Jaws
Back in 1974 a butterfly in the Australian Outback faced a tough decision; flap or no flap. Had the unsuspecting butterfly chosen ‘no flap’ it would’ve prevented Spielberg’s chance to make one of the greatest films of all time and announce himself to the film industry. Thankfully for young Steven the butterfly chose flap and allowed Spielberg to, accidentally, stumble into producer David Brown’s office and have a quick glance of the transcript of Peter Benchley’s bestseller. Immediately, Spielberg was hooked.
Spielberg forgot, however, that he was still young and inexperienced- well, in the eyes of his employers anyway. Zanuck and Brown were not swayed by Spielberg’s enthusiasm and masterful control of tension (as sampled in Duel) and instead decided to play it safe with their first choice, Dick Richards. But the tide was with the up-and-coming director and continuous blunders made by Richards (he had raised eyebrows by constantly calling the shark “the whale”) followed with him walking the plank and leaving the dock open for the SS.
Spielberg’s rightful place at the helm of the great film-to-be was still in doubt when he, after his earlier rejection, believed himself not fit for the role. After a great deal of persuading Zanuck and Brown were finally able to lure Spielberg back. It would soon turn out to be a great catch, but not without a large degree of initial difficulty...
The first of many complications came when casting the roles of the main characters; Producers, Screen Writers and Directors all had a say and ten different actors were considered until the understated trio of Scheider, Dreyfuss and Shaw came together. The second was the increase of vital numbers: the tight budget was blown out of the water and rocketed to a massive $12 million and the 51 days creation time ballooned to 155-still long despites today’s inflation. The third and final disaster really pushed Spielberg. On the first day of shooting the mechanical shark was thrown in at the...
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