After Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Pictures’ Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, see entry) grossed $363 million worldwide, it was confirmed in the 10 Mar 1983 NYT that a sequel was in the works. Originally titled Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death, the screenplay was set in the years before the events depicted in its predecessor, thus making it a “prequel.” By mid-Apr 1983, the title was changed to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as “Temple of Death” was deemed too foreboding.
       Executive producer and story writer George Lucas originated Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as the second film in a World War II-set trilogy, intended partly as an homage to “action serials of the 1930s and ‘40s,” as stated in an 18 May 2008 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article. In an interview published in the May 2008 issue of Empire, Lucas asserted that the decision to make a prequel was prompted by his and his collaborators’ desire to move away from the Nazi villains of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and depict different “bad guys.”
       The characters “Indiana Jones,” “Willie Scott,” and “Short Round” are named after filmmakers’ pets: Indiana’s namesake was Lucas’s Alaskan Malamute; Willie was named after director Steven Spielberg’s dog; and Short Round was the name of screenwriter Willard Huyck’s dog. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review also pointed out the following references to Lucas’s Star Wars trilogy (see entries) contained within the film: the sound of a light saber activating can be heard during the scene in which Willie is caged over a pit of lava; the Shanghai, China, nightclub shown in the opening sequence is named “Club Obi Wan,” after the character “Obi Wan Kenobi”; and Indiana Jones dons a vest that was originally worn by the character “Han Solo” (also played by Harrison Ford) in a scene that takes place in the “Pankot Palace.”
       According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Sharon Stone was one of the front-runners to play Willie Scott, until relative newcomer Kate Capshaw auditioned for the role. Once Capshaw completed a screen test, Spielberg showed it to Harrison Ford, who immediately agreed that Capshaw should be cast. Spielberg later began dating the actress, and they were married in 1985.
       First-time actor Ke Huy Quan was a Vietnamese refugee living in the U.S. when he accompanied his older brother to an open casting call for the role of Short Round. Quan, who claimed in the 17 May 1984 Boston Globe never to have never seen a movie before the audition, drew the attention of one of the casting directors despite his difficulty pronouncing some of the words in the script. On set, the boy struck up a friendship with his fellow actors, especially Harrison Ford, who taught him how to swim.
       A Jul 1984 AmCin article noted that Spielberg spent four months storyboarding and location scouting in advance of the spring 1983 shoot. On 14 Apr 1983, the Philadelphia Inquirer announced that Spielberg left the previous day on a five-month trip to Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, and London, England. Principal photography began in Sri Lanka the following week, on 18 Apr 1983, according to a 15 Apr 1983 DV production chart. It was later stated in various sources, including the 20 May 1984 NYT, that Macau, not Hong Kong, stood in for Shanghai, China. According to end credits, shooting also took place on Mammoth Mountain in CA, and in unspecified areas of CA around the Tuolomne and American Rivers. The Boston Globe noted that the picture “was made amid utmost secrecy.”
       While production was based in Sri Lanka, dailies were shipped to London for processing, and reviewed by Lucasfilm employees. Prints of dailies were not sent back to Sri Lanka due to an overly long three-day turnaround period. Approximately sixty Sri Lankan army members were hired as background actors, and were paid less than Screen Extras Guild scale, as noted in the 29 Feb 1984 DV. Locations in Sri Lanka included the site of a particularly dangerous stunt: a real-life rope bridge that spanned a river gorge, three-hundred feet above water.
       Despite three months of training for the physically demanding role, Harrison Ford was incapacitated midway through the shoot. According to the 20 May 1984 NYT, Ford blamed his back injury on an elephant-riding scene, which reportedly reactivated a pre-existing ruptured disk in his spine. As noted in a 4 Mar 1994 DV article, George Lucas was asked to fly from his home in Northern CA to set in England to address the problem. Ford wanted to continue with production despite his pain, but was encouraged to fly back to Los Angeles, CA, for surgery. The 6 Jul 1983 Var announced his departure from set, and noted that the actor would be gone two weeks. However, recovery from the surgery took six weeks. A 10 Aug 1983 Var “Hollywood Soundtrack” column announced that Ford had resumed filming at Thorn EMI-Elstree Studios, where the production took up all of the facility’s nine soundstages.
