Latest news with #LaurentBouzereau
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Jaws @ 50' doc biggest revelations: Steven Spielberg's shock over Oscars snub — and ‘sparring' co-stars
'Jaws' is still making a splash in cinema 50 years later. National Geographic's new documentary 'Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story' directed by Laurent Bouzereau gives a behind-the-scenes look at Steven Spielberg's iconic 1975 shark movie with rare archival footage and interviews with conservationists and famed directors. Spielberg himself revisits the classic film including the troubled production, his Oscars snub for Best Director and more. 'To me, making 'Jaws' was a life-altering experience,' Spielberg said in the doc. Here are the biggest revelations from 'Jaws @ 50.' The 'Jaws' cast and crew dealt with a myriad of production issues while shooting the film on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. in 1974. 'There was nothing fun about making 'Jaws,'' Spielberg admitted. The production struggles included a ballooning budget, mechanical issues with the sharks, challenging weather conditions, star Robert Shaw's alcoholism and his tension with co-star Richard Dreyfuss. 'There were times making that movie when I thought 'Jaws' would probably be the last thing I ever made before people would stop hiring me,' said Spielberg. 'Star Wars' creator George Lucas recalled: 'It was reported everywhere. And when I did talk to [Spielberg] once in a while, I knew he was having a hard time.' Spielberg revealed that about 60 days into shooting the film, 'somebody from Hollywood, an actor, came over to me and said, 'Everybody's talking about [how] you're never gonna get a job after this movie because you're irresponsible with budget.'' 'This actor was so sure I would never work again, they didn't care if they told me that,' Spielberg shared, calling the unnamed actor's comments 'very mean' and 'demoralizing.' Despite the many production issues, Spielberg said he 'never once felt like I wanted to quit. I was terrified I was going to be fired.' Sidney Sheinberg, the head of Universal Pictures at the time, flew to Martha's Vineyard 'just to asses the damage.' When they sat down to talk, Sheinberg allegedly told Spielberg that he didn't think finishing the film was possible. 'I just said, 'No, I wanna go. I wanna finish it,'' Spielberg remembered. Martin Scorsese would visit the 'Jaws' set as well. 'He would sit there feeling sorry for me,' said Spielberg. 'We would commiserate.' Of course, Spielberg eventually finished production on 'Jaws' before its 1975 release. He said in the doc that making the movie was 'traumatizing' but worth it. 'When the film wrapped Martha's Vineyard, I had a full-blown panic attack,' Spielberg revealed in the documentary. 'I was in it, shall I say, over my head, for about seven or eight months on Martha's Vineyard. It was, logistically, I think the most difficult movie I think I'll ever make.' The award-winning director recalled that he 'couldn't breathe' and thought he was having a heart attack during his health incident. 'I was shaking. And I was out of it — I was completely out of it,' he said. 'I had a great crew, and yet I felt responsible for everybody there. And I felt really responsible for keeping them there for as long as had to stay.' 'Jaws' had to keep shooting for another two months after wrapping in Martha's Vineyard, at which point he refused to give up on the film. 'It didn't stop me waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, where the sheets would be soaking wet,' he explained. 'We didn't have the words PTSD in those days, and I had consistent nightmares about directing 'Jaws' for years afterwards.' The actors who played Quint and Matt Hooper in the film didn't get along behind the scenes. 'There was a lot of Richard challenging Robert and Robert challenging Richard,' Spielberg recalled. 'They were kind of sparring partners — but it really turned out in hindsight to be a playful banter that was unique to their personal relationships.' Shaw's son, Ian Shaw, explained that Shaw and Dreyfuss had 'offscreen skirmishes' which 'helped the chemistry of the peace.' Ian also said: 'There was a love-hate relationship with the two. Robert was very frustrated with Richard's attitude. And Robert gave him a very hard time — at least publicly.' 'But also Robert could see the talent that was there, and wanted him to succeed,' Ian added. 'Jaws' was nominated for four Oscars and won three, including Best Original Score for John Williams' music. However, Spielberg was completely snubbed from the Best Director category. 'When a film is on the cusp of being considered for awards, it's not so much what you want for yourself — it's what everyone else says is going to happen for you,' Spielberg explained. 'So I just understood, 'I guess I'm getting nominated.' ' 'So when I wasn't, I was surprised. And I was disappointed,' he admitted. 'Because I was believing the noise, and you have to not believe that stuff.' Spielberg also admitted that he would've voted for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' over 'Jaws' like the majority of the Academy did at the 1976 Oscars. 'Saturday Night Live' spoofed 'Jaws' with its iconic 'Landshark' skit during the first season of the show in 1975. 'I was in the audience when the Land Shark showed up,' Spielberg recalled. The first instance of the sketch depicted the Land Shark (voiced by Chevy Chase) showing up to people's doors and attacking them after pretending to be repairmen or salesmen. The Land Shark character has since made multiple appearances on 'SNL.' 'I thought it was hysterical,' Spielberg said. 'Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story' is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
