In an interview, he claimed that one of the things that inspired him to write movies was the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark in which the buildup for a bull whip and scimitar fight ends up with Indy shooting the swordsman. Ironically, this scene was not conceived by the writer, but was the result of an offhand remark during shooting.
[on Frank Darabont's rejected screenplay for Indiana Jones y el reino de la calavera de cristal (2008)] I've never actually met Frank Darabont, but I hear he's a lovely guy. Just for the record, the Indiana Jones jumping into the fridge bit is in the Darabont script. And I loved it, which is why I pushed it into the movie! I thought it was a great idea![Jan.2015]
