Original age of Marion when involved with Indy?

There is a story going around that George Lucas originally conceived of Indy being involved with Marion when she was a very young age...younger than the 15 years old given in the books. I wrote this in response.





DO NOT READ if you feel this would spoil the films for you! The age given is REALLY YOUNG!




I went to see the first movie when it hit the theaters, with my sister and two friends. We missed the first ten or twenty minutes and I asked that we stay for the next showing, of course not to see the whole film but just the part we missed. My sister got really mad and said the first part was "totally irrelevant." She could not have been more wrong. I went to see the movie in the theater again, this time I think with my mom. It was like seeing an ENTIRELY different film having seen that opening part! I had watched it the first time completely relating to Indiana Jones as a good guy. With the beginning in place it was much more nuanced but nothing like this horrible revelation. I do remember having conversations with people who had seen it and were confused. The actress who played Marion was apparently thirty when the film came out but these people thought she was twenty. Something was supposed to have happened between them ten years earlier and people were like, "What, she had a crush on him when she was ten?" No one remotely conceived of him actually being involved with such a young girl. There is also a scene with a girl I thought was Marion (I don't feel like checking but am sure someone will correct me if not) in a college class Dr. Jones was teaching who was flirting with him. If he taught her in college and met up with her ten years later she would be about thirty, like the actress. It's deplorable that George Lucas thought of such a thing as a girl of 11 with a man who would have been 27 at the time, assuming a birthdate of July 1, 1899 for Indiana Jones, and a date of 1936 for Raiders of the Lost Ark at which time he'd have been 37, but if he met her in college she'd be at least 18. If high school, I guess she could have been 15 like the novels say. Apparently there's a recorded conversation of Lucas saying it's not interesting if she's older than 15. Going by the actress's age, she'd have been 19 or 20. When I was told the actress was only 20, I thought it was a mistake and they should have cast someone older. Glad that was cleared up by learning her real age after all these years. Would I watch the films again? I doubt it. I only saw Raiders and Last Crusade as I didn't want to see a heart ripped out in Temple of Doom and the others sounded kind of silly. I wouldn't rule it out but this is a major creep factor. If I do see them it will be like seeing Raiders that second time, just an entirely different film from the first time. How much did Harrison Ford know about this and agree to?