Five things we learned as Harrison Ford joined Steven Spielberg to screen Raiders of the Lost Ark in LA

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Last night, the LA Times held a screening of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in Los Angeles with director Steven Spielberg, who just happened to bring a special, unannounced guest in Harrison Ford. (I was not there. I was here in New Jersey where nothing good ever happens.) Besides the awesome opportunity to get to see RAIDERS on the big screen, both Spielberg and Ford talked about the movie with the audience and dropped some interesting tidbits of information.

No More Alien Adventures for Indiana Jones: Nothing particularly breaking on INDIANA JONES 5. “We’re hopeful,” says Spielberg as Ford quickly interjects with, “But I ain’t goin’ to Mars.” (But seriously, he adds, “I’d be delighted to play the character again…”)

Harrison Ford Was Offered a Role in JURASSIC PARK: When Ford mentions that Spielberg has only ever cast him as Indiana Jones, the director informs the crowd that he offered Ford the role of Dr. Grant in JURASSIC PARK but the actor turned it down. The audience gasps. Harrison Ford shrugs his shoulders.

Spielberg Regrets Caving to Parental Pressure to Edit E.T.: It apparently didn’t take long before the topic of STAR WARS came up. Spielberg says that while he doesn’t agree with George Lucas, he’s a good friend and if that’s what he wants to do to his films, that’s his business. As for changing his own films, Spielberg says, “I tried it once and I learned to regret it.” He admitted that making changes to E.T. for the special edition was a mistake that was “robbing the people of their memories of the movie.” He seemed to indicate that the upcoming E.T. Blu-ray would include the original cut only.

The INDIANA JONES Blu-rays Will Wait for George Lucas: As for the INDIANA JONES Blu-ray set, Spielberg said he hopes that Lucas will have more time to focus on this effort now that STAR WARS is done. He wasn’t sure if they were going to release them individually or as one giant box-set. No idea on when the film will finally hit shelves but Spielberg hopes it’s “soon.”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK Is The Only Movie Steven Spielberg Directed That He Can Watch All the Way Through: Spielberg doesn’t revisit his films very often but admitted that RAIDERS is the only project in his filmography that he can actually watch. “Of all the movies I’ve ever made, RAIDERS is maybe the only one I can watch from beginning to end…” Spielberg added, “Same with THE LAST CRUSADE – those are my two favorites in the series,” conspicuously leaving out TEMPLE OF DOOM and KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, the two most maligned films in the series (though in fairness, TEMPLE is still pretty damn good).