Carrie Fisher Was Responsible For Taking Indiana Jones' Virginity (Sort Of)
13-02-2024
Carrie Fisher famously claimed she took away Indiana Jones' virginity when alive; more specifically, this was what she told me directly in person: she wrote it with George Lucas to portray Indiana losing it with Mata Hari - it all worked very smoothly!"
My question had focused specifically on Fisher's work on George Lucas projects such as "Star Wars: Episode IV-VIII." However, Fisher is well known to have worked as an uncredited writer on numerous Lucas projects - from polishing scripts for prequel films such as Episodes 3-5 of that franchise, through devising adventures for Indiana Jones in "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", etc.
How did Indiana Jones actually 'lose' his virginity and what role did Fisher play?
Longtime Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum told me in 2021 interview for Star Wars Insider magazine that Carrie Fisher "was always there when George needed her," providing more insight as to exactly how Carrie Fisher took Indiana Jones' virginity away.
"The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" detailed the early life of everyone's beloved archaeologist from his travels around the globe with his parents as a child through to his pre-college days and getting into fights with all sorts of famous individuals - as seen in one episode called Paris October 1916 wherein Indiana becomes embroiled in World War I intrigue and encounters Mata Hari!
McCallum remembered how Nicolas Roeg directed the Mata Hari episode and cast an outstanding Dutch actress as Mata Hari; Linda Hamilton knew her, so when visiting California they went together. McCallum then remembers meeting Linda Hamilton herself who brought along this fantastic Dutch woman as Mata Hari - someone whom Linda Hamilton later invited over as Mata Hari herself! Linda began training her for "Terminator 2." We met Mata Hari before leaving Europe for California; but then about six months after returning home we encountered this person who seemed completely different - one who no longer bore any relationship to Mata Hari at all! "We had to cast it very quickly; shooting took place in Prague during what must have been one of its coldest winters ever - temperatures hovered at between 30-35% - shortly after Velvet Revolution; as well as being first Western film ever shot there and nothing quite worked, but our locations were simply amazing - though Carrie came in and helped with finding new actresses."
Fisher was present on set to assist Domiziana Giordano - best known in America for her role in 1994's "Interview With a Vampire". Fisher helped coach this actor during filming.
Young Indiana Jones In this episode, 16-year-old Indiana Jones -- disguised as 18-year-old Henry Defense from France's Foreign Legion -- finds himself on leave in Paris when he encounters Mata Hari and falls for her, unaware of her spy activities or future plotting until after. Naturally this leads to plenty of jealousy as Indiana struggles against other characters getting closer than him in her storyline.
"Star Wars" fans may recognize other familiar faces from this episode, particularly Ian McDiarmid who famously played Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine across multiple "Star Wars" films (depending on your definition). Here he portrays an amicable Professor Levi. In terms of production design and cinematography - David Tattersall lensed all three prequel films while Gavin Bocquet created their physical look).
Nicholas Roeg is another director to watch out for; fans may know him best from seminal films such as "Walkabout" or "The Man Who Fell to Earth." Additionally, he directed Anjelica Huston in 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches by Nicholas Roeg.
Lucas assembled movie-worthy teams for "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," and they deserve far more credit than they currently receive.
Fisher gave me an optimistic depiction of her relationship with Lucas when we spoke in 2015; however, in previous interviews from 1994's "Star Wars Insider" #23, Fisher revealed creative clashes during production on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles." In particular, Fisher stated it had been extremely frustrating at times while filming had gone on; she recalls it was really annoying but very, very funny; screaming at each other for days over love scene changes or arguments regarding love scenes that was "hours long, with Lucas telling Fisher things like this that had nothing but gets away because he's Lucas."
Fisher conceded Lucas did eventually achieve what he desired; she recalls him winning in the draft before going off and shooting it and changing it without consulting her beforehand: "[George] gave me a lamp which was really nice!" In addition to receiving payment for her efforts on this episode, Fisher also remembered being given something extra from George: a lamp.
After this experience with "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", George and Carrie began work on their prequels; yet that did not seem to damage their relationship in any significant way; Rick McCallum told me: "[Carrie] gave George ideas on all of the prequels; she was always there for him."
Focusing on always.
As previously discussed, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," like much of the theatrical "Indiana Jones" franchise can now be found on Disney+ with a subscription. If you want to watch one particular episode focusing on Indy during World War I battle of Verdun (written by Jonathan Hensleigh who also worked on movies such as Die Hard With a Vengeance" and Armageddon), look for "Demons of Deception."
These episodes were edited together chronologically for their 1999 VHS release; streaming versions retain this orderly arrangement of events. But they originally aired out-of-order!
Fisher died suddenly and unexpectedly on December 27th 2016 while working on 2017's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." At that point in time she had completed work for Lucasfilm to restructure this ninth installment in the Skywalker Saga, leaving Rian Johnson as director/writer/producer scrambling to remake this installment as quickly as possible. Their relationship is said to resemble Lucas and Fisher had written extensive dialogue for each film together before leaving Lucas behind; she often gave out notes and one-liners that would later come in usefully; so we tried working these in whenever we could."
Her last days were dedicated to Lucasfilm stories and she continued assisting in their development.