Remembering Raiders Of The Lost Ark: The Making Of Indiana Jones

For the longest time, Steven Spielberg has been among the most powerful people in Hollywood. So it’s remarkable to think that it was his position as the proposed director of Raiders Of The Lost Ark that proved one of the most significant obstacles to the film getting made.

As Lucas sought financing for Raiders, all the money he had accumulated from Star Wars had been reinvested in The Empire Strikes Back, forcing him to delve into the studio system he inherently mistrusted to make the movie a reality. Lucas and producer Frank Marshall drove a hard bargain, so much so that their proposal was rejected by every major studio.

But then-Paramount CEO Michael Eisner saw the obvious potential in the story, yet even he was reluctant to sign off on the $20 million budget. And the reason was Spielberg.

Despite the enormous financial success of Jaws and Close Encounters, Spielberg was becoming notorious for overseeing movie shoots that went way over schedule and budget. Throw in the perceived financial failure of Spielberg’s last outing 1941 and Eisner needed convincing that he was a risk worth taking.

Lucas sat down with Spielberg and told him, “We’ll just do this very tightly. We’ll do it like television, and these are the rules, and that’s how we’re gonna play”.

Spielberg saw Raiders as an opportunity to restore his reputation as a fiscally responsible filmmaker, but finding the right leading man to play Indy would prove surprisingly troublesome too.