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At 12 years old, most kids are starting sports and building forts. However, Eric Zala, Chris Strompolos and Jayson Lamb were busy filming a shot-for-shot remake of "Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark." They began in 1982 when all were age 12 and finished seven years later. Now the film is being shown in small non-profit theaters across the nation, always with one of the Raiders Boys in company. Tonight, all three filmmakers will be present at the Alamo Drafthouse screening of "Raiders: The Adaptation." Director Steven Spielberg has seen the film several times and supports the three men's accomplishment with the film. Now, Scott Rudin is making a film on the men's lives and their endeavor in remaking "Raiders." Recently, the Texan had a chance to speak with the filmmakers.
Daily Texan: What was your estimated budget for the film?
Chris Strompolos: We don't really know, an estimation somewhere between $4000 to $5000 over the seven-year period of time. We cobbled together everything from donations to stuff we found, allowances, and we asked for things for our birthdays and Christmases.
DT: What did your parents think of you making the film, and how did they feel once it achieved famedom?
Chris Strompolos: Initially they did what any parent would do - they smiled and patted us lovingly on the head and said, 'OK, go have fun,' thinking it would last only a few days or a few weeks. They had no idea it would last seven years. They were sort of forced as parents to help us out of inertia with us going for seven years. They were helpful like parents would be, and once we could drive we tried to keep them out of the loop as much as possible. Certainly, now that we've gotten a certain amount of worldwide attention and our movie has developed a strange cult following, they're proud of us; they're happy for us.
Jayson Lamb: They loved for me to be involved. I was a social introvert, so that was me socializing and getting out there. My dad always wanted me to be disciplined, so he tried to get me to do piano for seven years, which I hated. When he saw me doing this film every day, he was happy. When everyone else's parents wanted to shut down, my parents wanted us to try to find other ways, even when we were probably going to kill ourselves, my mom said, "But he's having a good time!" All our parents were supportive, to some degree blindly supportive, living in this little island of denial.
DT: What was your favorite scene to film?
Chris Strompolos: I enjoyed the truck scene, probably one of my favorite scenes, because we had gotten our momentum and we were a little bit more skilled. We knew what we wanted. It ran as efficiently as we could, given heat and teenage extras problems. It came out as one of our strongest scenes; it goes to show we all really enjoyed it. After that, my second favorite is the kissing scene. No, I'm just being silly. It was the first time I ever kissed a girl, and I was nervous and excited, the pitter-patter of my teenage heart. It seemed far more dangerous than being dragged under a truck.
Eric Zala: I would have to say the truck scene. Thank goodness we waited until we were older to attempt it or else we might have died. It was physically very grueling, weeks in the sweltering Mississippi summer, filming on multiple vehicles, stunts flying off the truck, being dragged under a truck. It was the most challenging but most fun.
Jayson Lamb: Of course the truck scene was great. I tried to make a mold of Eric's face for a scene, which didn't really work out. In order to make his character's head explode, I made a mold of a mannequin's face, then projected the image of Eric's face onto the mold, then took a double shotgun and blew the head up. But we forgot to tell the neighbors about it, so the cops came out to see what was going on. A few nights before we'd been on a TV show, so the cop remembered us. So he gave us his card and told us to call him if we had any more trouble. We always had a few scats with the law, but we're very nice and sincere so we get by.
DT: How goes progress for the "making of" movie?
Eric Zala: It's going really well. It's a major motion picture produced by Scott Rudin and Paramount. The screenwriter is Daniel Clowes, he's a nominated screenwriter. He also has done a lot in the comic book world. He's been tapped to write the script. The project is close to being green-lighted, where they hire on a director - I'm sure they have at least a couple in mind - then do location scouting. It's been building momentum all this time. They don't know yet what the title will be.
DT: Any chance the adaptation will be released briefly when "Indiana Jones IV" comes out [in 2008]?
Chris Strompolos: We talk about it, but the parameters are such that it would be difficult. It's dangerously close to copyright infringement if it were marketed and released through anything professional. The question is, who gets that money? Because the legal nebulousness of it all, we focused on screening it in nonprofit situations. We use the money for charity. I imagine if Lucas, Spielberg and Rudin put their heads together, they'd figure something out.
Eric Zala: Spielberg, Lucas and Paramount own a stake in Indiana Jones intellectual copyright. There are no concrete plans for that yet, but I wouldn't say that's out of the question.
DT: What was it like to make this film, and how did you cultivate so much local support while filming - being able to use local airports (Ocean Springs Airport) for the scene where Indiana Jones gets into the plane to go to Nepal? How did you get a submarine?
Chris Strompolos: Not taking no for an answer. When we put our minds to something, we don't stop. That persistent energy that kept us going. We never gave up. That's one of the reasons a lot of people have gravitated toward our movie - it captures the spirit of independent movie making. Go out and do it yourself. Not that I was a full-fledged producer back then, I just didn't take no. It took us three years to get the submarine. It forced us in many ways to be extremely resourceful. Also, I think a lot of people started to take notice because we weren't going to stop. It's fun, but aggravating and exhausting at the same time. Coming from a small town, I found the community extremely supportive. It all sort of worked out.
Jayson Lamb: For me it was a very different experience from Eric and Chris. Chris' dream was to become Indiana Jones; for Eric it was remaking the movie. Long before "Raiders" came out I was very interested in special effects. Before '89 there really was nothing visual out there.
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