In an interview with the New York Each day Information, snake handler Steve Edge recalled Spielberg asking him to shave his legs, throw on a costume, and be Marion for each take that required shut interplay with the reptiles. It is a good factor he did, too. Per Edge:
“I obtained bitten quite a bit on my legs, as a result of I used to be carrying the costume and I stood calf-deep among the many creatures. Pythons have anti-coagulants of their saliva that stops the blood from coagulating. So if they can not crush their prey, they’re going to strike and it will get away. However the snake will observe till the prey is exhausted and run out of blood after which they eat you. These bites are fairly painful, so after I obtained bitten a number of instances on my toes and legs after I was in that shot there was loads of bruising.”
Stunt folks get knocked round lots for the love of their craft, however sustaining a number of snake bites is the place a lot of them seemingly draw the road. As for the cobra that comes face-to-face with Indy (clearly by means of a glass partition in non-digitally enhanced cuts), Edge claims it was nonetheless venomous. “There was anti-venom serum available in case one among them obtained bit,” he stated. That is … reassuring.
Amusingly, whereas Indy abhors snakes, Harrison Ford would not thoughts them. “He was really braver than Indiana Jones,” stated Edge. “Harrison wasn’t fazed by it in any respect.”
Which raises the query: how does Ford look with shaved legs?