Harrison Ford Played A Delicious Prank During Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is often criticized for its culturally problematic portrayal of the Thugee cult, and its unsettlingly dark content that, along with "Gremlins," led to the Motion Picture Association's creation of the PG-13 rating. The former issue is wholly legitimate, but is anything in the 1984 sequel more violent than Nazis getting their faces melted or Pat Roach getting cut to ribbons by a airplane propeller in "Raiders of the Lost Ark?"
What's not up for debate is that "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" was a particularly rough shoot for star Harrison Ford. The actor herniated a disc in his back while performing a somersault during the assassination attempt in Indy's bedroom, and refused to leave the set for treatment. As George Lucas recalled in John Baxter's "Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas," "[Ford] could barely stand up, yet he was there every day so shooting would not stop. He was in incomprehensible pain, but he was still trying to make it happen."
Ford ultimately left the production for five weeks to heal up, which means a good deal of the stunt sequences you see in the finished film were handled by legendary stuntman Vic Armstrong.
So, yeah, Ford has had more pleasurable shoots. Still, he tried to make it fun for his castmates, which resulted in a goofy prank while shooting one of the film's most thrilling sequences.
Pranking through the pain
According to Empire's oral history about the making of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," newly minted Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan, who was 12 years old when he played Indy's sidekick Short Round, said Ford's excruciatingly painful injury didn't dampen the star's sense of fun. "It was a very, very happy time," said Quan. "We all stayed in the same hotel in Sri Lanka and we'd go back to Harrison's hotel room and hang out. He even taught me to swim."
When it came time to shoot the mine car chase, Ford decided to play a sticky-sweet joke on Steven Spielberg. Per Quan:
"There's one shot where the mine car pops up into frame. Right before we did it, Harrison got ice-cream cones and gave some to me and Kate. When Steve said, 'Action,' we all popped up with ice-cream smeared all over our faces. Steven just said, 'That's great, print that one!'"
I'm not sure what flavor Ford picked out, but it had to taste better than eyeball soup or chilled monkey brains.