Hollywood Throwback: The Story Behind Indiana Jones’ Hat

My favorite character of all time is Indiana Jones. At my core, I am a sucker for adventure movies that keep you on the edge of your seat, and from the time I was 5 all the way through now, that's the one guy I'd like to trade places with in the mythical movie world.

The thing about Indy is that it's not just his personality, but he exudes this coolness from his costume, too. The jacket. The whip. The fedora. They all make up the man.

Well, what's the story behind the getup? And where did Indy get that hat?

Today, we're going to dig into the legend of Indiana Jones and talk about how one of the best-written characters ever came to be.

Let's dive in.

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The Character

Indiana Jones was created by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg on their hunt for a protagonist who could be an homage to the adventure movies they grew up loving.

Funnily enough, the character was named Indiana after Lucas's dog. But Jones came later, when Spielberg didn't like the name Indiana Smith.

From there, the two of them began brainstorming the life and look of this icon.

Along with Lawrence Kasdan, the auteurs looked for inspiration from Charlton Heston in Secret of the Incas (1954) and Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Once the screenplay was written by Kasdan, and they eventually cast Harrison Ford (after Tom Selleck was forced to do Magnum PI by CBS), costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis took Harrison Ford to the famous Bermans & Nathans costume house in London to test out a few different looks.

The Herbert Johnson "Australian"

The idea was to find a hat that complemented Ford’s facial features while remaining striking in high-contrast lighting, which Spielberg knew he wanted to use to hark back to the serials of old.

They needed something to really tie together the man and the movie star, so they ultimately turned to the historic London hatter Herbert Johnson. Landis selected their standard "Australian" model, later rebranded as the "Poet" model, which was a wide-brimmed, tall-crowned hat crafted from dark brown rabbit fur felt.

Landis and the team made critical adjustments to make the hat work both for Ford and for director of photography Douglas Slocombe, who shot the movie.

They trimmed the brim to be a bit shorter so they could see Ford's face, and it wasn't obscured by shadow and didn't block any camera angles.

The hat was kept relatively tall with a 38mm grosgrain ribbon around the base to exaggerate Indy's height and accentuate his vertical profile on screen, making him a more looming presence, especially in that first reveal when he steps into the light.

The Hat Is A Character

Of course, this hat also could not look new; it had to be broken in. So Landis and Ford personally aged the hats before shooting. They subjected multiple Herbert Johnson hats to deliberate torture, like sanding them, using mineral oil all over, and wire brushing to scrape up the finish.

They folded the hat, sat on it, and even crushed it under mattresses.

The hat was also rubbed in real dirt and dust, and Ford wore it around and sweated into it so that it would naturally become part of him.

And it did.

All this had to be done because, alongside Indiana Jones, the hat sort of became its own character over the course of all three movies. It even got its own origin story in The Last Crusade.

Plus, we see Indy risk his life to grab his hat in Temple of Doom.

It's impossible to imagine the character without thinking about this hat on his head. It really completes the look and adds to the legend that is Indiana Jones.

Summing It All Up

The hat became shorthand for the hero and part of many Halloween costumes and drawings moving forward. It's hard to imagine Indy without it, and now, when you see adventure characters in movies, a lot of them try his style, too.

Are you a fan of the hat? Is it the best piece of costume ever?

Let me know what you think in the comments.