Hollywood celebrated the 30th anniversary of
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK with a special screening of the film at
The LA Times Hero Complex. After the nostalgic trip down memory lane, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford took the stage to answer a few questions about the film.
ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A SEQUEL
FORD: Maybe a fifth, but I ain’t going to Mars. Next time we get a script for Indiana Jones, I’d be delighted to play the character. Each time we meet him, we wanted to advance the audience’s understanding of the character, not just by putting him in adventures, but by learning something about him…that’s what led to the meeting of his father [in The Last Crusade], played by Sean Connery, and his son [in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull], played by Shia, and bringing Marion back.
ABOUT CASTING FORD AS INDIANA JONES
SPIELBERG: After [the screening of The Empire Strikes Back] was over, I said, ‘We’ve found our Indiana Jones.’ And George said, ‘Who?’ I said, ‘That guy right there. Han Solo.’ And George said, ‘yeah, he’s a great actor, but he’s identified as this character now in Star Wars.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but he’s an ACTOR!’ George had never thought about that, but then he said, ‘yeah, that’d be great’.
ABOUT CASTING FORD IN JURASSIC PARK
SPIELBERG
: You know who I offered Jurassic Park to? This guy. Alan Grant, Jurassic Park, right here.
ON UPDATING INDIANA JONES FOR RE-RELEASE
SPIELBERG
: For myself, I tried this once and lived to regret it. Not because of fan outrage, but because I was disappointed in myself. I got overly sensitive to [some of the reaction] to E.T., and I thought if technology evolved, [I might go in and change some things]…it was OK for a while, but I realized what I had done was I had robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T.