GEORGE LUCAS - Writer/Executive Producer

The genesis for Raiders Of The Lost Ark came from the movie's executive producer, George Lucas before he became a major Hollywood player.  "This whole project started about ten years ago when I had an idea to do action-adventure kind of serial film," said Lucas. "It was actually about the same time that I came up with idea for Star Wars. But I got more interested in Star Wars, so I put this one on the shelf, figured I'd get to it some day."

The early 80s were an especially hectic time for Lucas. In 1980, his sequel The Empire Strikes Back was released. Next year, of course, was Raiders. In 1983 came Return Of The Jedi, followed a year later by Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. During the period of post production of Empire, filming of Raiders and the development of the Jedi script, Lucas found himself especially stretched thin. "I get up very early each morning and go to work writing the next Star Wars until early that afternoon," he explained. "Next, I work on Raiders Of The Lost Ark. I was editing the film, and now I'm helping with the special effects here -- sort of checking in at ILM and letting them know what they can send to Steven Spielberg, who is directing Raiders in Los Angeles, and what needs a little work. After that, I usually have to go to my office, read my mail and answer my phone calls and do all my business. Then, usually around 6:00 pm is when I have any meetings I have to have. And that's about the way my life is today. Next week I'm going to London to look for a director for Revenge [later Return] and to listen to the score of Raiders. And it just continues like that."

Lucas, obviously, was an established director by the time Raiders went into production, with four Oscar nominations under his belt. Some filmmakers may have some problems having their project helmed by another person, and there would be expected clashes in opinions. Yet Lucas and Spielberg would be not only be able to co-exist, but be in sync about many aspects of the production. "I try to be very sensitive to the director, an what his problems are, because I've been a director. And Steve is open to suggestions; I mean, I offer lots of suggestions, and he takes some of them and doesn't take some of them. And we're never really had completely different points of view on the way something should be done." *

LAWRENCE KASDAN - Screenwriter

With the concept in place, Lucas, Spielberg and Marshall met with Lawrence Kasdan, who had just penned a script titled Continental Divide, which Spielberg helped get to the big screen. Kasdan ended up getting the Raiders screenplay gig. "George, Steven and I sat for a week of meetings about the story, really outlined the thing into a tape recorder. It was a constant process of an idea coming out and another person saying, yah, that's pretty good but it doesn't quite fit. Let's try this. And the third person saying, how about this for a capper? We wound up with about a hundred-page transcript of the story outline. I left those meetings feeling like I was in pretty good shape and then sat down and realized, 'Uh oh', this is gonna be hard."

After meeting with Lucas and Spielberg, Kasdan spent six months putting together the foundation before actually penning a draft. "It took that long because writing Raiders was a big job," he explained. "Our outlining was immense, but not detailed. We knew who the three main characters would be, but there wasn't a word in anybody's mouth. There was no broad strokes and real structure to Raiders' plot. I had to come up with all of that. I also had to do a good bit of research. My first draft of Raiders had a lot of information about the Ark of the Covenant, most of which has survived into the final film. It's been simplified and might sound like a lot of hocus pocus, but the majority of the superstitions and history that the picture attributes to the Ark are beliefs that have been held by people for years. Additionally, I did a lot of reading about archaeology, the attitudes and lifestyles of 1930's America, and that time's international alliances."

"I made up all the names except Indiana -- he's named after George's dog. The names I used are significant in that they're romantic in certain kinds of characters. Marion -- I thought that was a pretty name, it was my wife's grandmother's name. Ravenwood -- I was talking about the movie with my wife as we drove up Beverly Glen and there's a street called Ravenwood Court. I wanted the names to be romantic and old-timey."

Kasdan has gone on to a very successful career as a screenwriter and director, and received several Oscar nominations along the way for movies like The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. And although he readily admits there's elements of Raiders he's not happy about, he has always held the film in high regard. "What's great about Raiders is that it moves so fast and it's conclusion is so incredible, that by the time I got to the ending, I didn't care about the flaws. Those ting little problems never touch Raider's wonderful spirit. What emerges upon a first viewing of Raiders Of The Lost Ark is enormous, captivating excitement." *