Karen Allen
The sparky female lead of the first Indiana Jones movie is back, three sequels later. She spoke to Ruth Hessey
When Time Out Sydney caught up with Karen Allen she was under strict instructions not to divulge anything about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that might ruin the fun for the rest of us.
However, as she did in Raiders of the Lost Ark 22 years ago, which she graced with a cheeky grin, a flash of freckles and tanned tomboy legs, Allen says she approached the role "feeling fiercely protective of Marion, and I just tried everyway I could to inject a bit more into her role."
She had her work cut out for her. Back in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Marion was living in Nepal, wrestling with 300 pound men, and drinking them under the table," she recalls fondly. In the new film, she still manages "to sock Indiana in the chin again, for walking out on her," but there's not as much scope for what Allen calls her "feisty independent spirit."
Allen is too gracious to comment on the way she was written out of the Indiana sequels. "I was completely clear about choosing to move away from film," she says. "I had to get back to the theatre, because that's the craft I love."
She certainly didn't sit round for 20 years waiting for the phone to ring. In fact apart from a lot of yoga and photography she has barely stopped acting for stage, film and television, since Indiana made her a household name. She also runs her own knitwear design company.
"When Steven called I was totally surprised. He said, ‘Karen haven't you been watching the television? We're doing Indiana... again, and we've written a wonderful role for you."
When she did the original, "in my mind I thought we were making Casablanca. I felt like a fish out of water," she recalls.
"Shia was so excited to meet us all, he looked like he'd been shot out of a cannon."
As for Spielberg, she says "he's an interesting combination of enormously well prepared on every level, but also very open to improvisation and actors ideas."
Having seen the film, there isn't much more to be said about the resurrection of Indiana's original love interest. Except that it's nice to have her back.