1st July: Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones, full name Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, was born on July 1, 1899. The character first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark and is known for his bullwhip, fedora and satchel, his knowledge of ancient civilizations and languages, and his fear of Snakes. Here are 10 things you might not know about the character and the films:

1. The character was originally going to be called “Indiana Smith.” However, there was a 1966 film called Nevada Smith which Steven Spielberg deemed too similar so he asked that the name be changed. Lucas suggested Jones as another universal and nondescript name. The Indiana part was after Lucas’ Dog, an Alaskan malamute named Indiana. The same dog inspired Chewbacca in Star Wars.
2. The character was nearly played by Tom Selleck rather than Harrison Ford. Ford had already had starring roles in two of George Lucas's films and he wanted someone different. Selleck, however, was tied up with Magnum, P.I. at the time and had to turn it down.
3. There are a couple of nods to Star Wars in the Indiana Jones films. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, look closely at the walls in the Well of Souls and you might just spot a carving of R2-D2 and C-3PO. Lao Che's club in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is called Club Obi Wan.
4. 7,000 snakes were needed to cover the floor in the Well of Souls scene. Thankfully, Harrison Ford, unlike the character he plays, is not afraid of snakes.
5. Indiana Jones's iconic hat was there for two reasons. Firstly, Spielberg and Lucas wanted the character to have a distinctive silhouette. Secondly, the tall-crowned, wide-brimmed fedora by Herbert Johnson Hatters in England had a more practical use while filming. It hid the actor's face so a stunt double could perform the more dangerous stunts seamlessly. The character was meant to wear the hat at all times during shooting unless there was a very good reason for taking it off. If the hat fell off during a take, filming had to stop so Ford could put it back on. This gave rise to an urban legend that he stapled the hat to his head. He did once hold a Stapler to his head to keep the hat in place but never actually stapled it.
6. Ke Huy Quan, who plays Short Round in Temple of Doom was discovered by accident. His mother brought in his older brother to audition but the younger brother kept telling his older brother what to do during the screen test. The producers were impressed enough to ask the younger brother to do a screen test himself.
7. Also in Temple of Doom, an expensive costume got eaten by an Elephant. When Willie, Indy, and Short Round are riding an elephant to Pankot Palace, they stop to make camp, and Willie hangs her dress up to dry. The elephant took a fancy to the dress and started to eat it. The dress had been custom made and required an insurance claim with the description on the form being “Eaten by elephant.”
8. The chilled monkey brains eaten at the feast in Temple of Doom were actually custard with raspberry sauce.
9. The famous scene in Raiders where Indy shoots the Cairo swordsman in the market instead of fighting him came about because of food poisoning. Originally, Indy was supposed to fight the swordsman. Most of the people on set had gone down with food poisoning that day (apart from Spielberg himself who ate nothing but spaghetti o's which he'd brought along from home). Nobody had much heart to perform a fight sequence under the circumstances and eventually, Harrison Ford came up with the idea of just drawing a gun and shooting his opponent.
10. Sean Connery, who plays Indiana Jones's father in Indiana Jones and the last Crusade, is just 12 years older than Harrison Ford. Because much of the plot revolved around Indiana's relationship with his father, Spielberg and Lucas wanted to make that relationship as realistic as possible, so they hired playwright Tom Stoppard to write most of their interactions. He was not credited.

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