Somewhat similar with Raiders of the Lost Ark

I rewatched Raiders over the weekend late at night while I was having trouble sleeping and I found these few nuggets about the movie.

Traditionally when one of his films is about to open, George Lucas goes on vacation to get away from all the hoopla. As Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was just about to open, Lucas went to Hawaii where he was joined by Steven Spielberg. When the grosses for Lucas's film came in and it was clear it was going to be a hit, Lucas relaxed and was able to discuss other topics with his friend. It was at this point that Spielberg confessed he always wanted to direct a James Bond film, to which Lucas replied he had a much better idea, an adventure movie called "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The conversation happened while the two were making a sand castle. After their trip, they got together and developed the script with Lawrence Kasdan.

Me - how would you have liked to been on a beach making a sandcastle with Lucas and Spielberg and the idea of Raiders of the Lost Ark is first brought up.

Also...

Despite having the dream team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg behind the film, it was initially turned down by every studio in Hollywood. Only after much persuasion did Paramount agree to do it.

Me - so the creator of Star Wars and the director of Jaws and Close Encounters tell you they want to do a movie together and studios tell them no? That just sounds insane

Other notes
Tom Selleck was Lucas’ first choice for Indiana. That’s pretty well known, but I didn’t know Danny Devito was first choice to play Sallah. Selleck and Devito running around Egypt would have been an interesting pair.

George Lucas made what was at the time an unusual deal for this film. The studio financed the film's entire $18 million budget. In exchange, Lucas would own over forty percent of the film, and collect almost half of the profits after the studio grossed a certain amount. It turned out to be a very lucrative deal for Lucas. How can a guy who was so smart and savvy on Star Wars and Indiana be so dumb about Jar Jar and Hayden?