Raiders: The Adaptation

I came across this story in Wired about a group of three 12-year-old boys who made a shot for shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark…in the 1980′s.

In 1982, three 12-year-olds from Mississippi set out to remake Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was no weekend project: Eric Zala, Jayson Lamb and Chris Strompolos intended to replicate the 1981 George Lucas/Steven Spielberg blockbuster shot-for-shot. They’d use a rented video camera, rather than shooting on 35mm. With no access to A-list (or B- or even D-list) actors, they cast their buddies from middle school instead.

While Lucas and Spielberg spent $26 million on their Raiders, the Mississippi kids had only their pocket money. Plus, none of them had ever made a movie. Nonetheless, over the course of seven sweltering summers, with a total budget of about $5,000, Zala, Lamb and Strompolos completed a 100-minute work that, if passion, commitment and degree of difficulty are your criteria, stands as the greatest fan film yet made.

The film was created over a six year period during summers. Considering this was not the YouTube era we currently live in, it is pretty mesmerizing they were able to accomplish their goal. How many teenagers would wait six years to finish a film that had no high tech equipment? Very cool…