>>PREVIEW
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION
Calgary International Film Festival
STARRING Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb
DIRECTED BY Eric Zala
Tuesday, September 26
Uptown Screen
When you’re young anything is possible. I want to walk on the moon. I want to swim with the whales. I want to make a shot-for-shot remake of Steven Spielberg’s action classic Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The third option isn’t the most common childhood dream, but for three Mississippi teens in the ’80s, being copycat filmmakers was just as tangible as being an astronaut or marine biologist
RAIDERS REDUX
Chris Strompolos remembers the first time he saw Raiders in July 1981.
"It completely changed my life and split my brain in half," he says. "I remember it being a lot more accessible… and the hero of Indiana Jones seemed a lot more grounded than say Star Wars."
On his bus ride to school, Strompolos was known to thumb a well-read copy of the Raiders of the Lost Ark comic. When he lent the book to classmate Eric Zala, a now-legendary partnership was formed. They were going to remake Raiders. Zala would direct, Strompolos would play Indy and they would recruit their pal Jayson Lamb to take care of special effects.
"I didn’t need a whole lot of convincing," says Zala. "If I had known it was going to take seven years I would have been terrified to death."
Of course, an undertaking like this was bound to take some time. First, they had to re-write the script. In the days before home video this meant collecting every scrap published on Raiders of the Lost Ark. Strompolos even tried to smuggle a tape-deck into the theatre to record the film’s soundtrack. He was turned away when theatre ushers spotted a suspicious lump underneath his winter jacket. It was the middle of summer. Zala would eventually succeed on this mission, but the boys still had the monumental task of finding props and building sets.
They spent almost three years in pre-production. Strompolos’s mother worked at a TV station and the boys used that connection to learn how to use camera equipment. There were several attempts to re-create the boulder that chases Indy out of the cave in the film’s opening sequence. Plus, someone had to learn how to use a bullwhip. The production process slowed even further when Strompolos went away to boarding school in New York. While Zala and Lamb converted the basement into a soundstage, Strompolos was scouring the Big Apple for props.
"The more I think about it, the more it’s almost hard to wrap my head around. What did force us to keep moving along for seven years?" says Strompolos. "I think that the magic of all this is that we actually stuck it out."
REALLY SPECIAL EFFECTS
Some would argue that the real magic is that they all survived. Raiders of the Lost Ark is no lightweight action flick. There are car chases, gunfights and snakes – hell, for the climax, the wrath of God descends from the heavens to melt a few dozen Nazis.
"Nobody died, which I guess is good," says Strompolos. "The closest we came was when we lit Eric on fire with gasoline."
When the boys converted Zala’s basement into a Nepalese bar that eventually bursts into flame, Lamb experimented with quick-burning chemicals to get the desired effect. Zala took the role of the flaming thug and the combination of gasoline, flame and teenage boys meant a near-death experience and an empty fire extinguisher.
"Our moms were not happy with us, obviously," says Strompolos.
Yet filming continued. Zala had a few more brushes with death, and when they had to retire their original Betamax camera, they finished shooting with a VHS recorder that was financed with a summer of pizza delivery. After all that work, the boys had a hometown premiere and that was almost the end of the story.
STRANGER THAN FICTION
Sixteen years passed. The story of the three kids who remade Raiders was the stuff of underground film legend. Through a friend of a friend, Hostel director Eli Roth wound up with a copy of the film and thought it was too good to ignore. He tracked down the filmmakers and in 2003 Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation had its film festival debut in Austin, Texas.
Since then, the movie has picked up momentum like that massive boulder. Strompolos and Zala have taken the film on the road, Vanity Fair did a huge feature on them and they were even invited to Amblin headquarters to meet the man himself.
"Meeting Spielberg was an absolute dream come true," says Strompolos. "I don’t get star struck…. but I just turned into a child."
Spielberg has gone on record to say that one of the greatest compliments he has ever received, as a filmmaker, was this shot-by-shot remake of Raiders. Producer George Lucas silently echoed his sentiments by not suing them. And since truth is stranger than fiction, Paramount Pictures has bought the rights to their story and writer Daniel Clowes was tapped to pen the screenplay.
Looking back at that epic 25-year journey, one question remains to be asked. Why Raiders? Zala’s answer is simple.
"It’s the one film I could still imagine wanting to remake, even now."
THE BEST LINES FROM RAIDERS
After seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark more than 50 times, and making a shot-for-shot remake of the film, Chris Strompolos has picked his favourite lines.
1. "It’s not the years, baby, it’s the mileage."
2. "You Americans are all the same, always overdressing for the wrong occasions."
3. "Asps, very dangerous. You go first."
4. Rene Belloq: "It’s a radio for speaking to God."
Indiana Jones: "You wanna talk to God. Let’s go see him together. I’ve got nothing better to do."
5. "Top men." |
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