Tag: Indiana Jones

Hero Complex readers know how we feel about “Raiders of the Lost Ark” after our 30th anniversary screening  with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford and the memorable mash note we published from guest essayist Damon Lindelof. We thought pretty much everyone loved the 1981 adventure film but now we bring you an opposing view from Michael Phillips, the Chicago Tribune’s fine film critic, and this essay, which will appear in Thursday’s print edition of the Los Angeles Times.   We hold the movies we love very closely, like a royal flush in poker, and to many people an attack on an adored, endlessly rewatched picture goes beyond fighting words into something like heresy. Take a movie some people would legally marry if they could, so intense is their devotion. I speak of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” director Steven Spielberg’s 1981 blockbuster, back in ...

In honor of the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Hero Complex has been looking back at the landmark film and its influence on cinema and pop culture. Today, video from an onstage Q&A with Steven Spielberg and surprise guest Harrison Ford. The Q&A followed a screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” on Sept. 12 at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, and was hosted by Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher. In the interview, Spielberg talked about his decades-long relationship with “Star Wars” mastermind George Lucas, the evolution of Indiana Jones’ character, and a possible fifth installment in the series. Spielberg also touched on a Blu-ray release and on his decision to keep the original film intact. “This is the best I think it’s ever looked,” Spielberg said after the “Raiders” credits rolled, “because in preparation for the eventual ...

Steven Spielberg first decided to make a “Tintin” film 30 years ago, in the wake of his “Raiders of the Lost Ark” success, he told fans at a 30th-anniversary screening of the first “Indiana Jones” film. The director of “The Adventures of Tintin,” which hits theaters in December, had never heard of the long-running comic book series by Georges Remi, pen name Hergé until 1981, when he saw the word “Tintin” popping up in French newspaper reviews of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Intrigued, he had the reviews translated to English, he told the audience during the Q&A portion of the anniversary screening, hosted by Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher at L.A. Live last week. “They were basically saying that ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ owed a lot to Hergé’s ‘Tintin,’” Spielberg said. “I read the book, and I could see that there ...

Harrison Ford would be “delighted” to reprise the role of Indiana Jones, the actor said at a 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Ford has played the fedora-wearing, bullwhipping character in four films, the most recurring role of his career. “Maybe a fifth, but I ain’t going to Mars,” he joked during the Q&A portion of the screening, hosted by Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher at L.A. Live Monday evening. “Ark” director Steven Spielberg said earlier that he and George Lucas have discussed a possible fifth installment in the series. Should a script be written, Ford said, he’d be on board. “It’s an absolute delight to revisit this character,” Ford said, “and a chance to work with Steven again, who only hires me for ‘Indiana Jones.’” “I gotta correct this,” Spielberg chimed in. “Do you know who I offered ...

The famous “Raiders of the Lost Ark” scene in which Indiana Jones shoots the Cairo swordsman instead of dueling him was Harrison Ford’s idea, the actor and surprise guest told the audience during the film’s 30th anniversary screening. During the event’s Q&A with Steven Spielberg, hosted by Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher at L.A. Live Monday night, the director began recounting how the scene, originally written to be an action sequence requiring three days of shooting, was truncated. “No, no, that’s rubbish,” came Ford’s voice from offstage. “That’s not what happened, pal.” Greeted by a cheering audience and a flurry of camera flashes, Ford joined Spielberg onstage and explained that the idea came to him after he fell ill during the shoot. “I had chosen to eat native food, unlike Steven who went to Tunisia with a steamer trunk full of ...

Steven Spielberg looked to the past and the future of Indiana Jones at the 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in Los Angeles on Monday evening. The director also gave fans a rare insight into his friendship with George Lucas and a daffy impersonation of the mastermind behind the “Star Wars” universe. Spielberg and Lucas have discussed a possible fifth Indiana Jones movie, Spielberg told the audience at the event, hosted by Hero Complex’ s Geoff Boucher at L.A. Live. “We talk about it, yes, and we’re hopeful,” he said, joking that “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” actor Shia LaBeouf might be the only person who would want to see it. “I think that was the only bridge we didn’t burn because of ‘Indy 4.’” The director also talked about his “enduring friendship” ...

Steven Spielberg was greeted by a standing ovation Monday night at the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” 30th anniversary screening, hosted by Hero Complex at L.A. Live. The film’s star, Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford, made a surprise appearance, interrupting Spielberg during the Q&A portion of the event, then joining him onstage. It’s the first time the pair have spoken about the film together in public, Spielberg said, and judging from the number of camera phones that suddenly appeared in the audience when Ford walked out, the fans were thrilled. Hero Complex will be posting its first clip from the event today. In the meantime, here’s a look at what some fans had to say on Twitter: Thanks to @LAHeroComplex for a great 30th anniversary 'Raiders' screening with Mr Spielberg and Mr Harrison Ford.—   (@edgarwright) September 13, 2011 Harrison ...

In honor of the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Hero Complex will be screening the film Monday with an onstage Q&A with Steven Spielberg. Leading up to the event, we’ve been looking back at the landmark film and its influence on cinema and pop culture. Today, from the L.A. Times’ own version of Hangar 51, a 1981 profile of Spielberg. A few days before “Raiders of the Lost Ark” opened in theaters, a 33-year-old Steven Spielberg, no longer baby-faced, wondered aloud when the next generation of filmmakers would arrive to displace him. Spielberg and a group of filmmakers he called “a mouse pack” — George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian DePalma, Martin Scorsese and John Milius — had surged on the scene a decade earlier. Now, in 1981, Coppola was running Zoetrope, his own movie studio, and ...

In honor of the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Hero Complex will be screening the film on Monday with an onstage Q&A with Steven Spielberg. Leading up to the event, we’ve been looking back at the landmark film and its influence on cinema and pop culture. Today, a trip down the toy aisle. As strange as it sounds, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” toys and merchandise were somewhat hard-to-find treasures when the film became a box-office sensation back in 1981. The usual scenario these days is to start launching movie tie-ins weeks or months before a film’s opening weekend, but it was a different landscape three decades ago when Indiana Jones became a box-office sensation. That’s not to say that the fedora hero was nowhere in sight — there were trading cards, a movie novelization, a collector’s magazine ...

This is the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and we’ll be marking the milestone with a free screening on Sept. 12 followed by a live on-stage Q&A with Steven Spielberg. At that event a member of the audience will go home with a special artifact — artist Matt Busch’s limited-edition Indiana Jones World Map, a meticulously rendered record of all 36 archaeological discoveries made by the fedora-wearing hero who has swung across pop culture in feature films, novels, comic books, television, video games and theme park rides. The map was authorized by Lucasfilm and there were only 255 prints made (all signed and numbered, 24 inches by 36 inches) and all proceeds go to Disabled American Veterans. Our Geoff Boucher will be handing one of those prints to a fan at our “Raiders” screening and he recently caught up with Busch to talk ...