FIRST OFF . . .

The spirit deities of the Hopi Indians have succeeded where the National Park Service failed: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford and company have abandoned plans to shoot scenes of the new Indiana Jones film in fragile cliff dwellings at Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. The park service’s on-site archeologist had sought to prohibit filming in the ruins, fearing damage to the site, but supervisors overruled him last week and filming was set to continue. But actor Jon Voight intervened, according to Frank Marshall, one of the film’s executive producers. Voight relayed the religious objections of Hopi tribal elders to Lucasfilm executives in Northern California, explaining the site’s significance to the tribe. “(Voight) came over to set the record straight, to make sure that we knew this. We immediately took action on it. We feel we have to respect their heritage and ancestors, and thus we have elected not to shoot there,” Marshall explained. Now Marshall says alternative locations are being scouted in Arizona.