Trivia for
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

photos

board

trailer

details

• Producer Frank Marshall stated that the film would be shot the same way as the previous three - with stunt men, and using CGI only when necessary. Before the film entered production Spielberg corroborated these claims, but during filming the decision was made to employ more CGI than had originally been anticipated. (Spielberg estimated at the time that about 30% of VFX would have to be CGI.
  
  
• M. Night Shyamalan and Tom Stoppard were each asked to pen a draft of the screenplay.
  
  
• In 2002, high profile screenwriter Frank Darabont, who'd penned several episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, was brought on board the project during what was probably the most publicized of the many failed attempts to find a screenplay for a fourth Indiana Jones film. Darabont collaborated closely with Steven Spielberg for over a year, resulting in a script entitled "Indiana Jones and the City of Gods." While Spielberg reportedly loved the script (according to Darabont he called it the greatest script he'd read since Raiders of the Lost Ark), George Lucas rejected the draft for reasons that were never disclosed, and the film was sent back to the drawing board once more.
  
  

• Steven Spielberg brought on Janusz Kaminski, who's shot all Spielberg's films since Schindler's List (1993), to replace the now-retired cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, who had worked on all three of the previous Indy films. Spielberg refused to modernize the photography and wanted to retain the comic book style from the previous films; thus Kaminski had to watch all the three previous films repeatedly to study Slocombe's techniques. Spielberg later commented that both he and Janusz had to swallow their pride: "Janusz had to learn another cinematographer's look, and I had to acquire this younger director's look which I thought I had moved away from after almost two decades."
  
  
• Stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, who worked in all three of the previous Indy films, could not work in this film, as he was committed to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), so he was replaced with Dan Bradley. However, Steven Spielberg was able to meet Armstrong during War of the Worlds (2005) and talk about three action sequences he had conceived.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg and Dan Bradley drew traditional storyboards to plan all the film's action sequences. However, the motorcycle chase was improvised after the animators had completed their work.
  
  
• Sean Connery was approached for a cameo appearance as Henry Jones Sr., Indiana's father, but he turned it down, finding retirement too enjoyable. George Lucas later stated that in retrospect it was good that Jones Sr. did not appear, as it would disappoint the audience when he would not come along for the adventure. Harrison Ford also joked that he was getting old enough to play his own father, so Sean wasn't needed anymore.
  
  
• Before ‘The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ was chosen as the title, several other titles were considered and even registered with the MPAA in August 2007, including ‘The City of Gods’, ‘The Destroyer of Worlds’, ‘The Fourth Corner of the Earth’, ‘The Lost City of Gold’, and finally, ‘The Quest for the Covenant’.
  
  
• Shia LaBeouf revealed the movie's official title during his appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards 2007 (2007) (TV).
  
  
• This is the first Indiana Jones film without actor Pat Roach, who had a role in all the first three films. Roach died in 2004.
  
  
• Shia LaBeouf signed on for the film in April 2007, so excited about doing an Indy film that he didn't even read the script. To prepare for his role as the greaser Mutt Williams, LeBeouf repeatedly watched the previous three Indiana Jones films and gained fifteen pounds of muscle.
  
  
• To reprise his role as the legendary explorer Indiana Jones, the 64-year-old Harrison Ford spent three hours a day at the gym, and subsisted on a high-protein diet of fish and vegetables, thus building his body into a condition where he could perform his own stunts (he always kept himself fit anyway, as he hoped to complete all the five Indiana Jones films that were originally planned in the 1980s). Steven Spielberg later stated he was so impressed with Ford's form that he could not tell the difference between the shoots for the third and fourth films.
  
  
• 'Steven Spielberg' felt he could not treat the Nazis lightly after directing Schindler's List (1993), and Harrison Ford felt they had "plumb wore the Nazis out." George Lucas also felt that the 1950s decade would have to take into account the Cold War, and when he heard that that Joseph Stalin had been interested in crystal skulls, he made the Soviets the script's villains.
  
  
• Originally, Indy was to be up against an uprising of ex-Nazis, but Steven Spielberg felt he could not treat the Nazis lightly after directing Schindler's List (1993), and Harrison Ford felt they had "plumb wore the Nazis out." George Lucas also felt that the 1950s decade would have to take into account the Cold War, and when he heard that that Joseph Stalin had been interested in crystal skulls, he made the Soviets the script's villains.
  