50 years on, Jaws 'is like the Mona Lisa' - no one should remake it
Just when we all thought it was safe to go back into the water, Jaws returns to celebrate its 50th birthday. Released in 1975, Steven Spielberg's breakout film endured a hellish, high-seas production involving a constantly broken shark and a frequently drunk Robert Shaw. The end result? The summer blockbuster template that Hollywood has tried to replicate ever since. The whole bloody journey is chronicled in Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story. This new film by Spielberg's long-time documentarian Laurent Bouzereau aims to deliver on its titular promise. Produced by Wendy Benchley, wife of late Jaws author Peter Benchley, it gathers plenty of starry faces to celebrate this one-off classic and its impact on Oceanography. Guillermo del Toro, J.J. Abrams, Emily Blunt, James Cameron, Jordan Peele and George Lucas each reveal the impact Jaws had on them as filmmakers and fans. Science boffins discuss the rollercoaster effect it had on shark conservation, one that began with reckless cruelty but ended in increased protections. Meanwhile, Spielberg himself candidly reflects on the whole tumultuous experience, revealing some unexpected takeaways that he's still dealing with today. It's a celebratory look-back that dives deep into the creation and real-world legacy of the movie that changed movies. However, as we endure an age of remakes, reboots and legacy sequels, one element that Bouzereau happily left lost in the depths is whether Spielberg's Great White (playfully nicknamed Bruce after his lawyer) is likely to return to screens. "There are some movies that should not be touched," reasons Bouzereau, suggesting that to remake Jaws, you'd not only need a bigger boat but a damn good reason. "Personally, I feel Jaws captures a flavour that is un-remake-able. It's something that should be preserved." To remake Jaws, you'd not only need a bigger boat but a damn good Bouzereau According to Bouzereau, this very modern quandary was something he put to each of his famous interviewees. However, in the end, he realised it had a very obvious answer. "I did ask that question to everybody in the film but decided not to include it because it just felt like a rabbit hole," he tells Yahoo. "You can really answer it yourself - just look at all the remakes that have already been done on classic films." "Benchley's wife has similar thoughts: Honestly, I don't see any reason to remake it," adds the environmental activist. Over the years, she's seen firsthand how her husband's book and Spielberg's film have impacted fans. "Not only did so many people want to become marine scientists like Hooper but it impacted people in so many different ways," says Benchley, referencing Jaws' loud-mouthed shark expert, played by Richard Dreyfuss. "Families have used it as a teaching tool to get their children interested in the ocean." With a core story focusing on a battle between an unwavering, unstoppable threat that feels more relevant than ever, she feels a reboot would be pretty redundant. "I think every generation that sees it pulls their own meaning, importance and celebration out of it. "It's an age-old story about how people react to a menace they can't control - whether it's Covid, a shark or something else," says Benchley. "Just leave it as it is and let each generation enjoy it in whatever way they want to." Floating the idea of a remake might not be the most welcome news to Spielberg. While discussing his post-Jaws experiences, the filmmaker speaks openly and honestly about the intense levels of post-traumatic stress he was left with after returning from the sea. "There was always the fear that not only were you almost destroyed by Jaws, but also 'How do I top this?'", says the director, commenting on Spielberg's state of mind post-Jaws. "Of course, he did top it with Close Encounters [of the Third Kind] right afterwards - but I could see the anxiety level to which he was able to regress to during our interview. It was quite a moment," admits Bouzereau. "I knew I'd captured an emotional aspect that, if not new, had not been discussed in that manner before." Lingering stresses aside, Bouzereau believes there are too many indelible qualities that stand in the way of any reboot or remake having the same level of audience impact. Bruce's inherent clunkiness is a great example. "Everybody is obsessed with that shark and yet it looks fake," he says, pointing to the screen-used model of Bruce that was saved from decay, recently restored and currently sits high above the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. "And yet, with composer John Williams, [Spielberg] was able to give the shark a voice that we can all relate to. The brilliance of that collaboration alone can't be copied or reproduced. "To me, Jaws is like the Mona Lisa," continues Bouzereau. "It can be copied, but it's never going to match the journey the artist had with it. [A remake] is something I hope never happens - and if it does, I don't think we'll be talking about it for as long as we have been talking about the original Jaws." Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story premieres Friday, 11 July at 8pm on National Geographic and streams the same day on Disney+.
