“Jaws” is one of those films that has a destiny aura on this subject. The film has become such a success, influential and loved that it is impossible to imagine a world without it. Regarding the “jaws”, it looks like a means, in a way, the film was always going to be made. What is ironic is that 51 years ago, it was not an opinion shared by almost anyone involved in the manufacture of “jaws”, until and including director Steven Spielberg himself. To begin with, the prospect of making a major film of the novel source by Peter Benchley seemed intimidating to people even before the cameras drive, while many directors passed on the project before the hiring of Spielberg. Some of them have left for reasons of creative differences, yet others have stressed how much the capture of the capture of the book on the film would still be difficult. After all, how was to convince an audience of the veracity of the history of three men in search of a great white shark of a giant killer, because by the conventional wisdom of Hollywood in 1974, either the shark would appear too laughable (because the use of real sharks was out of the question), or the sea would seem too false (due to the ball in a tank).
Spielberg, Hot Off Shiting “Duel” by Richard Matheson completely on real desert roads, assumed that he could perform the shooting of “jaws” on the ocean with a mechanical shark. Indeed, the young filmmaker’s ambition turned to pride, and “Jaws” has become a sadly famous shoot to be prey to production problems. Although these questions were well documented, the question of how production was able to overcome these difficulties was less discussed. As part of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of this year of the film, the Academy Museum will open “Jaws: The Exhibition” on September 14 in Los Angeles, and Mr. Spielberg was on site during a day of preview of the special press to inaugurate the exhibition and deliver some reminiscences on the film. During his speech, Spielberg revealed that “Jaws” appeared in theaters for a simple reason: “no one wanted to stop”. It may seem obvious, but in the cinema – or any task in life, really – it is a mixture of passion and perseverance that really makes all the difference.
“ Jaws ” was threatened with apparently insurmountable elements during the shooting
Between the numerous articles, interviews, documentaries and even more on the manufacture of “jaws”, most people know that the filming of the film, in particular the third act, aboard the orca in the middle of the ocean, was not a picnic. However, while many actors and crew members – in particular Spielberg – have spoken of how the experience was exhausting, it was less discussed how the production was extremely close to closing and scratching for good accordingly. As Spielberg recalled it during the press event, the film had every reason to be closed, but it was not simply because everyone refused to leave, including itself. “I was really not ready to endure the amount of obstacles that were launched on our way,” he said. “Starting with mother nature … my pride was [that] We could take a Hollywood crew, go to 12 miles in the Atlantic Ocean and shoot an entire film with a mechanical shark. “Spielberg continued,” I thought it was going to go to swim. And I really had no idea that the second you try Mother Nature and try fate, it all starts to conspire against you and us. “And that did not stop there. As he explained:
“And that was what you read and what the exhibition suggests: it was a real exercise in pride and futility. But but [it got made] Because we never wanted to leave, and that was the reason why we finished the film. I was offered, in fact several times, a chance to bow graciously out of the film, so as not to be replaced by another director, but for the film to be closed. And when we were almost 90 days on the calendar, think about it, 90 days on the calendar. It turns out that the film was a hundred days on the calendar. We pulled 158 days, but no one wanted to leave. No one wanted to stop. “”
While Spielberg continued, he explained how the aspects as simple as keeping a shot away from unwanted objects and move a camera position to develop invading elements have become an absolute chore during the ocean shooting. During the filming of “jaws”, there were often sailboats which derived in the context, causing a debate on the fact that it would be better to wait for them to spend time by modifying the size of the lens on the camera to obtain a tighter shot (which would compromise the chosen look of the film), or collect the anchor to move the many production boats in a new position. When you consider all the different logistics involved in the manufacture of “jaws”, it is a wonder that it has ever finished, regardless of the defective shark.
Everyone has seasickness that makes “jaws” except Spielberg
A major obstacle to which the “jaws” were confronted was something that we, the owners, hold for granted: stability. Indeed, the ocean movement that the casting and the crew had to endure for days of shooting of several hours according to a schedule which did not stop increasing that everyone in the production had seasickness. As Spielberg explained, it had less to do with the simple fact of being released in the middle of the ocean and more to see with the long periods of stop that the production was underwater when Mediocre:
“So, most of the time, we waited. People have played cards, many people vomited because it was the ocean. I have never seen so much vomiting in my life. I haven’t done it. During the six months of sea, I have never seen so many people get sick. For any reason, I have never had trouble.
Spielberg’s anxiety was not only for itself, its film or the pressures of the studio, but also concerned the life and well-being of its crew. As he explained, a by-product of endless filming (and endless) has never been sure of the end:
“One of the biggest questions that the crew continued to ask me, and every week I would have five or six people who come to saying to me to say:” I have children, I have not seen them. I have not seen them, I have not seen my family. I have been here for five months. And I did not know when we were going to wrap up to two weeks before we wrap on the Martha vineyard.
In the documentary “The Making of Jaws” by Laurent Bouzereau, the star Richard Dreyfuss tells a story about how Spielberg did not deliberately remain in the Martha vineyard to fear that his crew is throwing him in the ocean after the end of the people thanks to this experience. However, shortly after, and certainly all these years later, Spielberg admitted that something extraordinary had happened between him and his crew so that the film was finished:
“The camaraderie that occurs when you try to survive something. It brought us all closer.
“Jaws” is one of the purest cinematographic expressions of human perseverance and the ecstasy of survival, and it is not an accident. In a way, people who made “jaws” had to live through it, and their experience was immortalized forever so that we can share.