  
• In 2000, Steven Spielberg's personal interest for another Indy film was ignited when his son asked when the remaining two Indy films would be released.
  
  
• When asked if Harrison Ford was too old to return as Indy, producer Frank Marshall quoted Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): "It's not the years, it's the mileage." He explained that it would be interesting to see Indy in a different decade, and deal with all kinds of new and interesting things. The age also adds to Indy as a fallible and therefore believable character.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg did not shoot the film in digital format, which his friend and partner George Lucas had adopted. Lucas approved, seeing that it looked, in his words, "like it was shot 3 years after the Last Crusade, you'd never know there was 20 years between shooting."
  
  
• In 2006, Harrison Ford declared that if this film was not made by 2008, then the filmmakers should drop the idea altogether. This got Steven Spielberg looking for a good script immediately.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg cast Russian actors in the roles of Russian soldiers so their accents would be authentic.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg describes this film as "the sweet dessert I give those who had to chow down on the bitter herbs I used in Munich (2005)."
  
  
• Screenwriter David Koepp looked at all the film's previous drafts, and kept what he felt were good ideas. He tried not to make his work a "fan script," avoiding any trivial references to the previous films. He noted that the story would have to acknowledge Ford/Jones's age, and also aimed for the mix of comedy and adventure from the first film, trying to make it less dark than the second film and yet less comic than the third film.
  
  
• John Hurt wanted to read the script before he signed on. He had previously heard about actors who signed on to a Steven Spielberg film before reading the script, since "Spielberg - you know, GOD - was doing it!" Hurt replied, "'Well, I need to have a little bit of previous knowledge even if God is doing it." The filmmakers sent a courier with the script from Los Angeles over to London, who gave the script to Hurt at three in the afternoon, reclaimed it at eight that evening and flew back the following day.
  
  
• At a pre-production press conference at Yale, producer Frank Marshall said that Indy's fictional Marshall College is indeed named after him. He quipped, "If my last name was Yale, it would be Yale College."
  
  
• The poster art for the movie was drawn by Drew Struzan, the same artist who also created the poster art for the previous two Indiana Jones films. He took over from original Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) poster artist Richard Amsel who died in 1985.
  
  
• The film marked Spielberg's first return to Cannes since E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) in 1982.
  
  
• The film was delivered to theaters with a combination lock - the combination wasn't provided until the day of the first showing.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: Boy with stack of books in library about to get crashed into by bike.
  
  
• Shipped to some theaters under the code name 'Band Wagon'
  
  
• Shipped to some theaters under the name, "Turbo".
  
  
• In the coffee shop, Indy mocks at Mutt Williams' name: Mutt (a mixed breed dog). But as stated by Henry Jones Sr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Indy's name is also canine-related: "Indiana" was the name of the Jones family dog.
  
  
• The pictures of Marcus (Denholm Elliott) and Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery) shown prominently on Indy's desk are both from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) More difficult to spot is a photograph of Indy and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) on the fireplace mantel in Indy's home. A picture of Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) can be seen in the background on a cupboard when Indy is talking to Mutt. She is wearing her red stage dress from Club Obi Wan. A doctored photograph of a young Sean Connery and River Phoenix briefly seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) is also visible on a small table as Dean Stanforth (Jim Broadbent) enters the room.
  
  
• The film has some tributes to Marcus Brody (the late Denholm Elliott): A portrait of him is shown on the wall in the hallway when the Dean Charles is having the conversation with Indiana Jones, a picture of him is set on Indiana's desk next to a picture of Sean Connery as Henry Jones Sr., and there's a statue of Marcus in the College's court yard when the KGB agent accidentally drive the car into it. Also, according to info on the statue, Marcus Brody was College Dean from 1939-1944.
  
  
• The following George Lucas-created characters have "a bad feeling about this": Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)), Anakin (Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)), Obi Wan (Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)), Luke (Star Wars (1977)), Han (Star Wars (1977)), Leia (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)), C3-PO (Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)), and Indiana Jones (like Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford) in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
  
  
• The girl who punches Mutt in the diner scene is Sasha Spielberg, daughter of director Steven Spielberg.
  
