"Indiana Jones is an adventurer, but he has
human frailties, fears, money problems.
He teaches, but I wouldn't call him an
intellectual. He does brave things, but I
wouldn't call him a hero. He's just there
with a bullwhip to keep the world at bay."
-Harrison Ford
'Indy' is back.
Harrison Ford plays the daring archaeologist in his third
motion picture adventure, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." In
the long-awaited film, Indiana Jones embarks on the
lifetime as he begins a search for the Holy Grail. Presented by
the Motion Picture Group of Gulf+Western's Paramount Pictures
Corporation, the Lucasfilm Ltd. production introduces moviegoers to
Indiana's father, Dr. Henry Jones, with Academy Award-winner Sean
Connery starring in the role.
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is the third film
collaboration of Harrison Ford, executive producer George Lucas,
and director Steven Spielberg, following "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." George Lucas and Menno
Meyjes wrote the story upon which the screenplay by Jeffrey Boam is
based. The film also stars Denholm Elliott and John Rhys-Davies as
characters who first appeared in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Alison
Doody makes her motion picture starring debut in the film, which
also stars Julian Glover and River Phoenix. The third Indiana
Jones movie again teams Lucas and Spielberg with executive producer
Frank Marshall and producer Robert Watts.
While "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was set in 1936 and the events
in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" occurred in 1935,
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" takes place during the year
1938. It is the first film teaming Harrison Ford and Sean Connery,
who have portrayed some of the world's best known movie heroes.
"This film has as much action as the first two movies, but at
the same time the focus is on character," George Lucas says. "We
find out more about Indy. While he admires and was influenced by
his father, Indy is an adventurer and his father is a scholar. Dr.
Henry Jones has never been able to appreciate Indiana's adventurous
side."
"Henry is a scholar and a serious archaeologist, whereas he
thinks Indy is a bit of a rogue - even if he does give the
artifacts he finds to the museum," Frank Marshall says. "It seems
to Indy that he is never able to please his father and, besides,
Indy has a lot to live up to."
"These are two men who have never made an accommodation for
each other," Harrison Ford declares. "In this film you see another
side of Indiana's personality. He behaves differently in his
father's presence. Who else would call Indy 'junior' - which is
something that Indy hates?"
"Dr. Henry Jones is cantankerous and quite Victorian," Sean
Connery says. "What is particularly pleasing is the humor one can
find in Indiana's relationship with his father.
"What is also appealing about the film is the return to an
older age; not an age of hardware and spacecraft, but cars and
aeroplanes and trains and horses," Connery appraises.
Working with fairly basic tools, Indiana Jones has no gimmicks
or gadgets - just his own intelligence, dexterity and wit as he
travels to faraway places. Steven Spielberg describes Indy as "a
real throwback movie hero: a lover and a cad and a two-fisted
hellion. He doesn't necessarily survive every cliffhanger
unscathed."
"Indiana Jones is a romantic," Harrison Ford states. "He's
also a cynic. The interplay between these two aspects of his
character is what makes the role so interesting to play. His
bravery, indomitability and selflessness in certain situations is
what makes him attractive to audiences."
The Indiana Jones adventures are set in a period of high
adventure and exotic romance. In "Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade," Indy encounters a woman very different from the
characters portrayed by Karen Allen and Kate Capshaw in the first
two movies.
In her first starring role in a motion picture, actress Alison
Doody plays Dr. Elsa Schneider. "She's an art historian, a very
strong-willed lady," Doody comments. "She is quite similar to
Indy. Like him, she goes out and gets what she wants. In this
case, she wants to find the Holy Grail."
Making their second appearance in an Indiana Jones movie are
Denholm Elliott and John Rhys-Davies, who star as museum curator
Marcus Brody and Sallah.
Elliott describes his character as "a rather eccentric
professor and reluctant adventurer who is always saying the wrong
thing at the right time. He's Indiana's friend and boss at the
university. When Indy gets involved in these escapades, Brody
sometimes accompanies him and gets into all sorts of uncomfortable
situations."
