Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Trivia: The orginal title for this film was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death" which was changed because it sounded too foreboding.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom trivia picture

Trivia: Not a mistake, just something that's not immediately obvious: When they arrive at the plane after the club scene, the man that walks them to the plane is Dan Aykroyd.

Trivia: The 'chilled monkey brains' served during the dinner scene at the Palace were made from custard and raspberry sauce.

Trivia: A working title during preproduction was 'Raiders of the Temple of Death' before it was decided to base the title scheme around Indiana Jones (and of course "Death" was later changed to "Doom").

TonyPH

Trivia: Kate Capshaw was so afraid to do the scene with all the bugs, that she took drugs to calm her down. They made her a little "drunk". The slowed yet sometimes hysteric reactions to the bugs, were her own real phobias.

Mark English

Trivia: Originally Kate Capshaw was to perform a much bigger part in the dance number for "Anything Goes". However when she tried on the dress, she couldn't perform the moves, so her dance was cut and she just did simple hand and leg movements throughout the song.

Jack's Revenge

Trivia: Executive producer George Lucas has a cameo role as a missionary in the background in the airport scene at the beginning.

Trivia: The Thuggee was a real cult in India until the early 1900s. They were more of a cross between gypsies and the mafia than the army of religious zealots seen in Temple of Doom. The word Thuggee is, after all, the origin of our word "thug." For a more realistic portrayal of them, check out the Pierce Brosnan movie "The Deceivers."

Mark Bernhard

Trivia: When two of Lao-Che's men push Indy on a trolley into the orchestra during the fight at Club Obi-Wan, one of the members lets out a "Wilhelm scream."

Trivia: When Indiana Jones shoots the driver of Lao-Che's car during the chase in Shanghai, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.

Trivia: When Mola Ram is eaten by the crocodiles, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Willie spits in Indy's face it cuts to Short Round running through the mine, and just as Shorty turns his head toward the camera behind him, we can catch a glimpse of something blue which does not belong in this dark dreary environment, at the right side of the screen. There is a tall spotlight and two crew members, one is wearing a solid blue shirt and a cap, and the other a blue/white striped shirt with white pants. (01:21:25)

Super Grover

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This takes place in milliseconds and there's no way to see it unless you pause the image or play it in slo-mo. It should be under trivia.

Sacha

Right now I have it playing on Netflix, and there is no slow motion. The striped blue shirt is noticeable as it plays without any slo-mo. If something catches my eye onscreen, it is fair game to go back and rewatch what was noticed in the first place. And in order for me to confirm what I find, I do pause, and may take screenshots. By the way, I've seen this movie countless times over the years, and it was just a matter of catching that glimpse of the color blue because it popped out against the dreary surroundings. I'll leave it up to Jon whether to move it to trivia or not.

Super Grover

Fair enough :).

Sacha

More mistakes in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Willie: There are two dead people down here!
Indy: There's gonna be two dead people in here!

More quotes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Question: Why did Spielberg make Temple of Doom a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark? I read somewhere that he didn't want to make the Nazis the villains again, but that wouldn't be a problem since the Nazis never went to India or China.

MikeH

Answer: This is conjecture, but it seems the general function of setting Temple of Doom before Raiders of the Lost Ark is that it helps set audience expectations that the two movies are self-contained episodes. For instance, Karen Allen has said she wasn't disappointed about not being asked to return because she'd already been told that the next installment was being set in the past before her character is reunited with Indy. Conversely, since we're already aware Raiders makes no mention of the events of Temple of Doom, we know we shouldn't necessarily expect any further installments to continue directly from prior movies' storylines regardless if they are set forward in time.

TonyPH

Chosen answer: It was actually George Lucas who wrote the story, made it a prequel, and has stated it was because he didn't want the Nazis to be the villains again. The idea most likely seems if it wasn't a prequel, the Nazis could still be after Jones, even in China or India. But alas, there is really no other insight as to Lucas' prequel decision.

Bishop73

More questions & answers from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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