'Indy' Fever Hits Yale University

by Diana Orson, NPR

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford are at it again - this time in New Haven, Conn., where they're filming the long-awaited fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series.

As the backdrop to the latest Indy adventure, they've chosen the classic Gothic spires of Yale University's Ivy League campus, which has also been featured in other Hollywood films starring Julia Roberts and Uma Thurman.

But the city may never see anything like this again: a vintage 1950s storefront with colorful '57 Chevys and Studebakers parked outside. Signs for fallout shelters and ads for Vitalis decorate a block gone retro.

Yale plays the fictional Marshall College in Indiana Jones 4, set in 1957. The film features a wild motorcycle chase, as Indy zooms through downtown trailed by villains and smashes through the university's stately iron (make that Styrofoam) gates.

New Haven is a mess as crews rehearse. With all the street closures, visiting scholars complain they can't get around campus.

But Chef Claire Criscuolo, whose vegetarian restaurant will be a bakery in the movie, says most locals think Indy fever is worth the headache.

"My brother, who is a financial analyst — which means he doesn't get excited over a whole lot that has to do with anything other than money — he called me probably three times yesterday asking for details on what was happening in the streets. It's really wonderful, I have to say," Criscuolo says.

Starstruck fans have been able to catch a glimpse of Harrison Ford (or was that his stunt double?) under the classic fedora, but Indiana Jones whips out of New Haven this weekend.

Broadcast Dates

• All Things Considered, July 3, 2007