Thomas and Meyjes Indy 3 scripts [Archive]

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Pan Rado

06-20-2004, 08:05 PM

Being a loyal follower of all things unproduced, I was curious whether you could share a fun fact or two about the unused scripts of Indy trillogy.
I read Monkey King, Saucer Man from Mars (or at least a detailed synopsis of some sort) and most of the early drafts of the films that were actually made.
Of course, I also read Lost Drafts article on theraider.net (quite an entertaining read). What I'm particularly interested in is Diane Thomas' Indy 3 script.
Also, on Indy DVDs, there is a glimpse of a script with a character named Chantal (I believe), where Grail is described as "the cup of Aryans". This is supposedly a version of IJ3 which has Holy Grail as a McGuffin, while the teaser, like in Monkey King, is set in a haunted house. Do you know who wrote this one?
I'd be thankful if someone would be able to enlighten me on the above.

Strider

06-20-2004, 09:41 PM

I remember reading the Saucer Men one. It was good but I think I could have made it better. In my version there would be alot more globetrotting. For instance, I would have Indy get captured by the Soviets at one point and he would be brought to Moskow for some good old fashion snow action scenes. I would also have the mystery make him end up in Central America at some point, it would go along with all that stuff about the ancient mayans having alien origions and give him a chance to enter an ancient temple. I also wouldn't ever actually show the Saucer Men until prehaps the very last scene in the film in which I would have the lead Soviets open a crashed spaceship or something and then get killed Raiders style for it.

Finn

06-21-2004, 08:18 AM

There are a few Indiana Jones scripts moving around. Some of them are written by "actual" scriptwriters, making them scripts that are rejected, some are purely fan work, but still worth taking a read.

Rumored "actual" Indy scripts:
Indiana Jones and the Monkey King (http://www.indyjones.it/indy4gal/monkey_script.txt) (a.k.a. Indiana Jones and the Garden of Life)
Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars (http://www.indyjones.it/indy4gal/mars_sintesi.txt) (not a script, detailed synopsis)

Fan Work Scripts:
Indiana Jones and the Sons of Darkness (http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/bjoern.hellebrand/indy/files/scripts/sons_of_darkness.zip)
Indiana Jones and the Sword of Arthur (http://www.indyjones.it/indy4gal/sword_script.txt)

Pan Rado

06-25-2004, 07:04 PM

Thanks.

Coulumbus' 'Monkey King' is rather strange. All those people complaining that Indy3 was too much of a comedy would probably hate that movie (if it was made). Still, it had a lot of good setpieces and a lighthearted feel to it.

But come on. A talking ape? It would be Indy's equivalent of Ewoks.

I don't like 'Saucer Men' that much, as for it reads like an X-Files inspired fan fiction.

Hey, everyone makes a cameo!
Indy gets married!
Aliens are among us!
We have a crappy title!

Nah, not really my cup of tea.

'Sons of Darkness" has some good drama, but not enough adventure. And Indy not knowing about his own son is some pretty heavy stuff for an Indy movie.

Now, "Sword of Arthur"... that's a hell of a story. I read it in one sitting and it was quite a ride. BUT, the structure is whacked - I think that the young Indy sequence would work better as a teaser (the flashbacks were really intrusive). Also, the story itself was too similiar to Last Crusade's. Still, reading the chase on the streets of London scene was one of the most "indy'ish" experiences I had outside the original trilogy.

San Holo

10-10-2005, 01:25 AM

I finally got around to watching my Trilogy Bonus dvd last night, and heard Lucas, again, talking about the haunted castle that he wanted to use for the 3rd Indy film,instead of the grail..WTF. We all know how Lucas likes to save ideas and use them again(TOD mine chase was supposed to be in Raiders), but come on. There is not very many things that would spoil Indy 4 for me, but a spook house would be right at the top. How do you all feel about a haunted castle showing up in the next movie?

Finn

10-10-2005, 01:54 AM

Guess it was meant to work as an opening quest for the rejected "Monkey King" script.

http://www.theraider.net/films/indy4/rumorscripts/monkeyking.zip

Read it and see for yourself what Lucas was seemingly referring to.

Stoo

10-10-2005, 02:06 AM

A haunted castle idea was also experimented with in the TV show when Indy
faces off with vampires in "Transylvania - January 1918" (VHS "Masks of Evil").
While I do enjoy this episode, I don't believe that it would work for Indy IV.