In "Raiders of the Lost Ark," Sallah was the best digger in
Europe. Two years later, he has become more prosperous. "He has
left digging behind and has a small antique business," comments
Rhys-Davies, who again plays the role of Indy's sidekick.
Julian Glover plays Walter Donovan, who Glover describes as "a
rich industrialist with a passion for ancient artifacts. He's an
extremely intelligent man who is prepared to sacrifice everything
for his ultimate goal."
The cast of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" includes
Michael Byrne as Vogel, a villainous officer in Hitler's secret
police. "A good villain can't be a buffoon or someone you see as
an object of humor," George Lucas says. "He has to be somebody to
fear and have the realistic motivations of a normal human being."
River Phoenix appears in the role of the young Indiana Jones.
"Filming 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' I had the opportunity
to do a few of my own stunts," Phoenix says. "It's exciting to see
how a dramatic and dangerous situation unfolds - it's fun to
witness it in a movie theatre and it's fun to make."
Most of the filmmakers who worked on the first and second
motion picture adventures of Indiana Jones reunited to make
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." They include composer John
Williams, cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, editor Michael Kahn,
production designer Elliot Scott, costume designer Anthony Powell,
special effects supervisor George Gibbs, and stunt Coordinator via
Armstrong. Visual Effects were again produced at Industrial Light
& Magic; and the sound designed at Sprocket Systems. In 1982
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" was nominated for eight Academy Awards,
including Best Picture and Best Director; and won Oscars for art
direction, sound, film editing, visual effects, and a special
achievement award for sound effects editing.
Having previously worked with Steven Spielberg on "Inner
Space" (produced by Spielberg), screenplay writer Jeffrey Boam
enjoyed collaborating with Spielberg and Lucas by writing the
screenplay of the third Indiana Jones movie. "George Lucas and
Steven Spielberg have created a new genre out of a very old one,"
Boam says. "George has the mind of a writer and understands
instantly when an idea is right or wrong and how it affects the
plot. George and I would paint in broad strokes and Steven was
great in coming up with how to embellish them."
Principal photography for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"
began in Almeria, Spain on May 16, 1988, after many months of pre-
production. The art department had begun operations in late 1987,
following the opening of the production office, which was co-
ordinating the colossal organizational demands of the enterprise.
Location selections, costume and set designing, and the rendering
of storyboards were some of the preliminary efforts of the
filmmakers. With the beginning of filming, transporting equipment
and the large staff of production personnel became-as described by
production supervisor Patricia Carr-"like an army maneuver."
"With 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' we set a pattern for what
these movies were going to be: action, adventure, comedy, and giant
globe-trotting locations," adds Frank Marshall.
"For this film we were faced with the problem of recreating
almost every form of transportation that was available in 1938:
trains, planes, boats, a Zeppelin, horses, camels," Robert Watts
says.
"The storyboards give one time to fully plan how to achieve
certain effects," says director of photography Douglas Slocombe,
who is renowned for his use of lighting to emphasize important
story elements in each frame of film, so that "one sees right away
what is happening without any extraneous image."
Filming began on a dry river bed with Indy's encounter, on
horseback, with a Nazi tank. The second location in Spain was near
Majocar on an abandoned airfield, where complex aerial scenes
involving a Nazi Fighter plane were orchestrated. Railway scenes
were shot in Granada at Gaudix station, which was transformed into
the middle eastern town of Iskenderun, complete with camels, goats,
market sellers, beggars, and women with yashmaks.
"We built a mosque in the background for additional
atmosphere," producer Robert Watts relates. "Iskenderun was part
of a small sultanate that existed during the period of the film.
It's a place located somewhere south of Turkey and north of Syria."
After filming in Spain for three weeks, the filmmakers
traveled to England for ten weeks of filming on sets constructed on
the enormous stages at Elstree Studios. Interiors created by
production designer Elliot Scott included Walter Donovan's
apartment overlooking Central Park, sinister Venetian catacombs,
and the interior of a zeppelin.
