20 Things You Didn't Know About Raiders Of The Lost Ark

11. Indiana Jones Was Originally Much Creepier

Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Paramount Pictures

As Indy is teaching a class in the beginning of the film, the female students are unmistakably smitten with him. One of the girls expresses her sentiment to her teacher by having the words "LOVE YOU" written on her eyelids. This is sweet (while simultaneously creepy) but Indy doesn't do anything untoward to his students because that would be inappropriate right?

But in the original script, there were meant to be scenes where it was made clear that Indy sleeps with his students, mainly one girl called Susan.

If that sounds unsettling, it gets so much worse. When Indy meets Marion, we learn they had an affair years ago when she was about 17. Steven Spielberg told George Lucas that he wanted Marion to be much younger. When Lucas said this would be a hard sell, Spielberg emphasised that Marion should be no older than 16 when she slept with the legendary archeologist or "it's not interesting anymore".

Thankfully, Lucas convinced Spielberg this was a bad idea. Cheers, Lucas. You stopped Spielberg turning one of the greatest film characters into a sex offender. All is forgiven for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Speaking of Star Wars...

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows