‘Raiders’ Gets a Homemade Remake

Most kids growing up in the simpler times of small-town America in the Reagan-era ’80s could find plenty of traditional ways to fill their time — going to movies, playing outdoors, maybe a fishing trip.

“My parents didn’t know what was going on. We kept them in the dark. There was one bit where we set Eric on fire.”

But Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala spent seven straight summers, from 1982 to 1989, with a slightly more elaborate idea: They starred in and supervised a stunning shot-for-shot remake of the Steven Spielberg adventure classic “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which celebrates its 35th anniversary on Sunday.

That incredible effort — which they managed to achieve using their wits and ingenuity, since they obviously lacked a big-Hollywood budget in their small Mississippi town ($18 million for Spielberg’s film, $5,000 for theirs) — resulted in a movie that grew in stature from a buzzed-about cult item to receiving a national tour in theaters a few years back. But the daring duo and their friends always were haunted by one regret — they didn’t have a way to shoot the movie’s intense fistfight between Indy and a strongman villain set next to a plane with whirring propellers.

In 2013, they finally got their chance to finish their adaptation when they were approached by filmmakers Jeremy Coon and Tim Skousen and asked to participate in a documentary about their amazing endeavor.

The resulting film, “Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made,” centers partly on a massive Kickstarter fundraising effort to get the money needed to shoot that lost scene, and the challenges they faced in finally making their boyhood dreams come true a quarter-century later.

Currently on a tour of more than 50 cities nationwide, in which they show the doc and their adaptation as a double feature before answering attendees’ questions, Strompolos and Zala took some time to discuss their wild ride with Lifezette.

While their adaptation is legally restricted from ever being released on home video or online outlets — they’re only allowed to show it as a free addition to the doc, or when raising money for nonprofits — the documentary “Raiders!” is being released in theaters and VOD on June 17.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlhI15Bl9GM”]

“My parents didn’t know what was going on. We kept them in the dark. There was one bit where we set Eric on fire. My mom saw it, and we got in trouble and agreed to have adult supervision,” recalls Strompolos, who was 11 at the time they started shooting. Zala was 12. “We kept our parents separate from it. We made it sound innocent, just saying, ‘We’re going off to shoot ‘Raiders!’ and Mom would say ‘OK!’ It wasn’t until the 1989 hometown premiere that my mom saw me go under the truck.”

The film marked a series of unforgettable moments for Strompolos, who spent his teen summers being shot at, dragged under a truck, and chased by a giant boulder. He had his first kiss, fought off Arabs and Indians, and eventually saved the planet from Nazi domination. In 2008, he and Zala — who directed and played Belloq to Stromplos’ Indy – were finally allowed to show it beyond their hometown and house parties for friends, and they wound up having a 2012 book written about their exploits, in addition to a now-lapsed offer to turn the making of their story into a fictionalized feature film.

For Zala, it was an even more daunting challenge to make all the action come to life in a fairly believable fashion. They had to rely on their memories of the film, as well as press photos of it and an illustrated screenplay, in order to plan it properly — since the real “Raiders” hadn’t been released on home video when they started their project in 1982.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvQEJH_6kzs”]

Along the way, they created 600 detailed storyboards, and built the Ark of the Covenant out of $100 worth of lumber and some Styrofoam that was overlaid in plaster and spray-painted gold.  Zala’s brother Kurt is also credited with 18 roles in the film, since he filled in whenever another kid didn’t show up. They had to shoot the adaptation out of the sequence of the story and over the course of seven years, resulting in the cast changes in voice tone, hair style, and body size — often within the same scene.

And yet, it was exciting and believable and wound up making them underground legends. They also had enough support from intrigued movie lovers to raise nearly $100,000 to finally shoot that fight scene near the airplane. While it may be comically disorienting at moments to realize that their looks change from moment to moment, the fact that they pulled it off so well with nearly zero budget and as kids is staggering enough to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the movie.

“We never meant for any of this to happen, and just made it for ourselves out of love,” says Zala. “It’s impossible for me to judge my own work, but what I hear from others is that this as a love letter to the original comes across.”