“Jaws” is a movie that needs no introduction, made by a director who similarly needs no introduction. Steven Spielberg is one of the most well-known, respected, and popular directors in cinema history. When all’s said and done, he may be considered the best to ever do it. Even so, against his incredible body of work which includes classics like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Schindler’s List,” his major studio debut about a killer shark terrorizing a small town remains one of his finest hours. Even though he was green as a filmmaker, he was ambitious. Case in point, he broke an unwritten Hollywood rule in making his 1975 classic.
In a 2006 interview with the Directors Guild of America, Spielberg reflected on the making of “Jaws,” which was famously plagued with issues. The shark, affectionately referred to as “Bruce,” was breaking all the time. It was a mess. There’s a reason Spielberg was worried the film might sink his career, which was only just getting started. He certainly didn’t do himself any favors, insisting on shooting the film on real water out in the ocean, against the advice of others. Here’s what he had to say about it:
“Yeah, everybody told me not to shoot on water. I mean, everybody. Sid Sheinberg even said, ‘Why don’t you build a tank on the back lot? We’ll pay for it.’ And I said, no, I want to go out and I want to battle the elements, I want people to think this is really happening, that the shark is really in the ocean. I don’t want this to look like ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ with the obvious painted background and all of that.”
The whole experience was so bad and so brutal that Spielberg actually refused to direct “Jaws 2” when that came about. His career certainly didn’t suffer for passing on the sequel but, at the time, it was a tough gig to say no to as he was still becoming the man he is today.
Jaws broke all the rules but became a massive success
Was it a tough movie to make? Unquestionably. Filming on the water brought something to the film. Sure, guys like James Cameron had the money to create new technology to film all of the underwater stuff for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” but this was the ’70s. It was never going to be that. It would be a big tank in a studio backlot that would never have the same feel as the movie we know and love today. Credit where credit is due, Spielberg’s instincts were right. The results, in fairness to Mr. Spielberg, do speak for themselves.
Universal Pictures ended up with a smash hit when “Jaws” hit theaters, and it’s even credited with creating the summer blockbuster as we know it today. The film was so successful that it managed to impact people’s real-world view of sharks. That’s no small thing. It paved the way for three sequels and set up Spielberg to have a truly ridiculous career from then on out. In the same interview, Spielberg reflected on that success, looking at it as something of a double-edged sword.
“I credit ‘Jaws’ with everything, being a movie director, having final cut. ‘Jaws’ gave me freedom, and I’ve never lost my freedom. But the experience of making ‘Jaws’ was horrendous for me. And it was partially because the script was unfinished and we were all making it up as we went along.”
“Jaws” is available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD via Amazon.
