Useless Movie Trivia For
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Memorable Quotes
Short Round: I keep telling you, you listen to me more, you live longer!
Eel Eater: Ah, dessert! Chilled monkey brains.
Trivia
Sharon Stone was one of the top choices for the role of Willie Scott before Kate Capshaw auditioned.
Shots of mining-car roller-coaster ride were done with models and a 35mm camera modified to hold extra film.
The rope bridge used during the final fight scene was actually suspended up a couple of hundred feet across a gorge on location in Sri Lanka. Acrophobic Steven Spielberg would never walk over it, and had to drive a mile and a half to reach the other side. Harrison Ford on the other hand had no such fear, and would run across it at full speed.
Lawrence Kasdan was unavailable as he was working on The Big Chill, so George Lucas drafted in Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz who had previously penned American Graffiti for him. Lucas deliberately wanted to go with something with a darker tone as this had served him well with Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.
The film's original title was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death" which was changed because it sounded too foreboding. It was retained as the film's German title ("Indiana Jones und der Tempel des Todes").
Although it's never mentioned in the film, Willie's full name is Wilhelmina.
The "giant vampire bats" that are shown in the movie were actually fruit bats; vampire bats are a lot smaller.
For the bug chamber sequence, Kate Capshaw was covered with over 2,000 bugs.
Most of the cavernous mine where the mine cart chase takes place is miniature, with the walls made of painted aluminium foil.
Kate Capshaw was thrilled at the opportunity of singing and dancing in the opening musical number, but the reality was her dress was so tight, there was very little movement she could attempt without ripping it.
Kate Capshaw had to be taught how to scream.
An open casting call was put out to all the elementary schools to find a young Asian actor to play Short Round. Jonathan Ke Quan arrived with his brother, not to audition, but merely to provide moral support. He caught the casting director's attention because he spent the entire time of his brother's audition telling him what to do and what not to do.
Harrison Ford herniated his back in the scene where he is attacked in his bedroom by a Thuggee assassin. Production had to shut down for Ford to be flown to Los Angeles to have an operation. A huge majority of Ford's work in the fights and chases in the Temple of Doom are actually stuntman Vic Armstrong.
Kate Capshaw incurred a black eye in the runaway mine cart sequence. The next day when she reported to work, everybody else on the set was wearing a black smudge under their eye.
The huge mineshaft was a circular construction around the largest soundstage. To make it look different, they just altered the lighting every time the carts completed a loop.
14 dummies fall off the bridge when it is cut. Batteries inside them operate their leg and arm movements to make it look like they're really kicking and flailing.
The rotating tabletop used to exchange items in the opening Club Obi Wan sequence is still common in Shanghai restaurants. It's normally used for easy access to the multiple dishes served at meals.
The film came under fire when it was released for being racist.
Short Round's car is a 1936 Auburn Boat-tail Speedster, a highly popular car in the 1930s.
The "chilled monkey-brains" were made from custard and raspberry sauce.
The python that Willie Scott mistakes for an elephant's trunk was brought to Sri Lanka for shooting by animal handler Michael Culling, but since the snake and its companion weren't very welcome in the country, he had to book them their hotel rooms under fake names: Mr. and Mrs. Longfellow.
The sounds of the mine car running along the tracks during the chase scene were recorded on the rollercoasters at Disneyland, with the music and sound effects etc turned off.
Steven Spielberg said that he did not enjoy this film as much as the rest of the Indy films, but said that it was a great experience for him because he met his future wife, Kate Capshaw, during the production of this movie.
There was a scene involving Kate Capshaw and a rather large snake which had to be cut out as Capshaw was having panic attacks at the very prospect of it. Director Steven Spielberg jokingly says that the only reason Kate married him later was because he allowed the scene to be cut.
Willie says she's from Missouri, native state of actress Kate Capshaw.
Short Round's actual name is Su Wa Mu. Shorty reveals this during the scene when the Shaman first tells Indy about the "evil that started at Pankot", as he taps Indy on the shoulder and whispers "See? Bad news. You listen to Su Wa Mu, you live longer."
For the scene where Willie stirs up the soup and several eyeballs rise to the surface, Steven Spielberg said that this particular scene was notoriously difficult to shoot and it took many takes to get the result seen in the final film. The eyeballs were attached to the bottom of the soup bowl with stick-ups and Kate Capshaw was supposed to give the soup a good stir in order to un-stick the eyes so they could rise to the surface, but the stick-ups help pretty tight and for many takes, only one or two of the eyes would un-stick and rise to the surface.
Goofs
When Short Round and Indiana Jones walk over the floor of bugs, Short Round refers to the crunching as "Walking on Fortune Cookies". Prior to WWII, fortune cookies were called fortune tea cakes, and largely only served in America.
The type of pike held by the guards at the palace dinner, is not Indian, it is a Chinese "Kwan Do"
Voodoo dolls are from African and Caribbean cultures, and play no role in Hinduism.
Although they might be consumed in some parts of Southeast Asia, snakes, insects, and monkey brains would never be served in India (and especially not in the palace of a Hindu king or "maharaja") due to very strict Hindu and Islamic dietary codes. In fact, a significant portion of Indians (mostly Hindus) are strict vegetarians due to those religious dietary restrictions.
The river below the rope bridge appears to be nothing more then a rocky stream in some shots, but once we see people falling, the stream suddenly turns into a large river.
When Indiana is attacked in his room at the palace as Short Round sleeps, we see Shortie wake up in the background, then a few moments later he wakes up again.
When Indiana, Short Round, and the girl are riding to the palace on the elephants they all start out on their own elephant. In the next shot where Indiana tells Lily they are going to the palace, Short Round is on Indy's elephant and his elephant is tied behind Lily's. In the very next shot where Lily is blown off the elephant, Short Round is back on his own elephant.
While fighting on the hanging bridge, Indy's safety cord is clearly visible.
Florida alligators in India.
Obvious dummy models of Indiana and Willie during the runaway mining-cart sequence.
As Indy is shot at with arrows while climbing up the bridge, it is very clear that many of the arrows hit and bounce off him.
Obvious dummy or stunt double when the backside of Willie's head is becoming infested with centipedes - the hair doesn't quite match between shots.
The cymbal that Indy throws at a gangster is obviously made of rubber. You can see this as it hits the man's face.
In the establishing shot of the village without children, Indy's hat disappears under the matte painting as he walks down the hill, left of frame.
Box Office Info In USA
Budget: $28,000,000
Opening Weekend $33,936,113
Gross $175,083,524
Filming Dates: April 18, 1983 - September 8, 1983
Filming Locations
American River, Placerville, California, USA
Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK
(studio)
Florida, USA
Grand Coulee Dam, Columbia River, Washington, USA
Hamilton Air Force Base, Novato, California, USA
(Asian Airport Scenes)
Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka
Macau, China
Mammoth Mountain, California, USA>
Novato, California, USA
Page, Arizona, USA
Sri Lanka
Tuolumne River, California, USA
Yosemite National Park, California, USA