Today, we’re pleased to debut a clip from Drafthouse Films’ new documentary Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made. The story follows a trio of 11-year-old boys from Mississippi who spent seven years making a shot-for-shot adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. In case you haven’t seen Raiders lately, go watch it and realize that you need to love this film down to your marrow to think you would be able to recreate its scenes. And yet they did! They recreated the boulder chase, the truck chase, everything except for the explosive airplane set piece. Two decades later, they reunited to finish what they started when they were kids.

In this clip, the adults discuss the difficulty of making Belloq’s exploding head. While they had the plaster and were prepared to make the mold, it turns out it’s a little trickier than that, and you need to be very careful about what kind of plaster you’re using. Otherwise, you’re going to feel like you opened the Ark of the Covenant.

Check out the clip below. Raiders! is now available on VOD and in theaters.

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Here’s the official synopsis for Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made:

After Steven Spielberg's classic Raiders of the Lost Ark was released 35 years ago, three 11-year-old boys from Mississippi set out on what would become a 7-year-long labor of love and tribute to their favorite film: a faithful, shot-for-shot adaptation of the action adventure film. They finished every scene...except one; the film's explosive airplane set piece.

 

Over two decades later, the trio reunited with the original cast members from their childhood in order to complete their masterpiece. Featuring interviews with John Rhys Davies, Eli Roth and more, RAIDERS!: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST FAN FILM EVER MADE is just that: the story of this long-gestating project’s culmination, chronicling the friends' dedication to their artistic vision—mixed in with some movie magic—to create a personal, epic love letter to a true modern classic.