Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made

I remember this thing as being such a remarkable story.

What these children did was to find, through the film,

you know, the substance in which

their ideas of romance, and adventure,

and how to live, and how to explore,

and secret treasure...

That our lives can be filled with the pursuit of treasure.

How you doing? CHRIS: Good.

Good morning. All right. Come on in.

For years, you know, when we'd screen around the country,

people have said, "What about the last scene," you know?

And, uh, we thought how cool would it be

to reunite the cast and reunite the team,

and bring the people that you love the most

back to your home state to complete your childhood dream?

I mean, I think that's...

So, this isn't an investment in a film

where I'm likely to get anything back.

This is...

Because, we're not gonna take it and actually, yeah...

I understand, I understand. I'm just, you know...

I mean, to give you money where

you know you're never getting it back.

You're gonna have a hard time, okay?

Yeah, I understand.

Maybe that's a good segue to talk about

the rewards and incentives of investing.

Yeah.

So, this a video that Eric and I put together.

And in 1989, we finished every scene...

Except for one, the airplane scene.

We never got to do that iconic scene where

Indy fights the muscular Nazi amidst whirling propellers.

For years people have been urging us to...

People less committed would have given up,

or would have stopped and moved on, but...

Eric and I thank you in advance for your support.

So, we're gonna do the entire scene all the way through

to the plane blowing up at the end, and then cut back to

the truck scene. The time warp.

Right. It's kind of wild. Dr. Who.

Yeah. Yeah.

And, so people are... Okay, I'm interested.

Okay.

Okay, look, here's what I'm doing.

All right.

And we roll with it. Yeah.

Okay. Thanks.

As far as I'm concerned, that was successful.

Yes.

I'm gonna die right now.

Hi, what's up?

Through hell!

Oh, yeah!

So, what do you think of the movie so far, Chris?

First of all, I couldn't believe

that something like this existed.

A feature length, shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark,

starring kids,

made over the course of seven years,

where their ages change because it was shot out of order,

is just bizarre.

This was their entire life

from the time they were 10 to the time

they were 19 years old, something insane.

All of their summers were committed to this.

There's a story behind this.

And as film geeks, we wanted to discover, like,

what happened to these kids?

It's a shot, filmed as one of the earliest shots.

And the Hovitos are running by,

and I come by and, I think I run by in my corduroy pants,

and I hop over this little ledge, you know?

This sums up Chris' personality back then. (CLEARS THROAT)

"Dear Eric, I'm including all the videotapes in this box.

"Just remember those tapes are our lives.

"So, if I somehow find out that the tapes

"are somewhat damaged or destroyed,

"I'll fly to Ocean Springs, eat your house, suffocate Kurt,

"poison Muffy, light your room on fire,

"and then chain you up from a tree

"in the yard and throw knives at you.

"I included the old drinking bottle..."

That's so embarrassing. Yeah.

"That you..." A peaceful child, I was.

Chris, as a child, liked to create things.

Uh, whatever he had in his room, it looked different

after he was finished attacking it.

Aside from collecting gun powder and trying to blow the house up,

he was pretty normal. (CHUCKLES)

I was, like, "I'm gonna make a bomb in my room."

And I thought it would make this cool, like...

And I lit it, and the whole box exploded in the room.

He came out of the room. He had a torn T-shirt.

And I said, "Are you okay?"

And he said, "Yeah, Mom," and he had smoke all over his face.

And I said, "Good, because I'm gonna

"beat the living hell out of you." (LAUGHS)

This is our first picture together.

You know, about seven or eight months before he left me,

or he was taken away from me, whatever.

Elaine and I had a divorce that was turbulent.

I started spending a lot of time, sort of, in my head, you know.

And probably started feeling more comfortable

in the fantasy world, you know.

He became very introspective.

And, uh, I think and believe,

that, yes, the Raiders thing was a total fantasy

that pulled him away from all of his reality.

I guess it was, what, July of '81 when it opened?

There she is.

And I saw this movie and it just split me in half.

It is desired above all treasures on Earth by those who are good.

Trust me.

And those who are evil.

I'll tell you everything.

Yes, I know you will.

It just blew my mind.

Going to real places and talking about

cool, scientific, archeological things.

God, he had a bullwhip and a hat and a jacket.

He was just badass and could fight

and, like, you know, stood for something.

And, I just was, like, "This hero is awesome."

And, from that first viewing, I was like, "I have to remake this movie.

"I have to create a playground for myself just to see if I can do it."

Uh, this is not a small favor.

This is a... You are asking me

to pretty much throw myself in front of this bus for you favor.

As a manager, I am in charge of, uh, multimillion dollar titles,

triple-A video games for a video game publisher.

Eric is, like, receiving a lot of stress, you know, in terms of,

"Hey, you've been spending a lot of time on the phone," kind of thing.

And in a corporate atmosphere, it's still, kind of, Big Brother.

You're taking vacation at a critical time in your project.

That's got to do with our priorities.

It's an old paper from 1977.

Like, it's an old, um, Christ Episcopal Day School.

So, there's Eric.

That's Eric. I'm not in there 'cause

I don't think I was in the school yet.

Eric was always very into comic book characters

to the point of, that he was making his own costumes.

He would make costumes for me,

and I was Robin to his Batman, being the younger brother.

I was a big fan of DC Comics, Superman, Batman.

And I drew my own on the back of these, uh, envelopes

that my mom, uh, used.

I'd be walking around the house, and all of a sudden,

he would spring out from behind a corner

wearing his Batman costume and tie me up.

And then run away and then come back

without the costume and be, like,

"Well, what happened to you?"

And, I'd be, like, "You tied me up and then ran away."

I'm surprised they didn't rebuild anything here.

I mean, I guess they rebuilt those churches, right?

This is where the... The elementary school was right here.

This was, uh, the main building.

Eric, if you put the staff

in a certain place... In a certain place...

At a certain time of the day,

the sun shone through here, makes a beam on the floor here.

We had done, uh, Survivors Have It Tough.

That got me bit by the film bug.

Survivors Have It Tough, a sixth grade film project.

My wife is over there, and my kids need help.

I knew where Eric was going.

I could just tell he had that sense.

I could tell he was driven to make films.

Oh, here we go. There's me.

Yeah.

In full...

He was dressed up like Toht, the black, trench-coated Gestapo agent,

and it was very adventurous.

And this is cool. I got to contact this guy.

Eric, how did Chris talk you into doing this?

Well, Chris and I rode the bus together.

I think, uh, Chris was 11. I was 12.

And I spotted this kid, Chris,

with this Raiders of the Lost Ark comic book.

Um, and I asked to borrow it.

So, I think Chris got it in his head

that I was a Raiders fan, which I was.

"Uh, hey, it's Chris.

"I'm doing this shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"Do you want to help?"

Once they committed to making this film,

once that became part of their lives,

it's almost as if they've never been able to shake it,

even up until now.

Okay, Quinn.

All right, Quinn, you want chicken tikka masala?

Yes, ma'am.

You have to eat a little quinoa, too.

Well, the first time the airplane scene idea was floated,

he immediately... "No, no, I'm not gonna do that."

But then he thought about it, and then it...

You can just see the excitement

and just the childish boy come out.