Indiana Jones (franchise) and Lucas made a deal with Paramount Pictures for five Indiana Jones films. Spielberg and Lucas aimed to make "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" much darker, because of their personal moods following their respective break-ups and divorces. Lucas made the film a prequel as he did not want the Nazis to be the villains again. He had ideas regarding the Monkey King and a haunted castle, but eventually created the Sankara Stones. He hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to write the script as he knew of their interest in Indian culture. The major scenes that were dropped
Indiana Jones (franchise) to write for an intended 2002 shoot, but he was overwhelmed by the task, and claimed it was difficult to get Ford, Spielberg, and Lucas to focus. Stephen Gaghan and Tom Stoppard were also approached. Frank Darabont, who wrote various "Young Indiana Jones" episodes, was hired to write in May 2002. His script, titled "Indiana Jones and the City of Gods", was set in the 1950s, with ex-Nazis pursuing Jones. Spielberg conceived the idea because of real-life figures such as Juan Perón in Argentina, who allegedly protected Nazi war criminals. Darabont claimed Spielberg loved the script, but Lucas had issues