A couple of month ago, Steven Spielberg stepped up and took the blame credit for the nuking the fridge moment in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Now George Lucas is stepping up and defending the moment in the film.
In a lengthy new profile by the New York Times, Lucas says he put together a six-inch-thick “dossier” of nuke-the-fridge material to prove to Spielberg that it was possible for Indy to survive. According to his research, if the fridge really was lead-lined, if Indy didn’t snap his neck when the fridge landed after the blast, and if he could manage to get the fridge door open afterward, he could make it.
“The odds of surviving that refrigerator—from a lot of scientists—are about 50-50,” Lucas said.
In the same profile, Lucas made what might be an even loftier claim: He’s retiring from the Hollywood machine. He said Red Tails—the World War II pilot drama releasing this month that he produced and helped direct—will be his last big-budget film, and that from now on he’s going to take his cues from his pal Francis Ford Coppola and make smaller, more personal films.
“Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?” he asked.
Translation: Nobody is agreeing with my rules, so I’m taking my ball and going home.
But seriously, sometimes you got to know when to walk away.
Dear George Lucas,
We as fans don’t consider you a terrible person. You have made and been involved with genera and industry defining projects. What we as fans have a problem with is all the (Expletive Redacted) around you have done with those genera and industry defining projects.
Sincerly,
Big BS in PA
PS. Han Shot First you Fat (Expletive Redacted), Small (Expletive Redacted) Left Coast (Expletive Redacted).
So…people who had no problem with “angels” or whatever popping out of the “arc of the covenant” and french frying a bunch of Nazis and leaving Indy and Miriam unscathed because the didn’t actually *see* them, had a big problem with something that was what’s called a “gag”: a dude on a testing range at the Nevada Test Site jumps into a fridge that had a label in it stating…in a shot long enough to read it…LEAD-LINED.
The minute I saw that I laughed ’cause I GOT IT. So did a bunch of people in the audience who were “of a certain age range”.
WTF, people. Really?
It was a GAG with a wee bit o’scientific probability behind it.
Also, as far as the aliens being concerned, again I point to the “wrath of ‘God'” and the Nazis and the old chest that induces seizures in rats.
Yeah.
Let it go and stop acting like George Lucas killed your pony.
I’ll forget the fridge if Lucas remembers his promise to make 9 Star Wars movies. Waiting on the last three in the series now.
I’ll forgive the fridge and the obvious death-causing thrashing that the fridge (don’t give a shit if it’s lead-lined or not… put an egg in a can and throw it down stairs, it will break!) got… I’ll forgive a lot of other silliness… just as long as he promises not to make another one like ‘Temple of Doom’… and as long as he never, ever, EVER gives us anything like Jar-jar Binks or the Ewoks in combat again. Probably too much to ask, I guess. But seriously… Jar-jar?! Really? Why?!?!
My hope is that J.J Abrams will remake the Star Wars movies, as well. Then they will be awe-sooooome!!!!!!
One thing is for sure…Ol’ Fat Neck will not be retiring from milking the Star Wars franchise to death.
I want to protest the 3D movies… Beethoven never redid parts in his compositions. artists don’t repaint paintings. anything that is perfect is infallibly wrong. we are humans and Lucas is caught up in his ego.
Lucas needs to admit he was wrong!!!! at least once!!!! imagination makes up for the lack of special effects.
Oh well we all know that Mr. Lucas has a mind of his own.