With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny now available on Disney+ and to purchase on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD, Lucasfilm shares the story of the Hills family and their lifelong passion for all things Indy as they made their way to California for the Hollywood premiere.
Earlier this year, Indiana Jones fans from around the world made their way to California for the Hollywood premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Among them were the Hills, a family of three from the East Coast of the United States, each sporting a distinctive costume.
The son, six-year-old Henri, was dressed in a pith helmet, trousers, and boots à la The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones when the youthful Indy joins his family on an African safari (Henri’s costume even included Indy’s journal and binoculars). The mother, Diana, appeared as Willie Scott from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) when the strong-willed performer borrows Indy’s tuxedo for their trek through the jungles of India. Michael, the father, wore the iconic fedora and leather jacket of cinema’s favorite archaeologist.
As fellow fans and other premiere attendees interacted with the family, what most of them didn’t know was that young Henri was equally known by his middle name: Indiana.
The passion for Indiana Jones in the Hills family began with Michael, who has enjoyed the stories since his childhood in the 1980s and ‘90s (before seeing the movies, he was introduced to the character in the Marvel comic books). “I am the product of mixed parentage,” he explains. “My father’s roots are British, and my mom is a Dutch Burgher Sri Lankan (a Eurasian ethnic group), so my siblings and I are literally West meets East.”
The island of Sri Lanka, of course, is known to Indy fans as the shooting location for a number of scenes in Temple of Doom, including the Mayapore village, Indian jungles, and perilous rope bridge across a river gorge (the latter specially constructed near the town of Kandy next to the tallest dam on the island, the Victoria Dam). “In 1984, I was still very young but there was a lot of buzz about this new Indiana Jones movie that was filming in Sri Lanka,” Hills explains. “It turned out we had a family friend who was hired as a line producer/production supervisor for Temple of Doom, Chandran Ratnum, so he came and visited our house and I vividly remember him telling the story of how they were using a tea plantation to build this village set. He talked about how they were working with British civil engineers to make a bridge.”
Hills’ first movie in the franchise and formal introduction to Indiana Jones didn’t come until 1989 when Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade arrived in theaters. The experience remains fixed in his memory. “I had an uncle who was an ambassador at the time, and he had a real passion for the movies and history, which inspired me,” Hills recalls. “In 1989, our family dog had passed away, and he came to me in real Sallah fashion. He said, ‘Life goes on. Let me take you to the movies.’ I was so intrigued by Indiana Jones. We saw Last Crusade, and I was hooked. That sense of adventure and travel just pulled me in. It set me on the path of being an Indy fan with an appreciation of the work of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
Though initially expected to attend college in the United Kingdom after high school, Hills met Diana at a high school prom, an American who also had Sri Lankan heritage. As they fell in love and planned to marry, Michael followed her to study back in the United States. “I arrived and I was staying with the Chief of the Consular Section of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington D.C.,” Hills explains, “and they asked what I’d like to do for the couple of days before I started college at West Virginia University. I really wanted to see the museums of the Smithsonian. I had read so much about it being ‘America’s Attic.’ So I was dropped off at the Museum of American History, and one of the exhibits I saw was Indy’s whip, hat, and jacket, which Lucasfilm had donated in 1989. That was very profound to be so close to something that Harrison Ford had worn as Indiana Jones.”
Seeing the costume pieces influenced the trajectory of Hills’ fandom, as he became increasingly interested in costume pieces. “The feeling I got seeing the jacket behind the glass made Indy more tangible and personal,” he says. “I think it’s one of the reasons why fans collect props and replicas. It’s the closest connection we can get to these movies, as things you can pick up and hold. I got involved in online forums, and there was some of the basic information out there about the costumes and gear from the Indy franchise.”
Over the years, Hills would meet and interview a number of the craftspeople involved in different iterations of the Indy costume. They included leather specialist Peter Botwright, who was among those to collaborate with costume designer Deborah Naadoolman Landis on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and jacket maker Tony Nowak, who worked with costume designer Bernie Pollack on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull(2008). “It was lovely to sit and listen to these people,” says Hills. “They were very generous with their time. I wanted to learn. I am enamored by the clothing. Indy’s costume is something iconic and very American. The evolution of the costume was not thoroughly documented before fans started helping with this research.”
Hills’ interest came full circle when he graduated from George Mason University with a degree in History. With a passion for research, Hills would return to the Smithsonian in 2009 when he inquired about opportunities to work behind the scenes at the National Museum of American History. “I wasn’t expecting to hear back, but instead, the entertainment curator reached out and graciously asked to meet with me!” Hills says. “I learned that more than 6,000 volunteers work at the Smithsonian and they have more items in the collection than could ever be displayed in a lifetime. I was able to become a volunteer research assistant in the archives and started going in one day a week. Most people didn’t get what I was doing, but Diana was really supportive. History is really my passion and that comes from Indiana Jones.”
As Hills continued volunteering at the Smithsonian while pursuing a career in early childhood education, he and Diana planned to have a child. “Indiana and the backstory about George Lucas’ dog being the inspiration for the name was something I loved,” Hills says. “For years, I thought that if I ever had a son, he would be named Indiana. But I also wanted there to be a connection to a furry family friend. We got an American Cocker Spaniel, and even though he looked like a little Wookiee, we called him Indy! When Diana became pregnant, we discussed what our son would be named. I explained that I would really love for her name to be in his name somewhere. How about ‘In-Diana’? Indiana! [laughs]”
With his middle name officially “Indiana,” Henri (spelled the same way as Henri Defense, Indy’s alias in The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones), arrived in 2017, and as expected, he quickly developed a love for Indiana Jones. That shared passion has proved meaningful in more ways than one. “We always knew that Henri had his own way of approaching things or thinking about things,” says Hills. “While we naturally exposed our son to our interests, not everything took hold like Indy did. Indiana Jones has been one of those constants in his life. When he was struggling to keep up with his age appropriate reading level, my wife and I worked with him using the DK ‘Beginning to Read’ series, Indy’s Adventures, and he’s made leaps and bounds because he was able to relate. And so Indyhas been part of that journey too. The character and stories are his world and at times his refuge.”
The chance to attend the Dial of Destiny premiere in Hollywood was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” as Hills says. “Henri was speechless. We had tried to explain the fact that he was going on a trip to this premiere, but I don’t think it dawned on him until we showed up in Los Angeles. He’s been traveling since he was very young, so he’s very accustomed to it, so it didn’t really hit him until we were there and fans were asking him for pictures. He’s never attended a convention or anything like that.
Read the story in full at Lucasfilm.com. You can listen to our thoughts on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and the UK premiere on RADIO 1138.
