“I Wanted To Die”: Indiana Jones Actor Details Food Poisoning That Affected Nearly Everyone On Set

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark star John Rhys-Davies shares memories of the cast and crew becoming horribly ill while filming the Steven Spielberg action adventure film. Released in 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark introduces audiences to Harrison Ford’s Indy, a swashbuckling archaeologist questing after the Ark of the Covenant. A number of behind-the-scenes story from the film have now become the stuff of legend, with a stomach bug famously afflicting Ford and the crew during filming in Tunisia, which necessitated some last-minute filming changes.

In a recent interview on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Rhys-Davies confirms that the stories of Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s on-set stomach illnesses are accurate.

The actor recalls how a sick Ford suggested that Indy shoot the sword-wielding assassin in the Cairo market instead of doing a whole prolonged fight scene. Rhys-Davis also shares his own struggles with the stomach bug on set, including confirming a particularly gross behind-the-scenes story. Read the actor’s comments below:

“'[As Ford] You’ve got me for three hours, Steven. It’s a three-day shoot. It’s a stupid scene anyway, he’d just take out his gun and shoot him….’ Three pages out of the script. Oh yes, it’s true.

“I lost 22 pounds. I don’t know about [the crew]. All I know is that when Steven… there was sequence where I’m going to be shot by the German cook and he takes me out and… I think we shot it anyway. Steven said, ‘John, can you bend down to give him a better eye line?’ And as I did so I filled my djellaba in front of 200 people and I didn’t care…

“My next memory is I’m lying in this hotel bed. Unfortunately it’s a hotel room where no matter where I put the damn bed, that little column of ants would come in and walk over my chest and exit down somewhere. So I’m lying in this bed with ants in it in which I have vomited and excreted. I have a temperature of around 105. I’m dying. I’m dying probably of dysentery or diphtheria.

“And I hear the key go in the lock, and the little flame of life begins to pick up as the door opens. In comes our wonderful Australian lady doctor. And she doubles over and she says, ‘Oh Christ, John, I see you’ve got it too. Can I use your toilet?’ God died at that moment. I knew there was no hope… I wanted to die.

“Anyway, massive rehydration and, you know, one gets better. I lost 22 pounds in two days… My guts were never really the same after that.”

Raiders Of The Lost Ark Is The Best Indiana Jones Movie

Why The Steven Spielberg Film Is Such A Classic

Raiders of the Lost Ark isn’t just the best Indiana Jones movie, but it’s also arguably one of the best movies in Spielberg’s expansive filmography. The film excels due to Ford’s casting as Indy, with the actor’s charisma and physicality really making the character pop off the screen. Ford’s chemistry with supporting characters like Rhys-Davies’ Sallah and, especially, Karen Allen’s Marion, also gives the story depth, emotion, and charm.

Each Indiana Jones movie is also judged by the quality of its set pieces, and Raiders of the Lost Ark features some of the franchise’s best action. The boulder scene at the start, for example, is one of the most iconic moments in movie history. Other memorable moments include basically everything in the snake-filled Well of Souls, in addition to the plane fight and truck chase. Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s ending, too, is especially powerful because of its shocking moments of blood and gore, including Toht’s face-melting scene.

Raiders of the Lost Ark benefits from an arguably perfect cast and Spielberg’s unique eye for kinetic action. The subsequent two movies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade would further solidify Ford’s hero as one of the most iconic movie protagonists of all time, even if the character’s final two adventures proved more divisive. While filming Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was evidently not always pleasant, it evidently resulted in one of the best action/ adventure movies of all time.