Moedred

10-10-2005, 01:45 PM

The idea emerged around 1985...

http://www.theraider.net/features/articles/lost_drafts_04a.php
Far from looking for the Holy Grail, Indy's next adventure was originally supposed to be a horror movie, 1930's style, set in a haunted house. This odd idea came from Lucas, who commissioned Diane Thomas, the writer of Romancing The Stone, to produce a screenplay. Thomas completed her first draft shortly before her untimely death in a car crash, but the script and the horror-movie idea were both scrapped. However, elements of it found their way into the opening sequence of the next shot at Indy 3 - Chris Columbus's failed (and fabled) Monkey King script.

Paden

10-11-2005, 09:39 AM

In reading over the summary that Moedred linked to from TheRaven, I have to say that I'm glad that a sequence like the one described in the Scottish castle never made it to film. The summary's joking reference to Scooby Doo is actually appropriate, and I think that is how the whole thing would have come across on the big screen.

I'm not saying that dark, supernatural elements don't have a place in the Jones films. Obviously they do. But, to draw a parallel, I think they have a role similar to that seen in some versions of the Arthurian stories. In King Arthur's legendary Britain, magic exists, but it's manifestation is rare and when it does occur, it is either subtle in the changes that it makes, or briefly brings about awe and wonder in those that witness its effects. The manifestation of the supernatural in the Arthurian tales is rare and always significant. I think the same holds true for the Indiana Jones films. If you take the supernatural element too far, as the Monkey King script did, than you end up with results that are, at best, cartoonish.

Moedred

10-12-2005, 10:24 AM

Monkey King deserves an epic, verbatim 6-issue comic miniseries, overseen by Chris Columbus, with the Irish castle on the first issue's cover, just as he & Thomas & Lucas imagined it.

Moedred

08-01-2006, 08:13 PM

The bonus DVD shows the top of page 35 of an early Crusade script. It goes:
------------
CHANTAL
A party of Germans has been digging around the castle for the last few summers.
INDY
Looking for the grail.
CHANTAL
Yes, they think it is the Cup of the Aryans.
INDY
Do they have government support?
CHANTAL
The Hitler Youth have been helping her dig.
INDY
Who is "She?"
CHANTAL
------------

Violet Indy

08-01-2006, 11:07 PM

Yeah, I saw that too! Sounds like Indy was going to know right from the beginning that Elsa's a bad girl.

JoSav

08-04-2006, 01:38 PM

I think I like it better with Indy being betrayed like that. Never trust an obsessed blonde. ;)

Violet Indy

08-04-2006, 08:34 PM

Agreed. Never trust an obsessed blonde. Like that girl in "Vertigo."

Indyologist

08-04-2006, 10:53 PM

Fan Work Scripts:
Indiana Jones and the Sons of Darkness (http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/bjoern.hellebrand/indy/files/scripts/sons_of_darkness.zip)

WARNING: SONS OF DARKNESS SCRIPT LINK TAKES YOU TO ANOTHER PAGE...

<small>EDIT: Thanks for the warning. Fixed the dead link with a live one. Should be safe now. -Finn</small>

Moedred

10-17-2007, 07:23 PM

The guy who wrote Crusade version 1 and got a story credit, Menno Meyjes (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0583675/), seems to have been away at directing school. Now he's got a film coming out... think he'd share his version of the script?

Michael24

10-17-2007, 11:29 PM

Anybody have any details about the haunted house teaser? I was always intrigued by that idea and would like to have seen what it was like.

Niteshade007

10-17-2007, 11:47 PM

Agreed. Never trust an obsessed blonde. Like that girl in "Vertigo."

That's a pretty unfair generalization, lol.

torao

10-18-2007, 09:00 AM

Moedred

05-27-2008, 11:40 AM

The new ToD DVD has a 'Locations' featurette. One of its pop-up trivia cards provides a pretty good summary of what may be the Meyjes version of Crusade:
One of the Early Drafts of "Last Crusade" opened in Mexico. Indy traveled to Montsegur, France; Venice, Italy; took the Orient Express, went to Istanbul, Turkey and finally to the ancient city of Petra, Jordan.
The Orient Express ran from Paris to Istanbul, with a route through Venice, so this makes sense geographically. More from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monts%C3%A9gur):
The Nazis learned of the myths surrounding Montségur from a man named Otto Rahn in 1929, one year after the probable formation of the Ahnenerbe, an institution for research into German racial and cultural ancestry. Rahn wrote two bestseller Grail novels linking Montségur and Cathars with the Holy Grail... Some sources claim that the very secretive Ahnenerbe SS, as it was renamed, was part of the Third Reich's plan to win the war by discovering a superweapon such as the grail.
(Edit: No surprise, Otto Rahn (http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=11575)'s a member here... :))

|ZiR|

05-27-2008, 02:35 PM

I actually liked the Monkey King script. It been a while since I read it, but there were two love interests, a doctor and one of his students (Betsy?), and he strikes out with both. That was an amusing change, I thought.

