Histories of making Indiana Jones films

Making 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'

The hero of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK was a unique creation - a mild-mannered university professor who becomes a daring hero when he dons a leather jacket and fedora - and demanded a similarly unique actor. After an intensive search for just the right fit, Lucas and Spielberg decided upon relative unknown Tom Selleck.

Shortly after casting, though, Selleck had to drop out of the role due to his commitment to play playboy detective Thomas Magnum in the CBS series Magnum, P.I. Lucas turned instead to Harrison Ford, who had become a household name when he starred as Han Solo in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

Filming on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK began in June 1980 - one year before the films anticipated release date. A breakneck production schedule took the filmmakers, cast and crew to six locations in four countries on three continents and principal photography wrapped in a speedy 73 days.

To film RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Spielberg and Lucas had a budget of $20 million and used 7,000 live snakes, 500 Arab extras, and 300,000 feet of film - resulting in 11,000 individual shots that were augmented by visual effects work from Industrial Light & Magic. Joining Ford in the cast were consummate actors whose experience on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK would be their first foray into blockbuster territory.

As Marion Ravenwood, Indiana Jones's long-lost love interest, Karen Allen took on a type of acting from anything she had experienced in films like Animal House, Cruising and A small Circle of Friends or her stage work with the Washington, D.C., Polish Theatre Laboratory. But Spielberg felt her earthly good looks and irrepressible charm were perfect for the role. "When she came on the set, she thought it was going to be acting for 10 weeks and discovered it was a combination of acting and enormous physical prowess," Spielberg remembered. "I said to Karen, 'We're moving you out of the Al Pacino school of drama into the Sam Peckinpath school of action,'"

Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings) was also in for a surprise. As originally described in the screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, the character Sallah was "a small, cheerful, energetic fellow in his forties." But Rhys-Davies made the role his own, to immense critical acclaim. Likewise, stage and television actor Paul Freeman went from relative obscurity to overnight fame in just his third movie role, as the nemesis of Indiana Jones, French archeologist René Belloq.

The first-ever partnership between Spielberg and Lucas went well, thanks in part to Lucas's finely honed instincts as a film editor, which augmented the Oscar-winning work of the film's editor, Michael Kahn. "George never re-cut the film," Spielberg said. "But he made trims here and there and jumped action. George is brilliant at that. The biggest cutting he did was when the Ark is opened and all the spirits and the fire come out of it. George said to me: 'Steven, you know what you've tried to do? You've tried to top the ending of Close Encounters. As long as you live, you will never top that, so don't try to top it with this one. Just get the story told and get out of the movie and finish the picture already.'" Working with Kahn, Lucas "went in there and trimmed six minutes off just like that - and it was great!"

When it opened in the U.S. on June 12, 1981, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK was an immediate cinematic sensation, meriting cover stories in Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone and rapturous critical acclaim. "It was the movie Hollywood was born to make," wrote Dave Ansen in News week. In the Los Angeles Times, Sheila Benson wrote, " Hurrah and hallelujah! It's hats-in-the-air, heart-in-the-mouth time at the movies again."

With long lines of repeat viewers throughout the summer, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK went on to earn $242 million at the U.S. box office and another $141 million at international cinemas. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Directory, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK received four Oscars and a special-achievement award for Best Sound Editing.