50 Fun Facts About Romancing the Stone

Who directed Romancing the Stone?

He was hired for his association with Spielberg, and the film's success let him make his 1985 time-travel hit.

What is Joan's profession?

She writes her next bestseller about the adventure and returns home to find Jack waiting in a sailboat.

What is the name of Joan's cat?

Jack later names his boat after the heroine of Joan's novels.

Which Colombian city is Joan told to bring the map to as her sister's ransom?

Colonel Zolo diverts her onto a bus into the interior instead.

What does Jack T. Colton smuggle for a living?

His Land Rover is wrecked when Joan's bus crashes into it, which is how the pair meet.

How much does Joan promise Jack, in traveler's cheques, to get her out of the jungle to a telephone?

He later suggests they find the treasure themselves before handing over the map.

What is the name of the drug lord who turns out to be a fan of Joan's novels?

Alfonso Arau's character helps them escape Zolo's soldiers.

What is the treasure at the heart of Romancing the Stone?

Michael Douglas later named his production company El Corazon Productions after it.

What happens to Zolo's hand at the climax?

The crocodile swallows the emerald along with the hand, and Jack dives in after it.

What are Jack's boots made from when he shows up in New York at the end?

He jokes that the crocodile got a fatal case of indigestion from the emerald.

What is the name of Jack's sailboat in the final scene?

He bought the boat of his dreams with the money from selling the emerald.

Who wrote the Romancing the Stone screenplay?

It was her only produced screenplay; she died in a car crash a year and a half after the release.

What was the screenwriter's job while she wrote the script in 1978?

She worked at the Coral Beach Cantina on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Which studio first bought the script in 1979, before Douglas's contract there expired in 1983?

Fox picked it up after the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

At her death, screenwriter Diane Thomas had drafted which project, set in a haunted mansion?

Spielberg had personally hired her to write for Amblin; Lucas and Spielberg later took the film in a different direction.

What kind of car was the screenwriter driving when she died on the Pacific Coast Highway in October 1985?

The car spun on the rain-slick road at about 80 mph and hit a telephone pole near Topanga.

Which two stars declined the role of Jack Colton while the film was at Columbia?

Stallone, Newman and Christopher Reeve were also considered before Douglas hired himself.

Who was the studio's top choice to play Joan before Kathleen Turner?

Many male stars were put off that Joan, not Jack, was the protagonist.

What arrangement did Michael Douglas set up with 20th Century Fox to make the film?

His company financed the film independently and the studio bought it once it was finished.

In which country was most of Romancing the Stone filmed?

Locations included Veracruz, Xalapa and Huasca de Ocampo, with the opening scene shot in St. George, Utah.

On which river was the whitewater scene where Jack and Joan are separated filmed?

It was shot near Jalcomulco in Veracruz.

Which 1984 rival did Fox push the filmmakers to beat to theatres?

Time magazine still called the finished film "a distaff Raiders rip-off".

Which film fired Zemeckis as director after its producers saw a rough cut of Romancing the Stone?

Studio insiders expected the film to flop; it became Fox's only big hit of 1984.

Which later Zemeckis film did he say Romancing the Stone's success allowed him to make?

He would cast Kathleen Turner again as the voice of Jessica Rabbit in 1988.

Roughly how much did Romancing the Stone gross worldwide?

That made it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1984.

Which two Golden Globes did Romancing the Stone win?

Its only Academy Award nomination was for Best Film Editing.

Who composed the score for Romancing the Stone, beginning a long partnership with Zemeckis?

He went on to score Forrest Gump and the Zemeckis time-travel trilogy.

What did Kathleen Turner sue the filmmakers to pay for after production wrapped?

She also recalled terrible arguments with Zemeckis about his camera setups.

Under what pen name were the novelisations of both films credited?

Catherine Lanigan actually ghostwrote both books.

Which US president watched Romancing the Stone at Camp David in May 1984?

Roger Ebert called it "a silly, high-spirited chase picture" and enjoyed it.

Which 1989 film reunited Douglas, Turner and DeVito, with DeVito directing?

A third Joan and Jack film set in Thailand was planned for 1987 but never made.

What was the working title of the unmade third film, set in Thailand?

Racing the Monsoon was a separate sequel Douglas developed in 2005 and 2008.

Who directed The Jewel of the Nile?

Douglas produced again, and Zemeckis did not return.

Which Billy Ocean song from The Jewel of the Nile reached number one in the UK?

It peaked at number two in the US.

What is the Jewel of the Nile revealed to be?

He walks safely through fire at the end, fulfilling the prophecy that he is the true spiritual leader.

What is the name of the dictator who hires Joan to write his biography in The Jewel of the Nile?

He plans to declare himself ruler of the Arab world at a ceremony in the city of Kadir.

In which aircraft do Jack, Joan and Al-Julhara flee into the desert?

The wooden, styrofoam and fibreglass mock-up was built on a car chassis powered by a Chevrolet engine.

In which two countries was The Jewel of the Nile mainly shot?

Locations included Villefranche-sur-Mer, Cannes and Ait Benhaddou, plus Zion National Park in Utah.

How much did Fox threaten to sue Kathleen Turner for when she tried to back out of the sequel?

Douglas intervened and the two traded script pages on a hotel floor in Fez.

What went wrong after one massive night scene in Morocco was set up and shot?

Producer Michael Douglas exploded and the whole scene was refilmed another day.

To whom is The Jewel of the Nile dedicated?

Production designer Richard Dawking and production manager Brian Coates died about two weeks before filming began.

The Jewel of the Nile was the last film released on which home video format?

The capacitance electronic disc had been a commercial failure for RCA.

Which two earlier Zemeckis flops made Fox hesitate to let him direct Romancing the Stone?

He was hired in part because of his association with Steven Spielberg after Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Which three other stars were considered for Jack Colton before Michael Douglas cast himself?

Many were displeased that Joan Wilder was the protagonist while Colton was secondary.

Where was the opening scene of Romancing the Stone, set in one of Joan's novels, actually filmed?

Snow Canyon, Utah, also appears, while interiors were shot in Mexico City.

Despite their arguments, Zemeckis later cast Kathleen Turner as the voice of which character?

Turner said Zemeckis put her 'in ridiculous postures' for his cameras on Romancing the Stone.

Romancing the Stone received its sole Academy Award nomination in which category?

Donn Cambern and Frank Morriss were nominated; Diane Thomas got a Writers Guild nod for the screenplay.

Who actually ghostwrote the 'Joan Wilder' novelisations of both films?

The pen name belonged to Kathleen Turner's romance-novelist character.

What was the tentative title of the second sequel Douglas developed in 2005 and 2008?

Fox also mulled a remake with Taylor Kitsch or Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl, later reworked as a TV series.

What was the production budget of The Jewel of the Nile?

Shooting ran from April to July 1985 in France, Morocco and Utah's Zion National Park.