This isn't a feature film, just a trio of featurettes from the bonus disc in my Indiana Jones box set. I'm not usually interested in the mechanics behind my movies. I think it steals the magic if you know how a trick is done, but every once in a while I get curious. You can learn some very surprising things.
For example, George Lucas didn't want Harrison Ford to be his go-to actor, like Scorsese and DeNiro, so he was against casting Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It wasn't until their top runner, Tom Selleck, backed out to do Magnum, P.I. that they went back to the well. Danny DeVito was up for the role of Sallah but couldn't do it because of commitments to his television show at the time. Take a moment and envision that movie.
Harrison Ford fears nothing. Not snakes, not rats, not bugs. Nothing. He also gets hurt a lot. He tore his ACL during Raiders and herniated his back during Temple of Doom. They filmed the entire conveyer belt fight with Ford's stunt double, Vic Armstrong, and only had him back to do close-ups.
Kate Capshaw did not read the script for Temple of Doom. She was therefore very surprised at the amount of bugs that would be dumped on her head. And they were all real bugs.
The red sequined dress she wears in the opening number was half-eaten by an elephant because they filmed the jungle scenes before they filmed the musical scenes.
Sean Connery is only 12 years older than Harrison Ford and objected to the idea of playing his father at first. Spielberg was adamant, however, because no one could be Indy's dad except for James Bond. He eventually agreed as long as they took more pains to flesh out the character.
There was a lot more information packed into each of these featurettes, but I don't want to spoil everything for you.
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