10 Directors Who Knew Their Movies Were Ridiculous
9. Stephen Spielberg - Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Stephen Spielberg is arguably one of the greatest directors in the world, and his films have raked in billions, so most people wouldn't think to put his name next to anything ridiculous. Still, every director has at least one project that didn't meet expectations, and for Spielberg, it was the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
"I sympathize with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin. I didn't want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings. But I am loyal to my best friend."
In storytelling, a McGuffin is any object that drives the plot. The term was coined by Alfred Hitchcock, and for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the McGuffin was the crystal skull. Still, the underlying plot wasn't the most ridiculous part of that movie.
In one scene, the hero finds himself stuck in a fake town that is the target of a nuclear bomb test. To save his skin, he hops into a refrigerator, which is propelled far from the site, only to open on its side and spill out a completely unharmed Indiana Jones.
Spielberg admitted, "That was my silly idea," but he wasn't necessarily ashamed of it. When "nuked the fridge" started replacing the term "Jumped the shark" in popular culture, he didn't mind one bit.