Or, as Spielberg once put it, “The film went from a Japanese Saturday matinee horror flick to more of a Hitchcock, the less-you-see-the-more-you-get thriller.” Robert Shaw didn’t like Richard DreyfussĪs if working on a film with an unfinished script and an unreliable shark wasn’t enough, Spielberg also had his actors to contend with. What could have been just another B-movie instead became a terrifying exercise in suspense. The shark’s failure forced him to resort to other means to suggest its presence, using acting, cinematography and John Williams’ astonishing music to heighten the sense of fear.
As David Brown pointed out, Bruce also had the habit of sinking to the bottom of the sea.īruce’s misbehaviour ultimately had a positive effect on the movie, which Spielberg freely admits.
HOLLYWOOD SHOT DESIGNER SKIN
His waterproof skin proved to be anything but, and the salt regularly corroded it. A portent, perhaps, of the arduous shoot ahead.īruce worked reasonably well on dry land, but the seawater played havoc with his complex innards. Now jammed shut, the beast’s mouth had to be prised back open to get Lucas’ head back out. While visiting the Jaws effects shop one day, the future Star Wars director decided to place his head into the shark’s maw, only to become trapped when Spielberg and John Milius mischievously pressed a button and closed the jaws on him. It’s not difficult to understand his hatred for his mechanical nemesis.īefore filming even began, Bruce tried to kill George Lucas. Years later, he would also refer to it as “the great white turd”. Spielberg named the shark Bruce, which was the name of his lawyer. Art director Joe Alves and effects designer Bob Mattey spent the best part of six months building three mechanical great whites, each designed to fulfil a specific function one could be towed along for full-frontal shots, while the other two were mounted on platforms, and meant to be filmed from the left- or right-hand side.
HOLLYWOOD SHOT DESIGNER HOW TO
Unfortunately, they had no idea of how to make a giant shark.
The problem, it seemed, was that everyone involved in the production of Jaws knew they had the makings of a great movie. “The shark was frustrating” Spielberg concurred, in what may be one of the greatest understatements in the history of filmmaking. Everything that could go wrong with the shark went wrong.” “We thought our careers in motion pictures had gone with it. “I remember being on set for the first shark test, and it simply sank,” producer David Brown said in The Making Of Jaws. Unfortunately for the director, his problems were only just beginning. Just at the right time, the pieces fell into place for Spielberg, and it’s now hard to imagine three better actors to cast in such archetypal roles. “’If you still want to offer me that job,’” Dreyfuss said, “’I’ll take it.’ In essence, I came crawling to Martha’s Vineyard for that part.” Dreyfuss, convinced the film he’d just made ( The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz) was going to be a flop, decided to give Spielberg a call.
HOLLYWOOD SHOT DESIGNER MOVIE
Shaw was persuaded to join the movie after both his secretary and his wife enthused about it. Robert Shaw was offered the role of Quint, but he hated Benchley’s novel, and said no.įortunately, both actors later changed their minds.
On the recommendation of his friend George Lucas, Spielberg offered the part of Hooper to Richard Dreyfuss, who turned it down. Nine days before filming began, Spielberg still hadn’t found actors to play Quint or Hooper. Neither Lee Marvin nor Sterling Hayden wanted to play Quint, and Jon Voight didn’t want to play Hooper. This was just as well, since a number of Hollywood’s most respected names didn’t want to appear in a movie about a giant shark.Īlthough the lead role of Brody wasn’t too difficult to cast – when Robert Duvall turned the role down, Spielberg chose Roy Scheider after meeting him at a party – the other leads, Quint and Hooper, were more problematic. When Jaws was still in its planning stages, Spielberg had already decided that the star of the movie would be the great white itself. Some of Hollywood’s most famous actors turned the film down It’s not entirely clear who we have to thank for Quint’s unforgettable monologue about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis – it’s thought that Milius and actor Robert Shaw came up with it between them – but it serves as a perfect, eerie calm before the final act’s storm. Other writers, most famously John Milius, were brought in to assist, and the actors themselves ended up contributing their suggestions and improvising key lines – “We’re going to need a bigger boat”, perhaps the most famous line in the entire movie, was made up on the spot by Roy Schieder.įrom this broiling soup of screenwriters and improvisation emerged a supremely well-written film. By the time shooting commenced, Gottlieb was still rewriting the script, often finishing scenes in the evening ready for filming the next day.