By ALAN EISENSTOCK, ERIC ZALA, CHRIS STROMPOLOS (Thomas Dunne Books; 2012)
Is anyone out there familiar with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION? Largely forgotten nowadays, this shot-by-shot remake of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) by a couple Mississippi based lads gained a fair amount of popularity in the aughts. As related in the 2012 book RAIDERS! (and accompanying 2015 documentary), the story of the film’s production is a fascinating one.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION (1989) Book Trailer
Eleven-year-old Chris Strompolos and twelve-year-old Eric Zala commenced their opus in the summer of 1982. Strompolos played Indiana Jones in a production that wound up taking a full seven years to complete (not counting the plane scene, which was filmed in 2014). During that time Strompolos came of age and experienced his first kiss on camera as the balance of power shifted wildly between the two boys, whose friendship was strained to the breaking point by professional (such as it was) jealousy, a romantic rivalry and personality clashes, with the outgoing Strompolos a stark contrast to the steely and introverted Zala.
The two stayed in contact after filming was complete, even though they led wildly dissimilar lives. Inevitably Strompolos and Zala were brought back together when their film became an unexpected cult hit, shepherded by Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News (back when AICN was still relevant) and culminating in a face-to-face meeting with the boys’ idol Steven Spielberg.
Author Alan Eisenstock relates this stranger-than-fiction story in present tense prose that admittedly took some getting used to, but which I ultimately found quite absorbing. I’ll have to question the photo-realistic recollections provided by the subjects, which seem impossibly detailed even for someone with a photographic memory, but otherwise I have no complaints.
In fact, I’d say RAIDERS! is one of the most enjoyable movie making-of books I’ve ever read with its riveting account of the struggle to create a convincing bar fire, submarine jump, melting face and rolling boulder on a budget that was essentially nonexistent. Not to give anything away, but Strompolos and Zala prevailed in those endeavors, as well as quite a few others.