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Without a doubt, director Steven Spielberg is one of the best directors in the history of cinema thanks to his remarkable films, which are often labeled as cinematic masterpieces, however, long before his days as a seasoned director, he was just a regular man in his 20s trying to make a blockbuster hit.
Before Spielberg, Dick Richards was assigned the duty of creating 1975’sJaws, however, he was fired due to a very strange reason. Then came Spielberg, who tried to do what was never done before, a film about sharks shot entirely underwater. However, it wasn’t as easy as it may seem to some people.
Dick Richards was initially the director of 1975’sJaws
Universal Pictures initially approached director Dick Richards with the idea ofJaws, a movie based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. Things quickly took a turn when Richards started to refer to the sharks as “whales.”
The producers lost patience and decided to kick him out of the project. Then came 27-year-oldSteven Spielberg, who had this one golden opportunity to prove himself. At the time, he only made one movie,The Sugarland Express.
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Steven Spielberg had to seize this opportunity
Spielberg’s only film at the time,The Sugarland Express, was a box office failure, so it was really important for the director to create something exceptional in order to save his career.Jaws‘ script underwent multiple revisions and was unfinished when they began filming.
Now, obviously, Spielberg couldn’t get a real shark so he got a mechanical shark, known as “Bruce” on set, but it faced numerous technical problems during filming. So, Spielberg decided to show the shark sparingly. This actually worked well as it created more suspense and horror among the audience.
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Jawswas a massive success
All the hard work paid off as 1975’sJaws, which is widely considered the first major summer blockbuster, proved to be a turning point in Spielberg’s career. With a global box office collection of $476 million, the film broke numerous box office records.
At the 1976 Academy Awards,Jawswon three awards for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound. It was also nominated for Best Picture, but Spielberg was not nominated for his work. Nonetheless, the director managed to prove his exceptional skills through this movie, which has contributed to his status as a legendary director.
In the end,Jawswas a result of skilled filmmaking, innovative effects work, strategic marketing, and a touch of unexpected challenges. All these factors ultimately contributed to its massive success.
Related:“I was in a really bad mood”: Harrison Ford Caught in Crossfire after George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s Very Public Breakup in Most Hated Indiana Jones Film
Source:Mental Floss
Farhan Asif
Articles Published :1696
Farhan Asif is a gaming writer at FandomWire who specializes in video games/franchises like Helldivers 2, GTA, and Call of Duty. Apart from 1600+ published articles for FandomWire, he has also written more than 750 articles for AnimatedTimes. He has a passion for coding and is pursuing a degree in computer science. During his free time, Farhan loves to play video games and hopes to create a video game of his own one day.
