20 Things You Didn't Know About Raiders Of The Lost Ark
6. The Villain Was Meant To Be A Nazi Cyborg
The Gestapo, Arnold Ernst Toht, is one of the central villains of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Despite only having 16 lines and his name is never uttered once, the character is incredibly memorable due to Ronald Lacey's chilling performance.
Toht could have been more memorable if Steven Spielberg stuck with his original vision for the character. In the first draft, Toht had a mechanical arm which could turn into a machine gun. If you think that's weird, he was also supposed to have a radio antenna built into his head.
Now, that sounds so nutty, you would assume it was dismissed quite early in production. But it's the opposite. When the steampunk Nazi idea wasn't used, Spielberg still intended to use it for the third film. (It's also worth mentioning that Harrison Ford's character fought a man with a mechanical arm in The Fugitive.)
Spielberg eventually got his wish (kind of) as Indy battled a Nazi with a mechanical arm in the 2009 novel, Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai. So, there you go, Spielberg. You got your Nazi and it only took 28 years!