Frank Marshall began his career in film through a chance meeting with director Peter Bogdonavitch, who at the time was completing a film {targets for the venerable Roger Corman of New World Pictures. That association led to various other Bogdonavitch projects {Paper Moon, Nickelodeon, Daisy Miller) and in 1973 precipitated another chance meeting overseas with director Steven Spielberg. Nothing came of the meeting at the time and Marshall went on to produce two films for action director Walter Hill {The Driver, The Warriors) as well as a number of other projects.

Spielberg had kept Marshall in mind, however, and asked him to act as producer on the '81 release Raiders of The Lost Ark. That association led to a number of other projects with Spielberg: Poltergiest, E.T., Twilight Zone: TM, and most recently Marshall served as co-executive producer with George Lucas for Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom. In the following interview Marshall details the production on IJ&TOD, a film brought together, according to Marshall, by a talented cast and crew, the experienced production team, and just a little "foo-foo rice. "

FF: Raiders of The Lost Ark was a great success both with the fans and at the box office. How do you top your own success? What do you need to do to make a bigger and better Indiana Jones films?

MARSHALL: It is a real challenge. The first thing you do is try to retain the original formula. Sut since we have already established what the genre and the spirit of the movie is, we also have a chance to expand the ideas and the formula. We can take a few more chances with the material in this one. We can go a little farther and stretch the predicaments and develop the character more. Indiana Jones becomes a much more mature character in Temple of Doom.

FF: Are there going to be more spectacular stunts in this movies Have you gone back to some of the old ideas from past serials?

MARSHALL: Yes, our attempt was to, once again, do the kind of stunts that people haven't seen before. They are certainly as spectacular as the first movie, but they are all new and different

FF: How closely do you work with your scriptwriters when you sit down to put the movie together?

MARSHALL: I don't work that closely on the script; that is left up to Steven and George. I participate in the meetings from a production point of view - saying, gee that's a great idea but I don't know how we are going to do that. I try to inject reality and practicality into the script. Of course George Lucas has a way of saying, "Hey, you can do it." And Steven is a great one for coming up with the ideas. He's creative, not just as a director, but in coming up with ways of doing things, and making them work from a production standpoint. He's very flexible, which is a great help to Robert Watts and myself. I think it's a great team.

FF: Movies such as Raiders and Temple of Doom have become famous for their spectacular stunt work How do you go about staging some of the more dangerous stunts?

MARSHALL: The stuntman's job is to do a stunt that's safe, and make it look dangerous. You really have to rely on your experts. We have situations where stunts are written into the script, but ultimately it's up to the stunt coordinator and special effects man to say whether they can be done or not. We would never do a stunt that was considered a "dangerous stunt." Everything is well coordinated and planned out. We're always concerned with safety above all else.

FF: Can good camera work make a stunt even more spectacular and dangerous looking than it is?

MARSHALL: Absolutely, Steven has away of directing a film soyou get the most out of the action.

FF: Many fans were enthusiastic about what you did in The Making of Raiders television documentary, which showed stunt men as the real stars - the unsung heroes.

MARSHALL: Well, in a way they were the heroes of the early films, too.

FF: Was Temple of Doom more difficult to produce than Raiders?

MARSHALL: In some ways it was easier, in some ways harder. For example, when we arrived in Sri Lanka, it was like a great big reunion, we had almost all the same crew there. The same production people, transportation people, same caterer, those sort of things. We also had Indiana Jones again, so we were starting out on a completely different level than before. We all knew what kind of a movie it was, what the atmosphere and spirit should be, who the character was. So it seemed like we were starting on the first day of Temple of Doom where we'd left off on Raiders. From that point on we just expanded. In that respect it was easier. On the other hand there were a couple of scenes in this movie that were harder adventure action scenes to create than in the first movie. So we had to figure out how to do them. The fact that we'd all worked together before on this type of movie was a great help.

FF: Is it harder producing on location or on controlled sets?

MARSHALL: It's much harder on location because if the camera breaks, you can't just call the studio camera department and get a new one. You have to have everything with you, all the back-up you may need.

FF: You were in Sri Lanka, an international location. Did you have to deal with politics and government unrest?

MARSHALL: We left before the trouble started. They had a civil war just after we'd gone we had a very good experience there. But you do have to deal with the local government, customs and shipping equipment. You also have to set up a plan to ship the negative back to the lab in London and a plan for the banks to exchange currencies. It's not real easy. It's much harder to ship the camera equipment to Sri Lanka than it is from Cal!fornia to Nevada. The language is different, the way of life is different.

FF: What were some of the other location shoots included in the movie?

MARSHALL: We were also in Macau, Hong Kong, and London, at Hamilton Air Force base here in California and in and around some of the rivers and mountains of California. We went from the snow to the rapids.

FF: Did you work with many animals this time?

MARSHALL: Lots of animals. We replaced the snakes of Raiders with bugs, and we worked with a variety of different jungle animals, such as elephants in Sri Lanka, a tiger, monkeys and lizards.

FF: What do you think will make this movie different from its predecessor?

MARSHALL: TempleofDoomis a much more personal story for Indy it leans more towards the humanity of things, rather than what will make him rich and famous.

FF: Harrison Ford fans will appreciate that.

MARSHALL: Not only his fans, but I think Harrison had a great time with the story .

