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Aug 10, 2023

byLaxmi RajputAugust 3, 2023, 10:11 am

Academy Award recipient Steven Spielberg has given Hollywood numerous hits along with popular franchises like Indiana Jones, Jurassic World, and Jaws. While he continued working on the first two franchises for a while, he did not return to direct another film under the natural horror movie series, which continued with the three sequels following Spielberg’s 1975 film. The first film in the franchise was a huge hit, making $476 million on a budget of $9 million.

However, working on the film adaptation of Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name was not an easy task for the makers. The film went through several production mishaps, from script rewrites to frequent problems encountered during filming at sea. During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the director opened up about one such incident which left the entire cast and crew in splits.

Read More: “It was like I had committed a war crime”: Steven Spielberg’s Biggest Regrets Include a Movie That Brought Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Together

Usually, films based in the ocean are filmed on set in large tanks or shallow waters. However, Steven Spielberg insisted that the 1975 movie, Jaws, needed to look natural and asked to continue filming in the ocean itself. While he was allowed to continue as he wished, filming in the ocean went on to cause multiple issues and delays in the production.

Multiple factors, including bad weather and the constant splashing on camera, are only some of the issues they faced. During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the director opened up about a near-deadly incident that happened while filming the 1975 film, which resulted in the sinking of the boat.

He shared that the Orca featured in the film was pulled with a speedboat. However, one day during filming, it went too fast and “pulled out the planking from the haul.” Spielberg shared that as soon as it happened, the boat started sinking and was completely submerged in about two minutes.

He shared that he was able to hear the cast and crew on the boat yelling and asking for help. However, he was extremely surprised to see the sound mixer, John Carter, who was asking to save equipment and the sound team rather than the actors.

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Recalling the near-fatal incident from the set of his 1975 film, Steven Spielberg shared that he was able to hear actors screaming for help to get out of the water. “I remember vividly the moment where the actors were yelling, “Send boats, get us out, send boats!” he shared.

However, he was surprised to see the sound editor of the movie, John Carter, who held the Nagra recorder up in his hands and asked to save the sound department first. He shared that as everyone on the Orca was trying to get off, he stood there holding the recorder on the sinking boat.

“Our sound mixer John Carter—who shared an Oscar with his team for Jaws—picked up the Nagra recorder, held it over his head, and said, ‘F*ck the actors, save the sound department!'”

The hard work of saving the recorder paid off for Carter, as he won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for Jaws at the 48th Academy Awards. Jaws was nominated under four categories at the 1976 Academy Awards and won three out of its four nominations for Best Music Score, Film Editing, and Sound Mixing.

Read More: “I was timid”: Steven Spielberg Was Embarrassed as Critics Felt a Black Director Should Have Had His Job in Oprah Winfrey’s First Hollywood Movie

Source: Vanity Fair

Steven Spielberg

Laxmi Rajput is a writer at Fandomwire. She finished her Post Graduation in Broadcast Journalism and worked as a Business News writer for a year. But her interest in entertainment and pop culture compelled her to find a way towards Entertainment Journalism. She has worked across various fields and has 2 years of experience in content writing. She likes reading, music, movies, and traveling. She aspires to become a fiction writer in the future.