“I’m not sure that helps.” Harrison Ford regrets that the world learned the truth about this iconic scene from Indiana Jones
Harrison Ford regrets one thing about iconic scene from Indiana Jones. “I just want to enjoy the movie, and I’m not sure that helps.”.
Indiana Jones is a cult series of adventure films starring Harrison Ford. The story of the brave and daring archaeologist has won the hearts of audiences, who are eager not only to watch the subsequent films, but also to learn interesting facts from behind the scenes. One of them was revealed by Ford himself, when he talked about what led to the filming of the iconic scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
While shooting in North Africa, quite a few of the film's crew and cast, including Harrison Ford, became ill from the local food and drink. Steven Spielberg managed not to get sick by bringing his own food from England. Ford, on the other hand, was in such bad shape that it was difficult for him to leave the trailer for more than 10 minutes. At one point, he realized with horror that filming of an epic battle was imminent, as Steven Spielberg put it, “the ultimate duel between sword and whip,” in which Harrison Ford was to face a swordsman dressed in black.
The swordsman was to be played by Terry Richards, who had been preparing to film the scene for months. Filming it was to take two or three days and take place in a hot climate – this was going to be too much for Ford in his condition, so he was looking for a way to get out of it. He then came up with a solution that Spielberg immediately liked (via ET).
We had about an hour and a half ride into our location. By the time I got to the location, I was convinced that it was too much. I went up to Steven as soon as I arrived, and I said, “Steven, why don’t we just shoot this sumb*tch?” And Steven said, „I was thinking that, too!”
This created an iconic scene, however, all of Richards' preparation went to waste. And the story itself has become one of Hollywood's anecdotes, which Ford considers a mistake that he himself to some extent led to by telling the events. As he confessed during an interview with the Los Angeles Times, audiences shouldn't know so much about the making of the film, because he fears that by doing so they may have disappointed the audience's expectations.
Yeah, I guess the black swordsman has become a bit of a Hollywood story. I almost wish it hadn’t. I’m not so crazy about the audience having that much awareness of the process that went on. I just want to enjoy the movie, and I’m not sure that helps.
However, it must be admitted that although the planned duel could be impressive, the final version of the scene perfectly fits the character of the film, as well as the main character himself, Indiana Jones.