Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg had to make revisions to his project following an unexpected scenario on the set of Temple of Doom. While many actors agree to face their fears, Kate Capshaw could not bring herself to conquer her own.
The set of Indiana Jones can be full of exotic animals, and one of the reptiles chosen to grace the screen was a giant snake. Capshaw was clearly not fond of serpents, and because of that, Spielberg had to make a change, or he’d lose the actress.
Steven Spielberg Removed A Scene From Indiana Jones Following Actress’ Panic Attack
In a video showing The Making of the Temple of Doom, Kate Capshaw suffered from extreme ophidiophobia or irrational fear of snakes. In the scene where her character, Willie Scott, finds the snake coiling around her body, the actress withdraws. She revealed:
“I didn’t know that there were snakes. Someone said, ‘There are snakes ‘cause at the very end of the three weeks in Sri Lanka, they’re building this little pond, and you’re gonna be in the water, and a snake is gonna come out of the tree. It’s gonna come down behind you while you’re freshening up in this little pond,’ and I’m thinking, ‘I don’t think I can do that.’”
Frank Marshall, producer of the film, wanted to proceed with the shot so he tried his best to make Capshaw and the snake get to know each other. It was a failed attempt, and Capshaw remarked:
“I went over and looked at it, and looking at it, I get tears in my eyes, and I’m having a hard time breathing, and I’m looking… I can almost work myself up right now. And I went over, and I put my hand on the snake, and I lost it.”
Director Steven Spielberg noticed how the actress turned pale because of fear, and he made sure never to put her through the same terrifying scene again:
“She was shaking, and she was all white, and you could see right through her makeup. She had lost all of her color. And I said, ‘I’m not gonna put you through this. Let’s cut it out.’ And I cut the whole scene out of the movie. I think she probably, years and years later, married me for that!”
Because of that fateful incident, Spielberg and Capshaw tied the knot in 1991 after dating for two years.
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Kate Capshaw Thanked Steven Spielberg For Omitting Snake Scene
Even though Kate Capshaw was relieved from shooting with a snake, Steven Spielberg made sure she would have to work with the bugs. The actress added:
“I was so relieved, and he said, ‘But, you have got to do the bugs.’ Like a kid, right? ‘Okay, you can’t do this, but you have got to do…’ I didn’t know about the bugs, and I went, ‘The what?’”
The director made some changes in the scene but stayed true to the essence of the story. To his surprise, Capshaw agreed to work with a real snake. The director noted:
“As a kind of reward for me, we had this fake snake that she was gonna have over her neck, and she said, ‘I wanna use the real snake.’”
Steven Spielberg said that he saw it as Capshaw’s way of thanking him for cutting out the other snake scene. Watch Capshaw toss a real snake in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on Disney+.
Source: YouTube