FF: Harrison seems to put a lot of himself into the role of Indiana Jones. What do you think is the reason for the charm and popularity of this character?

MARSHALL: I think Harrison has a natural charm. It's hard to put a finger on what makes one actor or character more successful than another, but this is the kind of hero all of us want to identify with. He's the kind of guy we'd all like to be. In this movie we expand the role. Harrison and Steven each brought a lot of new ideas in about the character. They really came up with something great.

FF: A good character also needs other actors to play off of. you have a new leading lady Kate Capshaw, and a new sidekick for Indy Can you talk about what characters they are and how they work into the story?

MARSHALL: Well, I can tell you how they got their names. The girl Willy and Indy's sidekick Short Round, were named after two dogs. So was Indy George Lucas' dog is named Indiana, Steven Spielberg's dog is named Willy and the scriptwriters' dog is named Short Round. People always ask me, "How do you come up with the names for characters?" Well that's one way Short Round worked out great because he's short and he gets around a lot. I think he's unique. There hasn't been a character like him before.

FF: Does Indy befriend him or perhaps save his life?

MARSHALL: They met up before the movie begins. In Temple of Doom, Short Round, his side- kick; you get a little bit of his background during the movie. But at the start of the movie, Indy doesn't know Willy Scott, a nightclub singer in Shanghai. They accidentally get together at the beginning and the three of them go on all these adventures.

FF: The new movie isn't really a sequel or a prequel, it's just a continuing of the adventures in a timeless way, like the Sherlock Holmes or James Bond stories. But it does take place before Raiders. Are any of the characters from Raiders reprised in Temple of Doom?

MARSHALL: No, the only returning character is Indiana Jones. As you said, it's not a prequel and it's not a sequel, just a new episode.

FF: One integral part of the charm of the Indiana Jones movie is the light-hearted humor that keeps the audience smiling, even during dangerous situations. Have you worked humorous situations into the new movie?

MARSHALL: Yes, we have the same sprinkling of humor in Temple of Doom There has to be some sort of comic relief because of the perilous situations that Indiana Jones gets into. He's still a vulnerable character like he was in the first movie. He isn't perfect and he does make mistakes. So we're able to laugh at ourselves by laughing at him, which makes the movie more charming. There is more comedy in Temple of Doom than in Raiders but there are also more scary parts. The mood shift is bigger and we take more risks with it. But without the humor you wouldn't have an Indiana Jones movie.

FF: Have you reprised any of the "gags" from Raiders in the new movie?

MARSHALL: In the first movie there was actually supposed to be a long fight between Indy's whip and the assassin's sword. It turned into the most famous moment in the movie. In Temple of Doom, when Indy reaches for his gun it isn't there - that's funny too but also a tip-of-the-hat to the first movie.

FF: You have worked very closely with Steven Speilberg on numerous projects. What is he like to work with?

MARSHALL: It's exciting. Steven stimulates everyone around him in a spirit that combines excitement, creativity and hard work. That makes it wonderful for those working with him. He is organized, but on the other hand he can have a spur-of the-moment idea and be very flexible. He has instantaneous ideas which sometimes create problems, but he has the same attitude as George, "We can do it." And somehow we always work it out right on the set. He's also a real craftsman, as far as his knowledge of moviemaking goes, as well as a great storyteller, and it all comes together to be incredibly creative. Steven also has enough confidence in himself to accept ideas from other people. It's great tb work with him because he is very accessible.

FF: Harrison Ford seems to be a fairly quiet man with a wry sense of humor.

MARSHALL: He's got a great sense of comic timing and his humor is very dry. He's very serious about his work, one of the most professional actors I've ever worked with. He can have a good laugh, tell a good joke but he keeps a low profile because it is hard work. He's great with the crew; he's always aware of what's going on around the set. You've got to keep a light-hearted attitude about things or you're never going to make it.

FF: It seems to be part of your job to keep everyone, the actors and crew, happy, to keep the atmosphere on the set enjoyable, no matter what's happening. How do you do that?

MARSHALL: With lots of foo-foo rice. Seriously, I think it's part of my job to make things enjoyable because a lot of the attitude on the set of any movie is reflected in the movie.

FF: What do you see in the future for Indiana Jones movies?

MARSHALL: We're probably going to do a third one - we're all talking about it.

FF: How much was George (Lucas) present during the filming?

MARSHALL: He visited once in Sri Lanka, a couple of times in London, and he was here during the shooting in California. He spent about the same amount of time with us as he did on the first movie.

FF: How much input does he have into the movie? Does he shift things around during the shooting or does he stand in the background and observe objectively?

MARSHALL: A little of both. He's a good sounding board for Steven. But George's input is already built into the script. George doesn 't step in and demand things. But he's there if you need him. He has a calming influence on us all.

FF: What kind of special effects work is ILM putting into the movie? Miniatures, optical effects?

MARSHALL: Sort of a potpourri of everything. There are about 50 more ILM shots in this movie than in Raiders.

FF: Are there any spectacular visual surprises we can look forward to?

MARSHALL: Lots of them. I have many favorite scenes in this movie.

FF: Any teasers you can give us?

MARSHALL: Keep your eye on the life raft. And remember, this one's done for real ...

Interview by Michael Stein
Fantastic Films, 1984