Indiana Jones news: Spielberg and Ford at the 30th anniversary of Raiders

While at the 30th anniversary screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg talked a bit about the early development of Indiana Jones by him and his friend George Lucas, their friendship, about the restoration of Raiders of the Lost Ark (for eventual Blu-ray release), and being hopeful for Indy V.

When Harrison Ford came out, he said he’s up for a fifth time as Indiana Jones, and thinks the key is expanding the audience’s understanding of the character. Also, Harrison Ford in Jurassic Park? Spielberg offered the role of Alan Grant to him.

Rounding out their coverage, the LA Times also did a retrospective on the Raiders of the Lost Ark toys from the 1980s.

EDIT: While Spielberg commented that the newly cleaned up version of Raiders of the Lost Ark that they were screening was going to be eventually used for the Blu-ray and he noted that that Blu-ray release would not have any changes from the 1981 theatrical release, Spielberg later commented that he regrets making changes to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for its 20th Anniversary DVD, saying, “I realized what I had done was I had robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T.”

He went on to say that the E.T. Blu-ray would be the original 1982 theatrical version, and not contain the unpopular 2002 revisions, such as digitally replacing police guns with walkie-talkies.