The Indiana Jones Jacket: Temple of Doom

 

 

The Temple of Doom Jacket
Both LucasFilm and Steven Spielberg learned some hard lessons from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” LucasFilm learned the importance of solidifying their position on licensing – not only from “Raiders” but also following several iterations of Star Wars experience. Spielberg learned that he needed a more attentive and hands-on wardrobe designer. With respect to the jacket worn by Harrison Ford and his stunt doubles in “Temple of Doom,” the combination of these two elements made for a story with a few interesting twists.

The first order of business was the selection of Anthony Powell as the Wardrobe Designer for “Temple of Doom.” Mr. Powell’s responsibilities were for all wardrobe used in production. Powell had experience working with Berman and Nathans directly - something which Deborah Nadoolman did not. For “Temple of Doom” – as well as for all subsequent iterations – the ownership of all designs would reside with LucasFilm via Paramount to the degree specific ownership could be extended. Legally, this varied by type of design, but the bottom line was that the experience of “Raiders” would not be repeated.

While the above allowed Lucasfilm control over the proliferation of their intellectual property, it also resulted in some limitations on Powell’s creative hand. Namely, Lucasfilm licensed the jacket before production began. Part of that license included product placement. As a result, the design was effectively given to the license holder and not the wardrobe designer. While several companies were approached, one had some limited experience with the design – Cooper.

Neal Cooper had previously claimed to have submitted prototype jackets to Deborah Nadoolman for “Raiders.” While this could not be substantiated in any way beyond anecdotal recollections by David Hack, the design used by Cooper implied a remarkably detailed knowledge of the state of the jacket design at the time Deborah Nadoolman left Los Angeles and before Peter Botwright created his final design. The Cooper design had the short bi-swing pleat opening, smaller pockets, and slightly lower shoulder yoke design of the Western Costume mock-up. This mock-up was, at the time of “Temple of Doom” preproduction, in the property of Berman and Nathans along with unused jackets from Raiders. While no documentation or other corroboration could be obtained to prove Cooper’s claims of involvement in “Raiders,” this similarity to the unused mock-up implies some knowledge of its specific design. Whether that knowledge happened during “Raiders” preproduction or sometime after could not be proven either way. Regardless, Cooper bought the license rights to the jacket with funding from Hack. Ford was fitted by Cooper several months before preproduction began and jackets were prepared.

 

 

 

 

 

Now for some interesting twists on some old stories. For years there has been a claim that the jackets were made by an unnamed French company. Through researching the product placement rights, it was determined that these rights were arranged via a well established product placement and promotions company in Los Angeles. Confidentiality does not allow naming them, but they are the second oldest firm and a simple Google search is all that is needed to figure out who they are. In interviewing a long-time member of this firm it was disclosed that the product placements were administered by what was a predecessor of Latham Watkins. This law firm had offices in Paris that handled engagements in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for its clients. Sri Lanka fell within its definition of Africa. As such, a small team of French lawyers actually delivered both Cooper jackets and Stetson fedoras to the production company in Sri Lanka. The lead attorney was a man named Charles Dunard. He was interviewed and confirmed his involvement, however would not discuss details. Through another source, however, a representative of IndyGear was given access and reviewed copies of the original license contracts signed by both Cooper and Stetson for “Temple of Doom.” With respect to the Cooper contract, it stated that all existing jackets from the first production would be replaced with the Cooper jackets. A stipulation which reportedly resulted from the “negative experience” from “Raiders” required that not only that the existing jackets be seized, but that the contract administrators also provide certificates of destruction on all seized items.

 

As a result, all but five original Raiders jackets have been lost. Those that survived? The hero jacket resides in George Lucas’ office at Skywalker Ranch. Vic Armstrong and Terry Leonard have their copies from the third order placed with Leather Concessionaires. Two other jackets made their way to Paramount – one was Martin Grace’s jacket from the third order and the other was a jacket in marginal condition that had Leonard’s name written in its lining. Reportedly, this last jacket had been pulled aside in order to fit a Wilson’s jacket for Leonard to wear during the truck dragging gag in Tunisia. The Grace jacket and the “marginal” Leonard jacket (presumably the only surviving jacket from the second order placed with Leather Concessionaires) were auctioned for charity in 1984 by Butterfields in Los Angeles. Grace’s jacket is lost, however the jacket with Leonard’s name in the lining was located and examined in August of 2000 and was the basis for the Flight Suits Expedition as well as having contributed to the ultimate specifications for Todd Coyle’s designs in 2007.

 

Back to the Cooper's jackets delivered to Sri Lanka for “Temple of Doom.” Powell was given no opportunity to make design changes to these jackets. This would inspire him to change his terms for the production of “Last Crusade” five years later, however he had a more basic issue with “Temple of Doom.” Powell had an imminent production date looming over his team’s head and he had jackets that were too big for Ford. During the time that had elapsed between Ford’s fitting by Cooper and the beginning of production, Ford had lost between 8 and 12 pounds. Combined with this, the jackets were lined with a heavy nylon weave that was inappropriate to the shooting location and which Ford reportedly hated. The solution resulted in the singular way this jacket fitted Ford in the limited scenes in which he wore it. Powell’s team created a lining from cotton that did fit Ford and sewed them into the marginally larger shells. Once they were distressed, the jackets had a looser drape as compared to the Raiders jackets, and Powell accepted this as his contribution to the look for the time being. Conflicting documentation exists about the number of jackets provided. Cooper claimed they provided a dozen, however incomplete (but likely more reliable) Lucasfilm documentation suggests the number was eight. Reportedly two were ruined as part of the ad hoc fitting process using the sized lining and another was ruined during experiments as to how to age the jackets. Of the remaining five, one was in the possession of late Noel Howard and was a gift from Powell. This jacket still has the nylon lining. One of the remaining four was loaned to Planet Hollywood and was never returned to Lucasfilm. The final three are reportedly still residing in the Lucasfilm archives.

Sources:
Anthony Powell, Costume Designer
Noel Howard, Berman and Nathan
David Hack, US Wings
Ronald Beck, Wardrobe Supervisor
Joanna Johnston, Assistant Costume Designer
Barbara Matera, Costumes Executor
Phyllis Townshend, Script Supervisor
Charles Dunard, Esq., Formerly Latham Watkins