Indiana Jones Star Says Cute Monkey From Raiders Was Actually A Huge Pain To Work With

Actress Karen Allen, who played Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark, has spoken about her experience working with the movie's monkey--and it was not a good time.

For the movie's 40th anniversary, Allen spoke to Entertainment Weekly about her disdain for working with the capuchin monkey. The monkey featured in the film was untrained, and this presented a series of issues, Allen said.

"The monkey was a very unpleasant experience," she said. "Here in the United States, we have Hollywood monkeys that are raised by people from a very young age, and they have trainers and they're really obedient. I don't know where that monkey came from. All I know is we were in Tunisia and that monkey had no training whatsoever."

Only if you caught the monkey in a "good moment" was the filming experience OK. Otherwise, the little creature was "going to give you a really hard time," she said.

"It was hot there and the monkey really had no interest in being in the heat. He was not my favorite costar. I worked with another monkey one time [in Animal Behavior], and he almost hit my thumb off, so I think I'm done with monkeys," Allen said.

The Indiana Jones series is coming back to life, as Lucasfilm is now producing a fifth movie that is filming now in the UK. Images have begun to leak from the set, including a picture of Harrison Ford wearing his famous outfit, albeit with a mask this time due to COVID.