This thread's making me wanna give it a reread, 'cause now that I think of it, LC may have taken a few things from it. Like the search for immortality, and a charcter almost dying at the end.

Agreed. Never trust an obsessed blonde. Like that girl in "Vertigo."

SPOILER WARNING!!!

Pan Rado

06-11-2008, 11:31 AM

The new ToD DVD has a 'Locations' featurette. One of its pop-up trivia cards provides a pretty good summary of what may be the Meyjes version of Crusade...

It took a while, but thanks for the info ;) Any other interesting trivia regarding unproduced scripts? I'm on the fence when it comes to buying the new set.

agentsands77

06-11-2008, 12:20 PM

I actually think THE COMPLETE MAKING OF INDIANA JONES contains a pretty good summary of what their original draft of LAST CRUSADE looked like. It was fairly different from the finished product.

Moedred

06-24-2008, 12:40 AM

Yep, here it is:
INDY III BY MENNO MEYJES, BASED ON A STORY BY LUCAS AND MEYJES: FIRST- AND REVISED FIRST-DRAFT SUMMARIES, OCTOBER 2 AND NOVEMBER 21, 1986
The first draft opens with a battle in Mexico between Indy and Banano, a crazed individual with a whip and a loyal band of gorillas. The object of their dispute is the death mask of Montezuma. Indy manages to throw Banano off a cliff, and his gorillas go free.
No sooner is he back in the States than Indy has to depart for France to look for his father—who has disappeared while looking for the Holy Grail. With a friend named Maude he goes to Montsegur, where they meet a nun named Chantal and her relation De La War, who explains that they had found a map that led Indy's father to Venice. But Nazis, led by Baron Balder von Grimm, were hot on the trail of Indy's dad. Grimm has a hapless sidekick named Hans, whom he is always calling "Idiot!" and then throttling.
After adventures in Venice and on the Orient Express where they are disguised as royalty, Indy and Chantai arrive in Istanbul. Clues and escapades put them on a train to Petra, where they are soon fighting for their lives. Fortunately Indy's old friend Sallah arrives with two horses, which they mount. Sallah then leads them to a Bedouin on horseback—who turns out to be Indy's father. Together they find the Grail in Petra, within the City of the Dead. At the climax Grimm shows up, but when he touches the Grail, he explodes; when Henry Sr. touches the Grail, a stairway to heaven appears, which he ascends. The nun Chantal is tempted to take the stairs as well, urged on by Indy. But her love for Jones makes her stay.
In the revised first draft the Nazi villain is Greta Von Grimm. And this time Indy finds his father tied to a pillar in a crusader's castle called Krak Des Chevalier. He'd been forced to help the Nazis in their search for the Grail, but they'd left him to die when he was no longer useful. At the place of the Grail, Indy does battle with a fantastic demon creature, whom he defeats by stabbing it in the belly with a dagger inscribed with the words GOD is KING. Bad girl Greta is vaporized by the Grail.
No mention of Thomas in the book though.

A_True_Believer

06-24-2008, 12:57 PM

caats

03-01-2009, 03:03 PM

metalinvader

03-01-2009, 04:05 PM

http://www.theraider.net/features/articles/lost_drafts_04a.php

The script's opening sequence was probably borrowed from the Diane Thomas screenplay, and is a fine piece of work, although it has absolutely nothing to do with the remainder of the story. It is 1937, and we find Indy in Scotland on a fishing trip, when he is called upon by the local police to help investigate a series of mysterious and brutal deaths. These seem to have a connection with an ancient castle, which Indy and some villagers decide to break into. In a thrilling and atmospheric series of supernatural set-pieces, involving bell-towers, trap doors, and underground rivers, Indy finally reaches the source of all the trouble, the castle's laird, Baron Seamus Seagrove III, who has supposedly been dead for years. After fighting off more assailants - a couple of spectral dogs, and some suits of armor - Indy finally captures the Baron, who says, as Indy turns him over to the police, "I would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for those pesky kids." No, sorry, just my little joke. What he actually says is 'No prison can hold me', and as he is taken away, we see him light a cigarette and the match flame shines through the Baron's body, confirmation that he is indeed a ghost. This well written sequence may have provided the inspiration for the use of Grunwald Castle in Last Crusade.

As far as the actual script,No idea.:)

caats

03-01-2009, 04:16 PM

huh. cool thanks.

