Happy to see that my article on Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, for the Oxford American, is now online. Those interested in obscure fan films and cautionary tales should check it out. My personal favorite from the story has to do with a fan of the film that I encountered online:
I’ve followed Chris and Eric’s progress over the years on the Internet, so I know that after the Vanity Fair article, they quit their jobs to focus full-time on their movie careers, though they returned to work later. (I tried to interview them both for this story. They agreed, but asked me first to send them a list of questions via e-mail. A few days after I did, I received a short e-mail response from Eric. “We’re not sure what your real agenda is,” he wrote, “but, respectfully, we’re going to decline to participate.”) They founded a production company, Rolling Boulder Films, and are at work on several projects unrelated to Raiders, but no movies as of yet. In a sense, they have become professionals at being the “guys who made that movie as kids.” They’ve done hundreds of interviews, put together the book, and traveled the country giving lectures and showing the film. They have loyal fans, including one woman I came across online, who, when I told her who I was immediately wrote back, “Eek!!! Mini-Toht! I must begin stalking you immediately!” Once she learned that I was no longer friends with Eric and Chris, however, she said no to an interview. “What is your story about and what is your intention on how it is to be portrayed?” she asked, adding before I could respond, “Whatever you answer, YOU WERE AMAZING AND ADORABLE as Toht! And you can print that!!!”
And, with her kind permission, I did.