Harry Hamlin Reveals He Got Caught Talking Smack About Steven Spielberg During Crazy ‘Indiana Jones’ Audition

Harry Hamlin says he will never work with Steven Spielberg, but it’s for a surprising reason. The 68-year-old actor said he got caught talking negatively about the legendary filmmaker during an audition he didn’t even realize he was on.

Hamlin, who is married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, has an impressive list of acting credits, but he is now explaining why his resume will never include a Spielberg film. In a new interview with Page Six, the actor recounted his disastrous audition for Raiders of the Lost Ark back in 1978, in which he inadvertently offended the Oscar-winning movie producer.

Hamlin revealed that he was a frontrunner for the lead role as Indiana Jones, and he was invited by Spielberg and George Lucas to audition for the part alongside actress Stephanie Zimbalist, who was reading for the part of Marion Ravenwood. But when Hamlin showed up for the audition, Spielberg told him Lucas’ plane was delayed, and then asked him and Zimbalist to bake a cake while they waited for the famed filmmaker to arrive.

Hamlin and Zimbalist were then sent to the production studio’s kitchen to make a chocolate cake, with no recipe to aid then. As they attempted to bake, Hamlin began chatting with his potential co-star about his pal Amy Irving, who at the time was complaining to him about how “annoying” Spielberg was and that he was “stalking” her in New York.

Unfortunately for Hamlin, the test kitchen was loaded with secret cameras and hidden microphones as Spielberg and Lucas watched from upstairs to see if Hamlin and Zimbalist had “chemistry.”

“It never occurred to me … that we were actually in the audition while we were making the cake,” Hamlin told Page Six. “I’d been riffing on how annoying Steven Spielberg was to my friend Amy, so hey, guess what? I didn’t get the part, OK, and I’ve never worked with Steven Spielberg, and I grant you that I never will work with Steven Spielberg.”

Of course, fans of the film franchise know that the coveted Indiana Jones role eventually went to Harrison Ford, while Karen Allen scored the Marion role in the 1981 blockbuster. Irving, meanwhile, later married her “annoying” suitor Spielberg in 1985. They divorced in 1989.

Even if Hamlin and Spielberg make amends, there’s no chance the Mad Men alum will ever play Indiana Jones. Last year, Harrison Ford told The Today Show that no one else will ever get to play the legendary archaeologist – even after he dies.

“Don’t you get it? I’m Indiana Jones,” the 77-year-old actor said. “When I’m gone, he’s gone. It’s easy.”

Indiana Jones 5 is expected to be released in 2021.