People love to hate on George Lucas for multiple reasons. It could be the Greedo shoots first scene in the Special Edition or the prequels as a whole or even the infamous nuke the fridge scene in INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. But, someone is defending Lucas on that final one and is taking responsibility themselves.
According to First Showing, Steven Spielberg was asked about the scene and the movie as a whole and the director owned up that the entire sequence was actually his idea.
“I know in Indy 4, you didn’t buy the refrigerator and the atomic bomb… I know! I know! But we tried! We tried! I was pushing the envelope! By the way, I take FULL responsibility for that — that was COMPLETELY my idea! Even Harrison said to me: ‘Nobody is going to buy this!'”
While Spielberg certainly would have had a hand in crafting the elements of the film, the long in development sequel was also the product of George Lucas‘ input in getting made. Lucas even has gone so far as to say that Spielberg was just trying to protect him from the backlash that fans had built up from STAR WARS complaints.
In fact, it was Spielberg who “didn’t believe” the scene. In response to Spielberg’s fears, Lucas put together a whole nuking-the-fridge dossier. It was about six inches thick, he indicated with his hands. Lucas said that if the refrigerator were lead-lined, and if Indy didn’t break his neck when the fridge crashed to earth, and if he were able to get the door open, he could, in fact, survive. “The odds of surviving that refrigerator — from a lot of scientists — are about 50-50,” Lucas said.
The second quote sounds a lot more realistic than Spielberg’s, but it doesn’t really matter which way you go: the scene was kind of dumb. Would this stop you from seeing a fifth film if it were to get made as Harrison Ford hopes it will? I highly doubt it. Getting a mediocre Indiana Jones sequel is better than not getting one at all.