  
• In the scene at Marshall College, pictures of the Sankara Stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) can be seen on a blackboard, along with some of the names of characters associated with the stones.
  
  
• Indiana Jones does not say his signature phrase "Trust Me" in the film; Marion Ravenwood does.
  
  
• Harrison Ford apparently has kept himself in such good shape over the years that his costuming measurements for this film had not changed from those in Last Crusade, nearly 20 years earlier.
  
  
• The "swimming jeep" used by Jones is a 1942 Ford GPA. Approximately 12,778 were made during WWII by Sparkman & Stephens Inc. utilizing a Ford GPW frame & driveline. Many went to Russia as part of the Lend Lease program.
  
  
• When Indy comes out of the house at the atomic testing area, the address is clearly seen as 138. This is a reference to the George Lucas film THX 1138 (1971), a film referenced in his body of work.
  
  
• The "Kung Fu Aztecs" who attacked Indy and Mutt in the graveyard are not as historically inaccurate as one may think. Pre-Spanish Peru Incans did in fact practice a Martial Art known as "Rumi Maki", which literally translates as "Hard Hands."
  
  
• While the previous Indy films were a tribute to the 1930s Republic Pictures serials, the filmmakers decided to change the approach/setting of this film; according to George Lucas, the film was "more of a 1950s B-movie."
  
  
• Harrison Ford convinced David Koepp to include more jokes about Indy's age in the script, believing they would help reduce the "American paranoia about aging." He also refused to dye his hair for the role, arguing Indy's appeal wasn't in his youth but in his imagination and resourcefulness: "My ambition in action is to have the audience look straight in my face and not the back of a stuntman's head. I hope to continue that no matter how old I get."
  
  
• As of June 2008, this film holds the record for the largest Paramount Pictures prints distributed (about 12,000).
  
  
• To prepare for her role of Irina Spalko, Cate Blanchett learned to fence and (during filming) practiced karate. She based her performance on Rosa Klebb from From Russia with Love (1963), who also has a stern manner and a bob-cut hairdo.
  
  
• As in the previous films, Harrison Ford performed many of his own stunts, because stunt technology had become safer since 1989; he also felt it improved his performance.
  
  
• The character of Harold Oxley was inspired by Ben Gunn, the hermit from "Treasure Island."
  
  
• During filming, Ray Winstone tore his hamstring. He later remarked, "I keep getting these action parts as I'm getting older!"
  
  
• Dimitri Diatchenko was originally to shoot his role in ten days, since his role was a minor one. When shooting the Marshall College fight, Harrison Ford accidentally hit his chin, and Steven Spielberg liked Diatchenko's humorous reaction to the punch so much he expanded his role, and Diatchenko spent three months filming.
  
  
• For his role as Spalko's henchman, Dimitri Diatchenko bulked up his physique to look more menacing, arriving at 250 pounds through weight-lifting.
  
  
• When filming the scene where Indiana drives a truck through a wall, things did not go as planned: timed explosives were used, but one explosive did not go off and landed in the seat next to Harrison Ford.
  
  
• In the tent in the jungle, Mac makes a remark about being richer than Howard Hughes. At this point, Cate Blanchett enters the tent. Blanchett won an Academy Award for her role in The Aviator (2004), the Howard Hughes biopic.
  
  
• The Akator throne room designed by Guy Dyas keeps up an Indiana Jones tradition by having C-3PO and R2-D2 etched into one of the yellow titles, and E.T. into another. According to the book "The Complete Making of Indiana Jones", the characters can be found somewhere in all four Indiana Jones pictures, not just Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
  
  

• SPOILER: The aliens closely resemble the ones in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), also directed by Steven Spielberg.
  
  
• SPOILER: During the Hanger 51 scene, the Ark of the Covenant (which was the MacGuffin in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) can be seen briefly inside a broken crate.
  
  
• SPOILER: Mutt Williams was originally a nerdy kind of character, but George Lucas decided to make him Indiana's son and give him a rebellious character, reasoning that "he needs to be what Henry Jones Sr. thought of his son, and the curse returns to Indy in the form of his own son - he's everything a father can't stand!"
  
  
• SPOILER: There are two literary references included in Harold Oxley's cryptic instructions and gibberish. "Comus" by John Milton and "Eyes that last I saw in tears" by T.S. Eliot.
  
  

Related Links