Forbes
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How 'Jaws' Redefined Movie Tech And Ocean Awareness
Director Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws with the mechanical shark in the background. 'Jaws' is one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable movies ever made. When it premiered in 1975, it didn't just terrify audiences—it reshaped filmmaking technology and introduced groundbreaking techniques that changed cinema forever. National Geographic's new documentary, Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, provides a fascinating look into the tools, tech, and improvisation that helped a young Steven Spielberg turn catastrophe into cinematic innovation. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau and produced by Amblin Documentaries in partnership with Wendy Benchley, the documentary offers an unfiltered view into how Spielberg navigated major technical hurdles. I spoke with Benchley about the documentary and the legacy of the movie. Most famously, the mechanical shark—nicknamed "Bruce"—failed so often it became a liability. Spielberg adapted by filming from the shark's point of view, a now-iconic approach that turned absence into tension. 'The genius of Steven,' Benchley notes, 'was knowing when to show less and let the audience imagine more.' Tech Trouble at Sea The film also revisits lesser-known tech struggles, like camera malfunctions from saltwater exposure and the logistical nightmare of ocean shooting. These details underscore a core point: innovation doesn't always start with new technology. Sometimes, it starts with failing technology and a director who's willing to think differently. From Fear to Fascination Incorporating never-before-seen footage from Spielberg's and the Benchley family's archives, the documentary also unpacks the unintended impact of the film on marine life. "We were horrified that some people took 'Jaws' as a license to kill sharks," Wendy Benchley recalls. "We determined then and there to learn about sharks ourselves and fight for their protection." Turning Data into Defense Benchley has since become a global advocate for ocean conservation, helping to drive tech-enabled approaches to protect marine ecosystems. 'We can now track illegal fishing vessels using satellite data, and follow shark migration patterns online in real time,' she explains. 'Technology has been a game-changer for ocean advocacy.' A Legacy of Curiosity That transformation—from shark villain to shark protector—is one of the most compelling narratives in the documentary. Benchley says the legacy of Jaws includes a 30% spike in marine science enrollment at universities shortly after the film's release. 'Peter got thousands of letters from young people who wanted to be the next Matt Hooper,' she says. 'That fascination led to real science.' "Jaws @ 50" premiers on National Geographic on July 10. Creative Impact, Then and Now The documentary also showcases modern filmmakers—including J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, and James Cameron—explaining how Jaws shaped their creative process and technical approach. Their reflections show how Spielberg's improvisation set a new benchmark for cinematic problem-solving. Final Cut Fifty years later, Jaws @ 50 reframes a pop culture milestone as a masterclass in creative adaptation. It's a reminder that great storytelling isn't about having the best tools. It's about knowing what to do when those tools break—and turning that breakdown into something unforgettable.
Forbes
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Jaws @ 50' Gives Longtime Spielberg Historian Laurent Bouzereau Final Word On The Original Summer Blockbuster
Steven Spielberg, Director of Jaws and Director Laurent Bouzereau are pictured during an interview ... More for National Geographic's Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story. What can be said about Jaws that hasn't been said over the last 50 years? That was the big question for longtime Steven Spielberg documentarian Laurent Bouzereau (Faye, Music By John Williams) once he teamed up with Amblin and National Geographic to make Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, a star-studded look back at the original summer blockbuster, featuring brand-new interviews with Spielberg, screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, production designer Joe Alves, and many more. 'When we set it up at NatGeo I was like, 'Oh my God, there are so many documentaries on Jaws!' [There are so many] books. [Even] I've done a book! What is left to say about Jaws?'' Bouzereau remembers over Zoom. A valid fear. As one of the most iconic and influential movies of all time, the big screen adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestselling novel has endlessly been picked over and analyzed since it first took a bite out of the big screen on June 20, 1975. But if anyone could pull off a new angle, it was Bouzereau, who is not only chummy with Spielberg (no pun intended), but also brings a uniquely international perspective to the topic. 'I grew up in France, and we didn't have summer blockbusters,' he explains. 'It's changed now, but essentially, big movies came out in the fall or the early fall. So I didn't really grow up with that concept of the summer blockbuster.' He wouldn't become familiar with the idea until arriving in the United States for the first time in 1977, the year of a certain game-changing space opera. One of the first things Bouzereau saw upon entering the airport in Athens, Georgia was an issue of People with R2-D2 and C-3PO on the front cover. 