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Get Behind The Scenes On Indiana Jones Movies

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By TISH WELLS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 8, 2008

"The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films," by J.W. Rinzler and Laurent Bouzereau (Random House, $35)

Arriving just in time for the latest installment of the long-running movie series dealing with the noted archaeologist, "The Complete Making of Indiana Jones," by J.W. Rinzler and Laurent Bouzereau, is an extensive behind-the-scenes look at all four movies.

The bulk of the book is devoted to an in-depth study of the first film, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," with smaller chapters on "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and the new film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

The character of Indiana Jones started with the daydream musings of George Lucas in 1973 as he struggled to write the plot for "Star Wars." Lucas, sitting at his typewriter, "began thinking it'd be a good idea to have an archaeologist in a 1930s-style serial. The big shift would be that he was a grave robber who actually finds supernatural artifacts. ...

Rinzler, an expert researcher in the archives of Lucasfilm, dug through a "great clipping archive - never-ending resource" to provide a vast amount of detail from contemporary documents and interviews. "With 'Raiders,' it was mostly archival research," Rinzler says. "'Temple' is fairly mixed, and 'Last Crusade' was not in the archives, so it's mostly Laurent, and the chapters on 'Crystal Skull' is all Laurent."

Extensive unseen-until-now photographs also were unearthed in the image archives.

The "Complete Making" provides illuminating tidbits for young filmmakers, movie historians and fans. Anyone who thinks a grand idea springs fully formed and out of a writer's head should read the early drafts and see what was used, discarded or stored somewhere to reappear in another film.

There were struggles in the making of all three movies. Filming "Raiders" in Tunisia physically debilitated star Harrison Ford, who plays Indiana Jones, and director Steven Spielberg so much that Spielberg "just wanted to go home."

Kate Capshaw (chanteuse Willie Scott in "Temple of Doom") had a very basic problem: "I didn't know how to scream. So Steven taught me how to scream. Screaming is not as easy as it looks." Alison Doody, who plays the German archaeologist in "Last Crusade," still has a scar on one hand "from dripping wax" from a torch in a catacombs scene.

Rinzler says this book in a way was the toughest and took the shortest time to write. But "it was amazing to go to the set and see Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and all the other cast members and watch Steven Spielberg direct. It was an incredible experience."

Tish Wells writes for McClatchy Newspapers.

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