10 Worst Defences Directors Had For Bad Movie Moments
6. "Nuking The Fridge Was Pushing The Envelope" - Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
The most memorable part of the fourth Indiana Jones film, regrettably, is the much-derided sequence where Indy (Harrison Ford) locks himself inside a lead-lined fridge in order to survive an atomic bomb test.
The scene was widely ridiculed by fans for its lack of realism, even for the Indy series, with some noting that it marked the point at which the franchise had jumped the shark.
But in an interview a few years after the movie's release, Steven Spielberg both took full responsibility for the sequence and revealed that it marked an attempt to push the series in a new direction. He said:
"I know in Indy 4, you didn't buy the refrigerator and the atomic bomb… I know! I know! But we tried! We tried! I was pushing the envelope! By the way, I take full responsibility for that - that was completely my idea! Even Harrison said to me, 'Nobody is going to buy this!'"
There's pushing the envelope and then there's... whatever this is. However, story writer George Lucas refused to accept Spielberg taking the blame, insisting that he himself was at fault for the fridge-nuking sequence, and that the filmmaker was simply trying to "protect" him.