8 Things That Almost Happened In Indiana Jones Movies
6. Indy Discovers The Fountain Of Youth
The fedora-wearing archaeologist discovered the mythical spring in a script written by Gremlins filmmaker Chris Columbus, which came from the same era as George Lucas's haunted mansion idea and contained elements of it.
Columbus's script went through numerous drafts - one titled Indiana Jones and The Monkey King, and another called Indiana Jones and The Garden Of Life - and there were some truly bonkers ideas in there.
One set piece had Indy outrunning a one-hundred-foot long tank on the back of a rhino, and another saw him battling a steampunk Nazi who has a mechanical arm.
Doctor Jones also had a 200-year-old pygmy sidekick named Tyki, who gives him an ancient scroll with directions to a secret garden housing the Fountain of Youth.
Lucas and Spielberg got as far as location scouting for this film, which certainly would have had its moments, but ultimately felt the idea was too far-fetched and the script laden with ethnic stereotypes, so they sent Indy on a Last Crusade instead.
Although Columbus's screenplay is madcap, there are ideas that could be cherrypicked from it, like one of Indy's students stowing away with him on the adventure, and a set piece involving a deadly human game of chess.