Daily Dialogue — July 30, 2016

“Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?”

— Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Apprehension suggested by Jon.

Trivia: In filming the Well of Souls sequence, the producers scoured every pet shop in London and the South of England for every snake they could lay their hands on. Hence there are snakes that are identifiable from many different geographical areas. However, once all the snakes were on set, it became clear that there were not nearly enough of them, so Steven Spielberg had several hoses cut into lengths, and these were used as well. Looking closely, you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not. Some of the weeds in the scene were lifted by Lawrence Kasdan from the Dagobah set of Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980). A sheet of glass separates Harrison Ford and the arched (and highly dangerous) cobra when he falls in. The snake actually did spray venom onto the glass.

Dialogue On Dialogue: According to oral tradition, Harrison Ford suggested to Larry Kasdan to give him some sort of fear or phobia because he thought Indiana was too perfect. Hence, his apprehension of snakes.

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