When Harrison Ford first donned the fedora in Raiders of the Lost Ark, fans went crazy watching the globetrotting archaeologist go on a crazy adventure trying to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. It received a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes and thus became the starting point of one of Steven Spielberg’s best works to date.
In 1984, Steven Spielberg finally came out with a sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. While it became the highest-grossing film of the year and had some great reviews, it was also criticized by some for its extremely unsettling and dark scenes. Thanks to this very reason, Steven Spielberg considers Temple of Doom, his least favorite Indiana Jones film.
Steven Spielberg Talks about Temple of Doom Being Too Dark
In the sequel, Harrison Ford’s Indy embarked on a mission of rescuing children from a cult that practiced child slavery, and black magic, and carried out human sacrifices. Right off the bat, it’s much darker than its predecessor. This led to the film receiving a PG rating which later became PG-13 after parents criticized the film for being too violent.
As it turned out, a few years later, Steven Spielberg himself wasn’t a huge fan of the work he did on Temple of Doom. In an interview with Sun-Sentinel in 1989, Spielberg revealed that the sequel is his least favorite Indiana Jones film ever (not Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was criticized by fans for its weak script) owing to its extremely dark theme. He even compared it to the actual horror film that he wrote and produced – Poltergeist.
“I wasn’t happy with the second [Indiana Jones] film at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-poltered Poltergeist. There’s not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom.”
However, back when Temple of Doom was released, Spielberg defended his films from those who bashed it for being too dark for the franchise. According to TheRaider, Spielberg stated,
“The picture is not called Temple of Roses, it called Temple of Doom. There are parts of this film that are too intense for younger children, but this is a fantasy adventure. It is the kind of violence that does not really happen and cannot be perpetuated by people leaving the cinema and performing those tricks on their friends at home.”
Clearly, Spielberg’s views have changed since then. The question, though, is what made Spielberg go down such a dark road? Well, the answer might be a bit heartbreaking.
Why Was Temple of Doom So Dark?
George Lucas was responsible for penning down the adventures of Indiana Jones and he carried out this responsibility in Temple of Doom as well. So what happened that Lucas planned such an intense adventure for his main character? Speaking to Grantland, Lucas stated that the darkness came after both he and Spielberg had gotten their hearts broken.
“I was going through a divorce, and I was in a really bad mood [when I wrote the story for Temple of Doom]. So I really wanted to do dark. And Steve then broke up with his girlfriend, and so he was sort of into it, too. That’s where we were at that point in time.”
Well, this just gave us a whole new outlook on the film! Given the fact that both of them were going through a very tough time in their personal lives, it’s no wonder the scenes were so intense.
You can stream Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on Disney+.
Source: Sun-Sentinel
