In this clip of an alternate take of the swordfight where Indi shoots the villian, we see the scene being choreographed in a compeltely different way than what went on to make the final film. Ironically enough, this scene is easily one of the most iconic segments from that series. This brings to mind all sorts of speculative questions; What was the original scene written to be? Why was it changed? Why was this version cut? Did Han Indi really shoot first?
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Pretty well known that Harrison Ford was horrifically sick the day this was to be filmed. I think he said something like "what if I just shoot him?" and everyone on set thought it was the funniest thing... Rest (just like the ARK) is history..... Just saw this in IMAX last week. hell ya!
Can't remember where I read it, but Harrison Ford was extremely sick during the production of this scene and could barely stand. He wasn't acting really haggard in that scene, he actually was. Anyway, to shorten the scene up and get production back on schedule, Ford and Speilberg came up with the idea of just having Indy shoot the guy.
This is correct. If I am not mistaken, I believe Ford had stated in an interview some years back that he had dysentery from the three months of intense heat during filming and could not physically put in the work as the script had requested. Thus as you stated, they decided on the gun scene instead. :-)
Raiding the Lost Ark has some great behind the scenes info and discusses how sick Harrison was.
http://vimeo.com/36011979
hahah, reminds me of Han Solo shooting Greedo...haha
Han shot first.
...
Too late?
Very sad behind the scenes story. This is what really happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbJyZ4eDkIs