The making of Raiders of the Lost Ark – archive, 23 July 1981

23 July 1981 George Lucas and Steven Spielberg talk about the friendship that led to the creation of the first Indiana Jones adventure

Signing up both producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg is the kind of dream deal with which Hollywood executives console themselves after a bad day at the box office. After all, having the creators of two of the biggest grossing movies in history – Star Wars and Jaws– working together can’t be bad. But what Hollywood could never package friendship finally brought about and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, produced by Lucas and directed by Spielberg, comes to London next week from America where it is already one of the smash hits of the summer.

Set in the 1930s, Raiders is a high-spirited, Boys’ Own adventure full of evil Nazis, buried treasure, poisonous snakes, Nepalese drinking dens and daring escapes from death every ten minutes. The film was shot in a record 73 days and at the relatively modest cost (in current film terms) of $20m.