Steven Spielberg does not look back on his career with too many regards, but there is one film from the Indiana Jones franchise that he wishes he took a different course of action for the film plot. He later admitted that the movie was “too dark”.
According to the critics, Temple of Doom (1984) was a box office hit and not Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, though it received many negative critics. Steven Spielberg also did not like this movie because it was so dark and gore.
Steven Spielberg Despised The Movie – Temple of Doom
Steven Spielberg was disappointed with the movie as he could not stamp off his own personality in this film. He set very high standards for himself, which is why he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The Temple of Doom was the first sequel Spielberg made in his career and was a challenge to him. In order to please the people, he forgot to make a film that he liked and approved.
Later he explained that it was uncharted waters for him, though the movie earned a massive three hundred thirty-three million dollars with only twenty-eight million as its production cost. In an interview with the Sun Sentinal,
“I wasn’t happy with Temple of Doom at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-poltered Poltergeist. There’s not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom. The danger in making a sequel is that you can never satisfy everyone.”
While Spielberg isn’t a fan of the movie, he said that looking back, there isn’t a single bone in his body that regrets agreeing to take on the project. In the set of Temple of Doom, he met Kate Capshaw, and he claims that it was the best thing to ever happened to him. Later they got married in the early 1990s and he’s been grateful forever since.
A Plot Summary of the – Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984-2000-2003 American fantasy–adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indians Jones franchise, a prequel to 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the second film to use THX technology.
After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees, stumbling upon a Kali-worshipping thuggee cult practicing child slavery, black magic, and ritual human sacrifice.
Producer and co-writer George Lucas decided to make the film a prequel as he did not want the Nazis to be the villains again. The original idea was to set the film in China, with a hidden valley inhabited by dinosaurs. Other rejected plot devices included the Monkey King and a haunted castle in Scotland. Lucas then wrote a film treatment that resembled the film’s final storyline.
Some of the film’s cast and crew, including Steven Spielberg, retrospectively view the movie in an unfavorable light. The film has also been controversial due to its portrayal of India and Hinduism.
Source: Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is available for streaming on Prime Video.