Other United Kingdom locations for the film included the
Tilbury Docks in Essex, Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, the Royal
Masonic School for Girls in Hertfordshire, and the Royal
Horticultural Hall in central London.
On August 7 the cast and crew traveled to Venice, where
Harrison Ford and Alison Doody were filmed in the vicinity of St.
Mark's Square and the Doges Palace. Later in the week the company
flew to Jordan for scenes in the ancient city of Petra.
"Petra is a unique piece of architecture that serves in the
movie as a secret temple lost for hundreds of years," Watts says.
"And that's what Petra is because it's comparatively recently that
Petra itself was discovered, within this century, and the building
itself is three thousand years old.
"We've traveled all around the world with this trilogy: four
continents, nine countries, and eight states," Watts declares.
Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah are the states where "Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade" was filmed. Watts reminds, "As Indiana Jones
once said, 'it's not the years, it's the mileage."'
Exotic animals are another trademark of an Indiana Jones
movie. The animal consultant was Mike Culling, who worked with
wranglers and animal trainers to provide the right horses, lions,
rats, and snakes for filming. "Harrison Ford is very good with
animals and carefully prepares for working with them and handling
them," Culling says.
After locations for filming have been selected, recreating the
'30s-era settings of an Indiana Jones movie begins with Steven
Spielberg making storyboards of his visualization of the
screenplay. Sketch artists create more detailed drawings from
Spielberg's sketches, which production designer Elliot Scott refers
to in developing the film's sets.
Scott's main objective with each setting was to devise the one
that would best enhance the action of the scene: "The background to
all the films is logical and realistic. We go to a great deal of
trouble to make everything as real as we can, using such details as
authentic Latin inscriptions on tablets."
The craftsmen collaborating with the art directors include
carpenters, plasterers, scenic artists, and special effects
artists.
Three-time Oscar winning costume designer Anthony Powell
researches extensively for the apparel he creates, visiting museums
and studying in his own research library, which he has been
building for 30 years.
"What clothes go though on an action picture is phenomenal,"
Powell relates. "Every time Harrison falls down a ravine he will
need a change of costume. There are also stunt men and doubles who
have the same requirements. You need six of everything."
Harrison Ford performs many of his own stunts in "Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade," while those that would have placed him
in jeopardy of sustaining an injury were delegated to stunt men
with stunt co-ordinator Vic Armstrong doubling for Harrison Ford.
Armstrong also doubled for Ford during the making of the first two
Indiana Jones movies.
"Harrison's participation in the stunts is what makes them so
exciting and enjoyable to moviegoers," Armstrong says. "It enables
characterization in the context of the stunt. In some action films
stunts and acting never come together."
"Some of the best character nuances of Indy's personality come
during an action sequence-an expression after a punch, a shrug
after a gag-it's part of the same panache," Steven Spielberg
states.
"I know in making these movies I'm going to get dirty,
bruised, and bumped around a lot," Ford admits.
The most difficult stunts in "Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade" included Indy's leap from a horse onto a moving tank. "I
had to travel ten or 11 feet sideways from a galloping horse,
moving head first and landing on the back of the tank," Armstrong
says. In another scene Armstrong and Gabe Cronelly, doubling Indy
and his father respectively, take part in the crash landing of a
biplane.
The filmmakers did their work the hard way for the best
results, filming stunts primarily without the blue screen process
or traveling mattes. "It was like putting the clock back," Douglas
Slocombe observed during the filming of a scene set on the top of a
train, "but it brings something extra to the movie."
"Stunts are an integral part of the Indiana Jones movies,"
Frank Marshall observes. "A great deal of the action derives from
the stunts, so we take a lot of time to storyboard and plan them.
The trick is to have them look dangerous and incredibly hard-how
did they do that?-but actually they're very safe. They're quite
simple to do - they just require a lot of hard work."
