The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Indiana Jones feature films, the cast and crew frequently questioned creator George Lucas about the Indiana Jones character's life growing up. During the concept stages of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", Lucas and director Steven Spielberg decided to reveal some of this backstory in the film's opening scenes. For these scenes, Lucas chose River Phoenix to portray the character, as Harrison Ford believed that Phoenix most resembled Ford as a young man (Phoenix had appeared as Ford's son in "The Mosquito Coast"). This decision to reveal an adventure of a young Indiana led Lucas and crew to the idea
Indiana Jones (franchise) list of characters who have appeared in the "Indiana Jones" film franchise. A novelization of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was written by Campbell Black and published by Ballantine Books in April 1981. It was followed by "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", written by James Kahn and published by Ballantine in May 1984. Finally, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was published in May 1989, and was the first Indiana Jones book by Rob MacGregor. A fan of the first two films, MacGregor admitted that writing the novelization made him "somewhat disappointed" with the third film, as he