FSU Student Life Cinema

“Indiana Jones Franchise” (1981-2008) 

One of the most beloved and famous film series of all time is that of Indiana Jones.  Starting in 1981, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” introduced the world to Indiana Jones, an archeologist who journeys across the world discovering famous archeological treasures with wit and his whip.  What most people don’t know is that the order of the movies does not actually reflect the passage of time within the series.  Though “Raiders of the Lost Ark” took place in 1936, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” takes place in 1935, a year before the events of the first film and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” takes place in 1938, three years after the events of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.  Another fun fact: the actress who played Indiana Jones’ love interest Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) in “Temple of Doom” would actually later become and is the current wife of Steven Spielberg.

“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) 

Ranked #9 in the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Trills” list of movies is Roman Polanski’s tale of a woman (played by Mia Farrow) who is afraid that her husband has struck a deal with her next door neighbors to sacrifice her child to a cult and how far she would go to protect her baby.  One scene in particular is of interest: the scene in which Rosemary, confused and disoriented, walks across a busy street in Manhattan onto oncoming traffic.  When filming the actual scene, Farrow was scared that a car would actually hit her would hit her.  In response Polanski pointed to her pregnancy bump (a fake) and responded,”No one’s going to hit a pregnant woman.”  Additionally, the scene was was not staged and included Farrow actually performing the stunt.  Since the crew was scared they would be hit, Polanski used a hand-camera and followed her to shoot the scene.

“Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
In Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic, one if not the most iconic scene of the movie is that of the landing on Omaha Beach, which by itself took $12 million out of the film’s $70 million budget.  Just for the underwater shots used in the disimparking sequence, 40 barrels of fake blood were used.  Additionally, the scene consisted of 1,500 extras of which 20-30 were actual amputees hired for the production.  Interestingly, the 25 minute scene was not storyboarded for Spielberg wanted spontaneous reactions and for “the action to inspire me as to where to put the camera”. 

-Raymond Calderon