RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK TAKE TWO
Forty-five years ago, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas graced us with the Indiana Jones franchise’s first instalment – and Hollywood was never the same I n the late seventies and early eighties, the film industry was in flux; director- led projects – which were increasingly over budget – were on the out, and studios looked to invest in blockbusters (like Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and George Lucas’ Star Wars ) instead. While Lucas TAKE TWO WORDS KATIE KASPERSON IMAGES PARAMOUNT PICTURES
To stay under budget, Raiders embraced a DIY approach, opting for practical effects, clever stuntwork and innovative sound design. The actors frequently improvised (the ‘LOVE YOU’ moment was unplanned) and made suggestions (Ford, who was ill on-set, offered to shoot the Cairo swordsman instead of fighting him, cutting the three- page scene down to mere seconds). They also performed several of their own stunts, sometimes at great risk – Ford could have been crushed by the giant boulder, and he tore his ACL when a plane’s wheel rolled over his leg. While the stunts on Raiders have stood the test of time, so too have the practical effects, handled by Industrial Light & Magic’s makeup FX artist Chris Walas. When the titular Ark of the Covenant opens, it causes skin to melt and skulls to explode. Walas created prosthetic heads – one each for Toht, Dietrich and Belloq, the film’s antagonists. Toht’s was placed
next to a heat lamp, Dietrich’s hollowed out with a vacuum and Belloq’s filled with detritus before being shot with a shotgun. The film won best visual effects at the 1982 Academy Awards. It also took home prizes for best sound and sound editing, due in large part to its foley effects. Sound FX supervisor Ben Burtt squished his hands in a casserole to mimic snakes slithering, and lifted the lid from his toilet’s cistern to replicate the Ark opening. The rolling boulder was a Honda Civic driving over gravel, while the Ark’s spirits were the sounds of sea lions and dolphins. Playing in cinemas for over a year, inspiring four further films and continuing to top many best-of-all-time lists, Raiders of the Lost Ark was just the film Hollywood was looking for. Blending blockbuster appeal with artistic merit, it got kids (like me!) interested in archaeology, future directors interested in filmmaking and cemented Indiana Jones as a household name for decades to come.
had dreamt up Indiana Jones (then Indiana Smith) in 1973, it wasn’t until 1979 that Paramount Pictures gave the green light on Raiders of the Lost Ark , putting Spielberg at the helm. With Spielberg in the director’s chair, Lawrence Kasdan writing the script and Harrison Ford – of Han Solo fame – locked in as Indy, Lucas’ anti-hero adventure finally had legs. The crew negotiated a budget of $18 million (for reference, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny cost over $350 million) and an 85-day filming schedule. They trekked to Tunisia (where dysentery disrupted production), France, England and Hawai’i, where they shot the iconic opening sequence.
FROM SUN UP... As part of an ambitious international shoot, the scenes set in Egypt were in fact filmed in Tunisia
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