OhioJones

03-01-2009, 04:32 PM

The fore-mentioned sequence can be found in "Indiana Jones and the Monkey King."

It can be read here:

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/INDIANA_JONES_4_2.html

ninepinejones

03-01-2009, 05:35 PM

I dig the castle idea, that little blurb about the scotland ventures is very cool,I would have really enjoyed seeing that on screen. A little nod to sherlock holmes seems to seep through the mood of that screenplay:cool:

ninepinejones

03-01-2009, 05:40 PM

i was watching the bonus disc from the box set where Lucas talked about having the haunted castle at the start and it not working out. Just curious if anybody had read the script? what was that castle sequence like?
Every time I watch Last Crusade and the shot reveals the car driving the classic winding road to the castle and the lightning flashes I think about Georges Idea for the third chapter to be the haunted house and how this Crusade seen was a tip of the hat to that concept.

DocWhiskey

03-01-2009, 06:43 PM

Wow, this idea is actually really cool.

Darth Vile

03-02-2009, 03:29 AM

I love the concept of Indiana Jones, on a quest to find some priceless artefact/treasure, within the hidden vaults of an old Scottish castle. What great potential that would have for hidden rooms, revolving book cases, traps and general peril (everything an Indiana Jones movie should contain). However, I thought the ghost story prologue in 'The Monkey King' basically blew chunks, and was far too Scooby Doo for my liking.

BrodyIsDead

02-16-2010, 08:46 AM

I came across this today and have never read about this before:

At the time of her death, she was working on a project called "Blond Hurricane" and had finished a draft of a sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

(from) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0858737/bio

Diane Thomas wrote Romancing The Stone (1984)... :whip:

Anyway, anyone else know if the script for this is available online or any other info on it? Presumably it's not TOD as that was a prequel and the Katz couple did that, right? :confused:

Indy's brother

02-16-2010, 11:29 AM

found this old post by Moedred (http://raven.theraider.net/archive/index.php/t-6239.html) in the archives

Far from looking for the Holy Grail, Indy's next adventure was originally supposed to be a horror movie, 1930's style, set in a haunted house. This odd idea came from Lucas, who commissioned Diane Thomas, the writer of Romancing The Stone, to produce a screenplay. Thomas completed her first draft shortly before her untimely death in a car crash, but the script and the horror-movie idea were both scrapped. However, elements of it found their way into the opening sequence of the next shot at Indy 3 - Chris Columbus's failed (and fabled) Monkey King script.

EDIT: Sorry, I should have followed the link (http://www.theraider.net/features/articles/lost_drafts_04a.php) in that post, here is a little more:

The script's opening sequence was probably borrowed from the Diane Thomas screenplay, and is a fine piece of work, although it has absolutely nothing to do with the remainder of the story. It is 1937, and we find Indy in Scotland on a fishing trip, when he is called upon by the local police to help investigate a series of mysterious and brutal deaths. These seem to have a connection with an ancient castle, which Indy and some villagers decide to break into. In a thrilling and atmospheric series of supernatural set-pieces, involving bell-towers, trap doors, and underground rivers, Indy finally reaches the source of all the trouble, the castle's laird, Baron Seamus Seagrove III, who has supposedly been dead for years. After fighting off more assailants - a couple of spectral dogs, and some suits of armor - Indy finally captures the Baron, who says, as Indy turns him over to the police, "I would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for those pesky kids." No, sorry, just my little joke. What he actually says is 'No prison can hold me', and as he is taken away, we see him light a cigarette and the match flame shines through the Baron's body, confirmation that he is indeed a ghost. This well written sequence may have provided the inspiration for the use of Grunwald Castle in Last Crusade.

Lego Indy

03-12-2010, 09:14 AM

I loved the Monkey King script. Why not make it a book, if not a movie?

Lance Quazar

03-12-2010, 12:02 PM

Is Monkey King available on-line anywhere???

Montana Smith

03-12-2010, 12:25 PM

Is Monkey King available on-line anywhere???

It is somewhere. I have a PDF, but don't remember where I found it. It's only 352kb if you want me to email it to you.

EDIT:

Try this page:

http://www.simplyscripts.com/i.html

There's a few Indy scripts there.

(The links to "Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars" don't work, but this one does:

http://www.filestube.com/478e87369b16222303e9,g/Indiana-Jones-and-The-Saucer-Men-From-Mars.html )

Moedred

03-12-2010, 01:31 PM

Here's a list of all the scripts we have, in bold.
http://moedred.livejournal.com/10313.html
Follow the Mediafire link to download the PDF's.