Published: May 24, 2008 02:51 am            

Jonesing for Indy

Locals make fan film ‘Indiana Jones and the River of Fortune’ to be shown June 19 at SCC

Ever heard of “Indiana Jones and the River of Fortune?”

No, you didn’t miss an Indiana Jones film somewhere between 1989 and today — this one is an entirely different creation, a “fan film” made locally by a group of diehard Indiana Jones fans.

Zach Bales, a local young filmmaker, spearheaded the project last summer, in anticipation of the new movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” released this past Thursday. The fourth in the legendary film series about an action-hero archaeologist, the Steven Spielberg-George Lucas-Harrison Ford movie revisits the character almost decades after he was last seen on the silver screen.

In that time, fans of Indiana Jones have made not-for-profit films using the franchise’s characters, costumes, music and more, getting the chance to live the dream for a little bit. Bales and his crew thought they might get in on the action, as Indy-mania reached fever pitch in the months leading up to the new film’s release.

“We started production at end of June (2007) and we wrapped principal photography at the end of August. We have been editing ever since,” said Bales. “We had been waiting for ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ to hit theaters so that we can get the soundtrack and insert a song or two from the new movie into ours.”

But first, they needed a story to tell.

“We started talking about how we could write (a screenplay), then said, ‘Oh wait, they had written four or five scripts for the new Indiana Jones movie that never got made, because Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford couldn’t all agree on one,” said Bales.

That’s when Bales “stumbled across one” on the Internet called “Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars.”

“The first 15 pages were perfect Indiana Jones,” said Bales. “You had your nasty creatures, mystic ants; you had your hero introduced, you had your villain, you had your damsel in distress. You had your colorful sidekick. It was a great 15 pages.

“I showed this to a few people, and everyone said this is wonderful, we need to make this,” he continued. “So for the rest of the summer, we committed ourselves to this.”

Copyright issues weren’t a problem; Bales said he looked into it, and the film’s producers don’t mind if you use their music, sound effects, characters, etc., to create your own “fan film” as long as you aren’t trying to make any money off of it.

That gave the crew free license to stay as true to the original Indiana Jones series as they were able. The original script takes place in 1949, but it’s been readjusted to the early ‘30s considering Bales, the actor in the lead role, is quite a bit younger than Harrison Ford — even when Ford did the first film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Eric Whitson plays the bad guy, Fredrick Baldazar — “He’s kind of like Belloq, the villain from ‘Raiders,’ but instead of being in it for the archaeology, he’s in it for the money and fame,” said Bales. “He would cut Indy’s throat at the first sign of trouble.”

Jason Briones plays the sidekick, described as a cross between Short Round from “Temple of Doom” and Satipo from the beginning of “Raiders.” Sable Floyd portrays the love interest, Elaine McGregor.

The group used the camera of another local filmmaker, David Daring, and shot in and around Pulaski County — save one scene at Cumberland Falls. “We needed to send something over the waterfall,” Bales said, grinning.

Amazingly, if you look hard enough, you can make Pulaski County appear to be a jungle in Borneo, according to the filmmakers — and the wild green plant life that grew up in spots where Lake Cumberland had gone down, with the wet conditions providing for lush growth, only helped things.

“We tried not to pick locations where people would say, ‘Oh, that’s Pulaski County!’ We would hike into valleys up into the middle of nowhere, take boats into crevices, to where people would doubt that we’re actually here,” said Bales.

Obviously they were working with a shoestring budget — Bales figures they probably didn’t spend more than $100. The most expensive item was Indy’s trademark fedora hat at $40. The little details like the hat and bullwhip were all that was needed. Everything else — all the old oil cans, beat-up boat lanterns, old ammo boxes — were borrowed from individuals who had items more than a century old in their possession, or constructed on the cheap.

“We used everything we could find,” said Bales. “Most people would look and say, ‘Where in the world would you find a gatling gun?’ They don’t realize that the gatling gun is made of PVC pipe and wood. I think most people would be surprised when they see it that it’s not a gatling gun at all.”

Even the mishaps were true to the Indy feel. Picking up trash one night before an early morning shoot, Bales reached for an old bag on the ground — and was surprised to find the litter coil and hiss.

“I stumbled over to Neil Compton, one of my right-hand men on the project, and said, ‘Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?’” laughed Bales, referencing the character’s infamous fear of the slithering serpents. “We packed up and went home and came home the next morning to try to get the thing set up in daylight. I thought it was poetic somehow.”

“Indiana Jones and the River of Fortune” was shown Friday night at Southern Middle School and will play again June 19 at Stoner Little Theater on the campus of Somerset Community College at 8 p.m. Admission is free.

Those interested can also check out trailers for the 30-minute film on YouTube by doing a search for “Indiana Jones and the River of Fortune.”

Bales and Compton said they hope people recognize what they were able to do with such limited resources in making a fan film so dedicated to the Indiana Jones spirit.

“I saw ‘Last Crusade’ in the theater in ‘89; I was four years old. I’ve been waiting 19 years for this,” he said of the excitement surrounding the new installment in the franchise. “Everyone in (our) movie loves ‘Indiana Jones.’ We like to think of ourselves as the biggest fans in the county.”

The key to Indy’s appeal? Unlike the characters in, say, “Star Wars,” Indiana Jones is a true human being — anyone could be this character, under the right circumstances.

“He’s a real guy,” said Bales. “He’s a hero.”

        

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