The shot-for-shot remake, 30 years in the making, is using Kickstarter to finish the final scene.
Back in 1982, two young boys by the names of Chris Strompolo and Eric Zala were stoked after seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark and were looking for adventure of their own. Even though they were only 10 and 11, respectively, they set out to make a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders using whatever they could get their hands on. They worked on what would later be called Raiders of The Lost Ark: The Adaptation until 1989, completing every scene except for one, the epic battle with the burly Nazi under the experimental airplane. Now, Strompolo and Zala are looking to Kickstarter to get the funds to finally finish what they started 30 years ago.
The fan film has become a cult classic shortly after the two called it quits in 1989. It featured every scene, line of dialog, and stunt, recreated with little budget, but lots of love. Boy Scout uniforms doubled as Nazi garb, and cardboard cutouts became exotic jungles. They even painted hieroglyphics on their basement wall, turning it into the Well of Souls. As boys, they never figured out a good way to shoot the airplane scene, but now they want to revisit it and finally finish their childhood project. With that complete, they’ll also release a digital version, so those of us far away from a fandom nexus, like the Alamo Drafthouse, can still see it.
The entire Raiders Adaptation story is pretty amazing. It’s been documented in a book, which has also been recently optioned as a movie by Napoleon Dynamite producer Jeremy Coon. The most I ever did as a kid was construct a crane to better haul water guns into my tree house, and even then it didn’t work so well. I hope these guys can get the funds to finally finish their dream project and do it right. To adventure and imagination!
Source: Kickstarter
