(Jaws, 1975, Steven Spielberg)
I have many favorite stories about the film industry. My all time favorite is about The Shining, and it involves Kubrick being crafty and cunning and all around incredible. However, the time is not yet here for me to tell that story. My second favorite Hollywood story is about Jaws and its incredible, captivating soundtrack. When Steven Spielberg first heard the score that John Williams had written for the film, he thought it was an elaborate joke. He laughed and said, "that's funny, John, really. But what did you really have in mind?" Of course, John wasn't kidding, and the soundtrack to Jaws became one of the best, most famous, most easily recognizable films scores of all time.
I started with this story not only because I love it, but because it sets an interesting tone when thinking about the success and, let's face it, sheer brilliance of Jaws. While this incident with the score certainly wasn't a "mistake" or an "accident," it certainly was kind of a misstep. I don't know how John Williams convinced Spielberg that his score was actually a good idea, but it's sure a good thing that he did because it's easily one of the most defining elements of the film. Even Spielberg himself has now said that the film wouldn't have been half as successful without the now infamous score. But what about the other signature elements of the film? The shark-eye perspective as the giant man-eater takes down his victims? The incredible cast who seemed to be born to play their respective roles? Were they just things that Spielberg thought were jokes at first? Well... not quite.
The filming of Jaws was plagued with problems. The mechanical shark (which Spielberg named Bruce, after his lawyer) often proved to be a lot more trouble than it was worth, breaking down frequently and famously getting stuck on the bottom of the ocean during its first swim. So how did Spielberg respond? He decided that instead of filming the shark cruising through the ocean, the camera would become the shark, and many of the early attacks would be seen from its perspective. Which, in the end, proved to be a way better idea than just using shots of a very fake looking mechanical shark that adamantly refused to do the job it was built to do. Just like with the score, Spielberg has now admitted that the camera-as-shark technique possibly saved the film from unforgivable cheesiness, and actually contributed to it's overwhelming success.
Another excellent, defining feature of Jaws is its cast. I mean, really. Is there anyone better to play a salty old sailor who's dedicated his life to killing sharks than Robert Shaw? If I didn't know better I'd believe that they actually just found a crusty sea captain, handed him a script, and hoped for the best. And then there's Richard Dreyfuss, whose wit and snark make him the perfect choice to play the marine biologist who's just dying to catch a shark that would seal his place in the academic world. Finally, there's Roy Sheider, who just wants to keep his town safe, despite his complete lack of knowledge of sharkly behavior. These are the men we all know and love as the main cast of Jaws, so it comes as something as a surprise that none of them were the first choice for their respective parts.
Peter Benchley, the author of the novel on which the film is based, wanted Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Robert Redford for the three main characters (god knows which man would have played which character). Charlton Heston was originally considered for Sheider's role. Jeff Bridges and Jon Voight were both under consideration for Dreyfuss's. And, while all these men were or are very fine actors, can you even imagine? It's a really good thing that, for whatever reason, these men were unavailable or uninterested because Jaws just wouldn't be Jaws without Sheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw. It just wouldn't be right.
Jaws was only Spielberg's second feature-length theatrical release. At 28-years-old he was looking to establish himself in Hollywood, and Jaws allowed him to do just that. But holy crap, what a happy accident it was. Imagine if the mechanical shark had worked just fine, if Peter Benchley had gotten his way in the casting department, and Spielberg had convinced John Williams to change the score. What would the film have been? Probably pretty bad, that's what. And Spielberg would have had to struggle to recover from a very serious misstep. We may never have gotten Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jurassic Park, or Schindler's List, and we would have been the poorer for it. But then, we also wouldn't have had to suffer through Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so maybe it wouldn't have been all bad.
Another excellent, defining feature of Jaws is its cast. I mean, really. Is there anyone better to play a salty old sailor who's dedicated his life to killing sharks than Robert Shaw? If I didn't know better I'd believe that they actually just found a crusty sea captain, handed him a script, and hoped for the best. And then there's Richard Dreyfuss, whose wit and snark make him the perfect choice to play the marine biologist who's just dying to catch a shark that would seal his place in the academic world. Finally, there's Roy Sheider, who just wants to keep his town safe, despite his complete lack of knowledge of sharkly behavior. These are the men we all know and love as the main cast of Jaws, so it comes as something as a surprise that none of them were the first choice for their respective parts.
Peter Benchley, the author of the novel on which the film is based, wanted Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Robert Redford for the three main characters (god knows which man would have played which character). Charlton Heston was originally considered for Sheider's role. Jeff Bridges and Jon Voight were both under consideration for Dreyfuss's. And, while all these men were or are very fine actors, can you even imagine? It's a really good thing that, for whatever reason, these men were unavailable or uninterested because Jaws just wouldn't be Jaws without Sheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw. It just wouldn't be right.
Jaws was only Spielberg's second feature-length theatrical release. At 28-years-old he was looking to establish himself in Hollywood, and Jaws allowed him to do just that. But holy crap, what a happy accident it was. Imagine if the mechanical shark had worked just fine, if Peter Benchley had gotten his way in the casting department, and Spielberg had convinced John Williams to change the score. What would the film have been? Probably pretty bad, that's what. And Spielberg would have had to struggle to recover from a very serious misstep. We may never have gotten Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jurassic Park, or Schindler's List, and we would have been the poorer for it. But then, we also wouldn't have had to suffer through Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so maybe it wouldn't have been all bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment