Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Short description
Set in 1957 during the Cold War, the film follows archaeologist Indiana Jones after he is captured by Soviet agents in the Nevada desert and barely escapes. The Soviets, led by Irina Spalko, are hunting a crystal skull tied to a legendary lost city, and they take an interest in an old colleague of Indy's who has vanished in Peru. A young greaser named Mutt Williams seeks Indy's help, and the two set off for South America, where they find that the Soviets are after the same prize. The pursuit also brings Marion Ravenwood back into Indy's life.
Steven Spielberg directed the film, the thirtieth of the forty features he has made in chronological order, arriving between War of the Worlds and War Horse. David Koepp wrote the screenplay and Frank Marshall produced. Harrison Ford returns as Indiana Jones, with Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone and John Hurt among a credited cast of one hundred.
Made for 185 million dollars, the film took 787 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from 512,000 votes, and on TMDB 6 out of 10 from 9,252 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7 out of 10 from 306 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- During filming in New Mexico, the crew encountered three rattlesnakes that had to be carefully relocated.
- The soldiers who participated in the filming of the movie gained a lot of new impressions. Some were amazed by the ancient Mayan sculptures, others by the skulls in one of the scenes, and some by the rock dancers in the rain.
- M. Night Shyamalan and Tom Stoppard were offered to write the screenplay.
- Professor Jones teaches at Marshall University, named after film producer Frank Marshall.
- Harrison needed 6 days of training to relearn how to work with the iconic Indiana Jones attribute – the whip.
- Having earned $100 million over a three-day weekend, the film became Spielberg's highest-grossing film in its opening weekend, far surpassing the others. The closest was “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” — $72 million.
- To film the 'quicksand' scene, the actors stood on a platform controlled by a special effects specialist. This created a kind of elevator on the set.
- Filming of the movie lasted only 79 days. This is much less than the production of any major film – stories about the adventures of Indiana Jones tend to be filmed very quickly.
- The music playing in the scene where Russians force the captured Indiana Jones to stare at the crystal skull almost note-for-note repeats the music used by scientists as a means of communicating with aliens in Spielberg’s 1977 film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.
- Harrison Ford had only one day off during the filming of the movie.
- According to the safety rules for filming approved by the Association of Cinematographers, whips in the film were equated to potentially dangerous props and therefore had to be created during post-production using computer animation.
- In the warehouse, at the very end of the scene, they show the “Lost Ark,” the very artifact Jones was looking for in the very first Indiana Jones installment.
- Harrison Ford and Karen Allen celebrated their birthdays during the filming of the movie.
- In Oxley's chamber, the inscription “Return” is written in different languages, including Russian.
- A total of 36 fedora hats were made in Mississippi for the film's shooting.
- 30 leather jackets were sewn for the characters of Indiana Jones and Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
