Indiana Jones is the greatest hero the cinema has ever had. As both a homage to and an amalgamation of movie heroes that creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg grew up admiring - everyone from James Bond to Humphrey Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure Of Sierra Madre - Indy is the very definition of an iconic character. With his trademark fedora, bullwhip and leather jacket, he's one of few characters who can be instantly identified by his silhouette alone (and what a theme tune!). Much of the genius of Indiana Jones, an archaeology professor who moonlights as an adventurer, stems from Harrison Ford, who injects the character with the right amount of sardonic wit, sincerity and ineptitude - all of which comes together to create an unbridled charisma. Indy is as likeable as they come - a hero who is inarguably badass, but also human: he's frequently beaten within an inch of his life, and that's all part of the magic. Indiana Jones feels like such a well-defined character that it's hard to imagine that he might ever have turned out any differently, then. But he did. Oh my, he did. The Indy that we all know and love was once a very different beast all together - totally unrecognisable in some aspects, even. What follows here are eight ways in which the world's favourite archaeologist almost emerged unidentifiable. As Rene Belloq would say: a "shadowy reflection..."
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
