Concept and Creation
Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan named the character after his wife's grandmother, and took the character's surname from Ravenwood Lane in California. Spielberg originally intended the role for his girlfriend Amy Irving. Sean Young auditioned for the role, Barbara Hershey was considered, while Debra Winger turned it down. Steven Spielberg cast Karen Allen, on the strength of her performance in National Lampoon's Animal House. Allen screen tested opposite Tim Matheson and John Shea, before Harrison Ford was cast as Indiana.
Kasdan's depiction of Marion was more complex, and she was genuinely interested in René Belloq in earlier script drafts. She and Paul Freeman added more comedy in the tent seduction scene. Allen came up with her own backstory for the character, such as what happened to her mother, her romance with Indiana at age 15 or 16, and her time in Nepal; Spielberg described it as "an entirely different movie".
After Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, Spielberg wanted Allen to return for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but George Lucas decided that Indy would have a different love interest in each film. Marion became a frequent supporting character in The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, a Marvel Comics title which ran for 34 issues from January 1983 until March 1986. During the 1990s, Lucas forbade author Rob MacGregor from including her in his novels for Bantam Books' Indiana Jones series. "How did Indy meet Marion? What happened in their earlier encounters? George apparently wanted to keep that for the future. Maybe we’ll find out in Indy 4," MacGregor speculated. Frank Darabont claimed it was his idea to bring back Marion for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, during his tenure as writer from 2002 to 2004.
Read more about this topic: Marion Ravenwood
Famous quotes containing the words concept and/or creation:
“The concept is interesting: to see, as though reflected
In streaming windowpanes, the look of others through
Their own eyes.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“As the truest society approaches always nearer to solitude, so the most excellent speech finally falls into Silence. Silence is audible to all men, at all times, and in all places. She is when we hear inwardly, sound when we hear outwardly. Creation has not displaced her, but is her visible framework and foil. All sounds are her servants, and purveyors, proclaiming not only that their mistress is, but is a rare mistress, and earnestly to be sought after.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)