       In Ford’s absence, stunt arranger-stuntman Vic Armstrong served as his double. Armstrong’s resemblance to Ford was said to be uncanny, and even Spielberg could not tell the difference between the two from five feet away. In Empire magazine, Armstrong noted that Spielberg shot him as close up as five feet, and even closer in certain costumes. Over-the-shoulder close-ups required the stuntman to deliver Ford’s lines, so that the side of his face could be seen moving.
       For the scene in which Willie follows Indiana Jones and Short Round into Pankot Palace’s secret tunnel system, Kate Capshaw was covered in 2,000 live bugs, as noted in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. To shoot the ordeal as quickly as possible, a two-camera set up was used. An additional scene involving a snake was cut from the shooting schedule after Capshaw allegedly suffered panic attacks in anticipation of filming it. For the stone mining sequence, a full-scale mine train was built at Elstree Studios, while visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren created a smaller, matching version for miniature shots. The full-scale model was electrically driven and fully functioning, and ran on a circular track that resembled a rollercoaster. A second dolly track for the camera was built alongside the train track. For safety reasons, the locomotive did not exceed ten miles per hour, but with the camera filming it against a rock wall, it appeared to be moving much faster. Different colored light gels were used in sequential takes on the circular track, to make it seem as if the actors were traveling through different parts of the mine. It took only twenty-five seconds for the train to complete the loop, and some of the action was filmed at twelve-to-eighteen frames per second, faster than the standard twenty-four frames per second, thus one loop on the track might result in only twelve seconds of film. The final edit of the chase sequence lasts approximately seven minutes.
       In a Jul 1984 AmCin article, Spielberg described the low-lighting scheme he and director of photography Douglas Slocombe achieved inside the Temple of Doom, using arc lights, 10 kilowatt lights, and smaller “baby” lights. Due to the “fast 94” film stock that was used, sometimes the light given off by an actual torch was all that was needed.
       Like its predecessor, the prequel was financed and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The budget was listed as $27 million in a 16 Jan 1984 DV chart, and later as $27.5--$28.2 million. In AmCin, Spielberg was quoted as saying, “We had a budget of $28 million, and we delivered Paramount a $28 million movie.” He also noted that principal photography was completed five days under schedule. The 29 Feb 1984 DV stated that $1 million of the budget was spent in Sri Lanka.
       Ford’s agreement to reprise the role of Indiana Jones in a third installment of the franchise was announced in the 23 Nov 1983 Var, shortly after filming was completed. The 20 May 1984 NYT noted that Vic Armstrong had also committed to a third sequel.
       The initial rough cut of the film was approximately 130 minutes long, according to Spielberg in AmCin. The director later showed a 115-minute version to George Lucas, and the two agreed that the pace was too fast. Additional matte shots were filmed, including an establishing shot of Pankot Palace, to “decelerate the action.” The final running time was 118 minutes.
       Controversy arose over the film’s rating of PG (parental guidance suggested) from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Arguing that the picture was not suitable for children under fourteen, Spielberg called for a PG-14 rating to be added to the rating system and applied to the film, to bar younger viewers from seeing it in theaters. Gremlins (1984, see entry), another upcoming release that was executive produced by Spielberg, spurned similar controversy as a PG-rated film with excessive violence and gore. Although a PG-14 rating was not applied to either film, the MPAA established a PG-13 rating soon after, and the first PG-13 picture to be released, in Aug 1984, was Red Dawn (see entry). In the meantime, to mitigate potential backlash, Paramount Pictures added a warning to advertisements for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, stating, “This film may be too intense for younger children.”
       Beginning 14 May 1984, the film was promoted in a week-long series hosted by movie critic Gene Shalit on the morning show, Today (NBC, 1952-- ). The series included interviews with Spielberg.
       The film premiered in Los Angeles on 22 May 1984 at Mann’s Chinese Theatre, as noted in an 18 May 1984 DV brief. Proceeds from the event went to the Pacific-Asian American Youth Services Coalition. In Seattle, WA, the film had a local premiere at the Seattle Film Festival, with a midnight showing on 22 May 1984, before the general release the following day, according to the 14 May 1984 DV.
       Critical reception was mixed. Many reviewers condemned the film’s violence, especially numerous scenes showing children in peril, and complained of racist overtones in the depiction of Indian culture. Willie Scott was also generally seen as an annoying character who screamed too much, and was called “easily the weakest female character in the series” in the 18 May 2008 LADN. Others, including movie critic Roger Ebert, defended the film as highly entertaining, and Ford received consistent praise for his charismatic portrayal of the beloved Indiana Jones.