"The most common challenge in effects is not to come up with
brand new techniques, but to find new ways of using old ones,"
comments Micheal McAlister, visual effects supervisor for "Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade." McAlister was one of the four
filmmakers who won an Oscar for the special effects in "Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom."
"All effects are geared to the story," McAlister says. "They
enable it to be told the way Steven wants to tell it." He reveals
that altogether 80 shots in the film involve an eclectic variety of
visual effects, including blue screen, matte paintings, and
creature puppet effects combined with computer graphics in a
process he calls "morphing technique," in which there is a
metamorphosis of one image changing and blending into another.
The creation of the visual effects began during principal
photography with the filming of backgrounds and blue screen live-
action photography. Similar to the building of the soundtracks and
the editing of the film, the effects are accomplished during post
production.
In the movie, Indy must interpret a series of riddles to avoid
certain painful death, and the object of these riddles was usually
carried out with special effects.
"Many of the effects in this film broaden the scope of danger
in a scene," McAlister states, "and some, like the aerial chase
sequence, couldn't have been done without visual effects."
Academy Award-winning special effects supervisor George Gibbs
began his work on the mechanical effects for "Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade" by meeting with experts in the fields of hydraulics,
electronics and engineering. Every day of filming involved special
effects on two units, including effects for scenes involving a
tank, boats and aircraft.
"Special effects may not always be obvious on the screen,"
Gibbs relates. "For example, mechanisms for props are built by
special effects, from breakaway door handles to airplane chassis."
Gibbs reveals that one of his big assignments were replicas of an
International Mark Seven tank made especially for the film: one
replica being a 'float tank' with rubber treads for the stunt work.
The other, made from steel and incorporating two V8 engines,
weighed 25 tons and required three months to construct.
For aircraft scenes Gibbs pioneered some strobe light effects
with what have been called "revolutionary propane guns," creating a
state-of-the-art illusion of gunfire for the film.
For a nautical sequence, special effects were devised with
balsa wood boats laced with explosives to simulate a boat's
destruction by a ship propeller.
One of the most unusual effects involved the creation of 1,000
imitation rats, some mechanically articulated. Used for a catacomb
sequence, some of the fake rats were used as swimming rats; while
others were used for a conflagration effect, so that no live rat
was harmed during filming.
"'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' has a collection of all
the highlights any sound editor could dream of: explosions, fire,
gunfights, earthquakes, windstorms, and chases in all sorts of
different vehicles," sound designer Ben Burtt says. "I could go to
my sound effects library catalogs and no matter what page I turned
to, there would be an appropriate sound for a scene in the film."
Although Burtt has built a large Indiana Jones sound library
since working on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (which brought him an
Oscar in 1982), he states that he and his associates always look
for original sound material for each film. For "Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade," special new recordings were made for such sounds
as horses, crashes, aircraft, a tank, and artillery. Several
hundred sound effects were collected on 41 tapes with an average of
20 effects on each tape - around 800 in all.
After Burtt began his work by categorizing the sounds he
planned to use, he started to collect them, on one occasion riding
in a biplane upside down while recording. Traveling to find the
best sounds possible, Burtt attended the destruction of a wind
turbine over 300 feet high to record sounds to be utilized for
crash scenes. Gunshots and ricochets were created and recorded in
isolated locations in Utah and Texas.
The recording of a styrofoam cup at a family picnic became the
basis for a roaring inferno after Burtt multiplied the sound at
different frequencies with a computer. "The digital process of
manipulating sounds-stretching them, shrinking them, or changing
the pitch-is one of the big steps forward in the last ten years.
Most of the things we now do with a Synclavier computer we used to
do with tape and cutting."
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is being released in
selected theatres in a special sound format called 70mm Full-Field
Sound. "With this format we can move sounds not only from front to
back in the theatre but from side to side," Burtt says.
"A film like this is brought to life with sound, which
dramatically enhances and brings a natural dimension to the special
effects," Burtt declares.