set. To reassure Vivian and the R.S.P.C.A., Spielberg had the animals in plastic dustbins inside the bin, complete with lettuce and straw for each snake.
George Lucas Was Against The Idea of Casting Harrison Ford
It’s hard to imagine any other actor playing the role of Indiana Jones, a character practically synonymous with Harrison Ford. As incredible as it may seem, though, George Lucas was extremely hesitant to cast Ford in the part, largely stemming from his extensive work with Ford on past films. Having cast Ford in American Graffiti, Star Wars, and The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas was reluctant to work with Ford again, not wanting to form a cinematic relationship like Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Not only that, but Lucas believed Ford would unlikely sign on for a trilogy of films, perhaps remembering Ford’s reluctance to appear in the Star Wars sequels.
Because of this, an extensive casting process was begun for the part of Indiana Jones. Numerous actors auditioned or were considered for the role, including Nick Nolte, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, and Jack Nicholson. Magnum P.I. star Tom Selleck was nearly cast as the character, although his contractual obligations to CBS prevented him from filming the movie. With some convincing from Spielberg – who always viewed Ford as the ideal choice for the role – Lucas eventually relented, leading to Ford’s appearance in the film.
Two Actors Appear In Two Separate Roles
Raiders of the Lost Ark might not include notable cameos anywhere in the film. Still, Spielberg and Lucas nevertheless made an effort to hide a few familiar faces throughout their collaboration together. For example, if you look very closely, you may notice some physical similarities between the German mechanic and an imposing Nepalese sherpa, both characters played by the same actor, Pat Roach.
Known for his hulking size, Roach was cast in the film to provide a physically challenging foe for Indy to brawl with at two separate points in the movie. Later, Roach played the equally massive Thuggee henchman in Temple of Doom and appeared in a much smaller role as a Gestapo agent in The Last Crusade.
As great as Roach’s presence in the film is, he isn’t the only actor who was cast in a dual performance in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Vic Tablian, who plays Indy’s Peruvian guide Barranca, later appears in the film as the eyepatch-clad thief known only as the Monkey Man.
