In the final few thrilling scenes of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indy (played by Harrison Ford) attempted to cross a rope suspension bridge to get away from his pursuers. Clutching the lost Sankara Stone and running from cultists, Indy had no choice but to cut the bridge’s rope and send himself and his foes into the gorge beneath them. Speaking in the Blu-ray extras for the film, Ford revealed Spielberg would not go near the bridge.
Ford said: “It’s real scary. Steven was really scared of the bridge because it was a real suspension bridge over 150 feet clear fall before you dashed yourself to death on rocks and shallow water.”
Spielberg explained on the extras that a local dam-building company built the bridge for the film on short notice.
And although they created a sturdy and trustworthy bridge, he couldn’t set go further than a few yards onto it.
He said: “I have a terrible fear of heights and when the bridge was finished I could go out 40 yards from either end… but I couldn’t go past the point of no return. Just couldn’t do it.”
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Spielberg then revealed Ford was not afraid of the rickety bridge at all.
He went on: “Harrison, in the meantime, said: ‘Oh that’s nothing!’
“He ran across the bridge, first time he got on the bridge, he ran as fast as he could from one end to the other. I couldn’t believe he did that.”
With a smile, the director added: “But that’s Harrison Ford. He’s Indiana Jones!”
Meanwhile, the close-up shots of Ford and his friends battling against the cultists on the collapsed and hanging bridge were shot on a set in London, three weeks later.
This allowed the actors to actually dangle from a great height with safety precautions involved, rather than off a cliff in Sri Lanka.
While Temple of Doom was full of wildly exciting behind-the-scenes information, Spielberg disowned the film years later, claiming it was “too dark”.
The film itself is quite difficult to stomach, considering it includes people eating monkey brains and hearts being ripped out of chests.
Spielberg confessed: “I wasn’t happy with the second film at all.
“It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-poltered Poltergeist.”
The director added: “There’s not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom.”
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Published at Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:18:15 +0000
Indiana Jones: Steven Spielberg was terrified of one dangerous Temple of Doom stunt