       Indian actor Roshan Seth stated in Empire that he received flak for taking a role in a film that portrayed Indians as bug-eating savages, but Seth defended Spielberg, noting that the controversial banquet scene in which Pankot Palace waiters serve live eels, roasted beetles, monkey brains, and eyeball soup, was intended as a joke. According to Seth, the Indian characters were supposed to appear savvy in their choice to serve foreign guests such dishes, as a comment on the ignorance of outsiders who believed they ate that way; however, Seth lamented that the joke was ultimately too subtle for the film.
       Spielberg eventually reflected that the screenplay, like the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980, see entry), was a result of Lucas’s “dark period.” In Empire magazine, Lucas noted that, when they began working on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he was in the midst of a divorce from his first wife, Marcia, Spielberg had just broken up with actress Amy Irving, and neither were in “a good mood”; therefore, they tended toward edgier material. Spielberg countered that he was not comfortable with dark material at the time, and although he collaborated with Lucas and married screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz on the screenplay, the content “really went against [his] nature in the ‘80s.” When the third sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, see entry), was announced, Spielberg was quoted as saying that he wanted to complete the trilogy as well as “apologize for the second [film],” according to LADN.
       Despite tepid critical reception, the picture was an overwhelming box-office success when it opened on 1,685 screens, taking in $45,709,238 in box-office receipts in its first week of release and thereby surpassing Lucas’s latest Star Wars entry, Return of the Jedi (1983, see entry), as the highest one-week grosser in motion-picture history, as touted in a 1 Jun 1984 DV advertisement. Fanatic moviegoers, sometimes dressed as Indiana Jones, stood in line up to two days in advance of the opening, for access to the first midnight screenings on the morning of 23 May 1984. A 27 Jun 1984 WSJ article praised Frank Mancuso, president of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group, for his marketing savvy, and quoted Spielberg as saying Mancuso was “the most successful and creative link between the moviemaker and the theater owner.” In the 1984 summer season, Mancuso was credited with locking down more than twenty-five percent of the nation’s screens with Paramount films, including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Top Secret! (1984, see entries). Paramount reportedly spent the “relatively modest sum of $4 million” in first-week advertising for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as a result of polling that showed ninety percent of participants were aware of the film in advance of the release, and seventy-five percent intended to see the film in the theater. The LADN cited a cumulative domestic gross of $180 million, and a total of $153 million in foreign box-office receipts. The 28 Jan 1985 NYT stated that the picture earned the second-highest amount in domestic film rentals ($109 million) for 1984, after Ghostbusters (1984, see entry).
       An Academy Award for Visual Effects went to visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, chief visual effects cameraman for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) Mike McAlister, modelshop supervisor for ILM Lorne Peterson, and mechanical effects supervisor George Gibbs. Music composer John Williams was nominated for an Academy Award for Music (Original Score).
       As stated in a 30 May 1984 Var brief, newly appointed director of technical services for Lucasfilm Ltd., Clyde McKinney, installed THX sound systems in Mann’s Chinese Theatre and the Mann National Theatre for the opening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
       Despite success at the box-office, the film’s merchandising did not prove to be as commercially viable as other “blockbuster” films’, according to a 30 Oct 1984 DV article. One of the more popular items was a replica of Indiana Jones’s Stetson hat, but since the hat’s appeal was limited to an older audience, sales were not remarkably high. A novelization, written by James Kahn, was published by Ballantine Books, and a 23 May 1984 Var brief stated that two other Indiana Jones “adventures” were set to be published around the theatrical release. The Ballantine novelization was listed as third on the paperback best sellers list in the 24 Jun 1984 NYT.
       On 27 Nov 1984, six months after the film opened, a television special titled Heroes and Sidekicks – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom aired on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System). The program, which highlighted the relationship of Indiana Jones and Short Round, looked at other famous pairings in films, and was narrated by actor William Shatner, and produced in association with Lucasfilm Ltd.
       A fourth sequel in the Indiana Jones series, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was released in 2008 (see entry).
       End credits include: “Thanks to the governments of Sri Lanka and Macau for their help; photographed at Thorn EMI-Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, England, and on location in Sri Lanka, Macau, Mammoth Mountain and the Tuolomne and American Rivers in California”; “Thanks to Balfour Beatty Nuttal Victoria Project, Sri Lanka”; and, “Thanks to Reed Smoot.”