Indiana, Elton, and the Dark Side

In watching the "Making of" documentary for Raiders of the Lost Ark, I was struck by some of the similarities in the creation process between such a blockbuster hit and our own films, Finals Week and Yo, Julio!, as well as our current project, Tempted by the Dark Side.  Like Finals Week, Raiders took shape out of a set of ideas.  Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, and their screenwriter sat down for three days and tossed around ideas for what they wanted in the movie, after which the screenwriter built a script that could frame all of the individual pieces that they had come up with.  When we wrote Finals Week, it was very similar in terms of the process involved... we sat down and just pitched ideas, words, anything that we knew and could form a story from.  George Lucas, of course, had a far more collected idea of what he wanted before he ever set foot into that room; however, looking back at our own process, we had a clear cut idea of our main character all along, and the basic gist of the plot was formed very early on.  After that, it was a matter of adding in details and concepts and then building a script to fit it all.

The writers of Yo Julio! took a somewhat similar approach, with even less idea of what they really wanted.  I believe the only central component that founded the entire formation of that screenplay was a random text message about shoes.  Everything else seems to have been thrown in at random with only the loosest of plot and script devices to hold it all together.  We had to do some major revision work in order to get that story back on track.  When we finally started production, it was a rather hairy experience up until the day of shooting; then, it seemed like everything just fell into place.  In the piece on Raiders, Lucas and Spielberg talk about the process of casting the film and the trials that led to the selection of Harrison Ford.  Originally, Lucas had rejected the idea of using Ford because he had already had major roles in two of Lucas's other films.  After trying out several actors, Tom Selleck was the first choice for the part of Indiana Jones, and he likely would have had the part had his prior contract for Magnum P.I. not interfered suddenly and prevented him from taking the role.  After losing Selleck, Lucas and Spielberg took another look at Ford and decided that he was great for the part.  More troubles were had in casting the part of Sallah, who was originally supposed to be performed by Danny DeVito.  Again, TV contracts foiled the plan, and John Rhys-Davies was selected instead.

In the production of Yo, Julio!, we encountered similar troubles with our casting.  Originally we had several actors picked out who had agreed to play the roles; however, days before shooting, some of our actors, who were also involved in stage productions, found themselves unable to shoot because of interference with their rehearsal schedules.  The morning we started shooting, we made some last minute casting decisions, shifting parts around and grabbing any available bodies.  For the most part, this turned out really well; Jake played Elton more perfectly than I could have ever hoped for, and our Shady Character was fitted just-right for his part, despite what looked like a mean hangover.  The only one I was dissappointed with was the part of "Man."  He pulls off the awkward, but just doesn't get it right for the camera.

Another striking part of the story behind Raiders, is its connection with Lucas and, in turn, back to Star Wars.  Even though Raiders is so different from Lucas's space story, the two shared a lot of common "genetic material."  Lucas came up with the first ideas for both stories nearly simultaneously, though the Indy film was put on hold for years while Star Wars took up Lucas's time.  When it came time to shoot Raiders, it seems that Lucas and his production team stuck with the familiar in a lot of ways, using the same studios, soundstages, and even on-site locations that were used in Star Wars.  Working in these familiar environments gave Lucas and Spielberg a few advantages in terms of being able to anticipate challenges and utilize known assests for the production.

The team that shot Tempted by the Dark Side, while being first-time filmmakers, were able to utilize a similar strategy of employing the familiar.  Their entire film was shot in their residence hall and place of work, allowing them access to resources that would otherwise have been far more difficult to obtain.  While it didn't result in a problem-free production, it likely did save time so that the necessary reshoots could be accomplished.  Tempted had problems with microphones and Raiders had to deal with mass food poisoning in Tunisia, but the familiarity of the surroundings in both cases provided an environment where shooting quickly and making up time was far easier.

It seems that the story of filmmaking follows roughly similar patterns across different films, even if the story told by those films are completely dissimilar.  The common threads of urgency, innovation, and making-do appear in each of the stories.  Amateur or professional, the same basic problems have to be faced and dealt with in whatever ways creativity allows; the difference is all in the tools available and the experience from which to draw.  The basic plot of the "Making of" is going to very similar in almost every case; though the tales we tell are not so well thought out or pretty to look at, our own stories, as students, are not all that different from the 'heroes' behind some of our favorite Hollywood films.