Steven Spielberg is now among the greatest filmmakers of all time. Heralded for making several critically accomplished movies that are now trendsetters and cult classics, Spielberg is a true auteur whose every film is a masterclass in filmmaking. However, his career might have looked very different now had he been fired from his first true blockbuster, Jaws.
Steven Spielberg has One Studio Executive to Thank for Jaws
Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws is a deeply instrumental movie for the whole of the film industry. One of the first movies ever to be shot in the ocean, the film faced several issues and challenges during its shoot. From struggling to maintain its troubled budget to going over the schedule, on a number of occasions Spielberg was close to being fired from his critically hit movie.
Too young to be shooting such a film in conditions that heavily relied on Mother Nature’s commands, Spielberg in an interview exclaimed how his lack of experience and perfectionism was detrimental to the movie during the shoot (via Ain’t It Cool News). In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, the acclaimed filmmaker remarked how all these issues made him close to being fired if it wasn’t for one studio executive.
[Universal Studios exec and Spielberg mentor] Sid Sheinberg always blocked it. [Jaws producers] Dick Zanuck and David Brown always told me that the other shoe was about to drop. They didn’t warn me to threaten me or to intimidate me — they just said, ‘Is there anything you can do with the script, with the schedule, to avert a shutdown?’ And I didn’t have anything to do, because I couldn’t cut the script.
Not wanting to cut down the script despite falling behind the fixed schedule and going over budget, Spielberg was not a favorite of many. However, if Sid Sheinberg hadn’t stood up for the now-great director, Jaws would not have been the movie we know today or we might not have known it at all!
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was Riddled with Issues and Challenges
Shooting in actual water had several issues for in natural conditions it is nature controlling everything. So it was for the cast and crew of Jaws, who had to heavily rely on the mercy of Mother Nature for the majority of the shoot. Over the years, the production of the film has been heavily documented, noting in expansive detail the harsh conditions the production had to battle with.
Spielberg, in his interview with Entertainment Weekly, also gave an insight into the issues they faced, which make up just a fragment of the tip of the iceberg they were dealing with.
What we had to do was find open sea where you couldn’t see land, and where there was a 30-foot flat sandy bottom so the shark sled would have some place to rest. It had to be 30 feet, because if it was 40 feet, the shark could never get out of the water. We had a shark arm that only went up so high.
Furthermore, shooting in shallow waters had its own issues, as Spielberg further added,
The problem with shooting in the shallows 10 to 12 miles out to sea is that the shallows pile on the waves. You don’t get breaking waves out there, but you get some swells. So we picked the worst place in the world to shoot.
Despite all these setbacks, Spielberg does not regret it at all. And if given a chance to do it all over again, he exclaimed to Ain’t It Cool News that he would do it again for the sake of the audience. Seeing Spielberg’s perseverance despite the arduous conditions, it is no wonder why the filmmaker is as famous and acclaimed as he is now.
Jaws can be streamed on Netflix.