'I said, 'What's that? I want to see that!' So that's summer blockbuster [for me], it's People magazine. I think it established a certain type of expectation of big films … [Jaws] certainly gave birth to a much bigger recognition of the impact that a film can have on an audience and how the audience wants to live it [with] merchandising, books, and knowing the secrets behind them. Building a whole mythology around a cinematic experience, down to having a [theme] park ride. Jaws is beginning of that movement, which, of course, explodes even bigger with Star Wars." Nevertheless, Jaws (or Les Dents de la Mer — aka The Teeth of the Sea — as it was titled in French) sparked a major cinematic 'awakening' in the future filmmaker, who was around 13-years-old in the summer of '75. 'It was such a phenomenon, that it immediately [drove home] the importance of the director for me,' Bouzereau says. 'From that day on, I wanted to see everything Steven Spielberg ever made, and that name became symbolic of a dream for me, much more than the film itself. It was the realization of the power of images in the hands of an incredible artist … I was mesmerized by the shots and, of course, the economy of the first scene where you never see the shark and [hear] the music by John Williams. So everything was sort of summarized in that one movie, not to mention that I collected all the lobby cards and poster. My bedroom was wall-to-wall Jaws. But it was not a fanatical thing. It was really an awakening for me as an appreciator and it never left me. Sometimes, I go back to that initiation I got from Jaws as a young kid and remember those feelings of the very first time [I saw it]. It's like a first of anything." Half a century later, and Bouzereau found himself sitting across from Spielberg, free to ask any and all questions about the movie that changed both their lives. Rather than focus on the making of Jaws, a topic that had been covered so extensively over the years, the former angled for a thematic exploration of the classic picture, viewing its turbulent production as a reflection of the plot itself. Like Brody (Roy Scheider), Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Quint (Robert Shaw) searching for and battling the man-eating shark, principal photography 'became a story of survival," Bouzereau notes, later adding, 'I think it's about not giving up. It's the human experience, right?' He continues: "The first time I sat down with Steven, I felt the humanity that we know from anything he's done — before Jaws and after. He was so young then, that it was still forming in a sense. But it was so mature and so much of it was there, that you can look at Jaws and say, 'That's the man who did Schindler's List years later,' and not blink at that association because his humanity is just so obvious. Not only in the story and the way that he put it together, but in his own journey as an artist making it, what he's learned from it, and how it affected him. I felt that story had not been told.' Director Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws with the mechanical shark in the background. (Courtesy ... More of Universal Studios Licensing LLC) While the film's runaway success skyrocketed the 26-year-old wunderkind to the top of Hollywood's A-list pretty much overnight, Spielberg understandably did not recover from the trauma of a production marked by one setback after another (the most notable obstacle being an animatronic shark that refused to cooperate in salty water) for years after. Such commitment to realism, a fierce desire to shoot on the Atlantic and work the local Martha's Vineyard populace into the frame, proved to be a double-edged sword. 'A few years before, Jaws would have been made on a soundstage with local background artists who were just coming off the set of another movie,' Bouzereau says. 'There would have been no sort of colorful characters like Craig Kingsbury [who played the ill-fated Ben Gardner] from Martha's Vineyard. Going there and realizing that Jaws is something that is passed on generation after generation on that particular island —that's a microcosm of what the impact of Jaws is.' But as Spielberg reveals in the documentary, he'd often sneak aboard the screen-used Orca on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot tour and cry. 'Everybody knows it was a nightmare, but they all say it with laugh, because we can laugh at the fact that here is one of the best movies of all time,' Bouzereau adds. 'It could have been a disaster, but I think [Steven] said it with heart and humility in a truly inspiring way that I think feels relatable for anyone, especially young people who are starting a career in anything, and feel like, 'Wow, I just learned that from my own craft.'' Speaking of which, Jaws @ 50 devotes a good amount of attention to the acclaimed storytellers who, like Bouzereau, grew up to be directors after seeing Jaws: Guillermo del Toro, J.J. Abrams, Cameron Crowe, Jordan Peele, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Zemeckis, and James Cameron. 'To really see the impact it had on some of the most important filmmakers of our times, to see the the lessons that they got from Jaws, was was eye-opening to me," admits Bouzereau. 'Because it wasn't just, 'Oh, I love the movie. It scared me.' You know, the usual sound bites. It was a very profound and big discovery for me. I also think the other aspect of the film that I had not really known about, even though it was in plain sight, was how it affected the ocean and [led to] sharks being massacred … The fascination with this novel and this movie have changed the dialogue about the ocean. I don't know if there are many movies that have had that kind of social impact. "Very few works of art turn 50 and are relevant today. I don't have any children, but I have nieces and nephews, and I have forced them to watch Jaws, and now they're forcing their kids to watch it. So it's something that's passed on, and it's pretty extraordinary to see that 50 years later. Listen, I asked myself a lot of questions if I was still relevant when I turned 50. Jaws doesn't have that problem.' 'Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story' Jaws @ 50 premieres exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu Thursday, July 10
