In March, Fan Cinema Today broke the news that the famed fan film, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, was going to make its UK premiere in late April as a charity event in London. The gala evening has now come and gone, but fortunately, it was a massive hit.
Three 12-year-old Mississippi kids spent seven years in the 1980s making a shot-for-shot remake of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ classic adventure flick—and then they forgot about it. However, recent years have seen it become a true cult phenomenon, gaining them followers as varied as Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth—the latter of whom gave a bootleg of it to Spielberg, who’s also a big fan. Since the film’s rediscovery, they’ve traveled the world presenting it, sold their life rights to Hollywood, written a new feature film, and of course, most prestigious of all, gotten their own chapter in my book, Homemade Hollywood.
Anyway, the UK screening was a big success, as recounted on the awesome food blog, Meemalee’s Kitchen. Chris “Indy” Strompolos and Eric “Belloq” Zala, now grown adults and nice guys, presented the flick and did a Q&A. Also on hand was a real Raider—Paul Freeman, who played “Rene Belloq” in the feature film.
As part of the event, the audience was served tasty Raiders-related treats like snake surprise draped on rocks (vegetarian sushi), steaming sheep’s eyeballs (lychees stuffed with blueberries on dry ice) and chilled monkey brains (thick raspberry compote).
Sounds like it was an awesome night; you can find some funny stories and lots of photos at Meemalee’s Kitchen; even more pics, including the Raiders guys with Freeman himself, can be found on Zimbio.
Thanks for the namecheck, Clive
It really was a brilliant night – my husband had to drag me (as I thought it sounded kinda goofy) but I’m so glad I went!