Steven Spielberg Worried Jaws Would Sink His Young Career
Universal By Jeremy Smith/June 20, 2022 10:00 am EST
If Steven Spielberg had his way in 1974, he would’ve left “Jaws” during preproduction and signed on to direct the prohibition-era comedy “Lucky Lady.” If you’re asking, “What the heck was ‘Lucky Lady’,” well, we’ll get to that.
Let’s skip back a year to 1973. Spielberg had just completed “The Sugarland Express” for producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, and was hearing rumblings about one of the duo’s latest acquisitions: a soon-to-be-published novel titled “Jaws” by Peter Benchley. Spielberg wanted the gig, but Zanuck and Brown had already assigned it to Dick Richards on the strength of his critically acclaimed directorial debut, “The Culpepper Cattle Co.” When Richards couldn’t stop referring to the great white shark as a whale, the producers detached him from the project and hired the twenty-six-year-old Spielberg. Everything had fallen into place, or so it seemed.
Steven Spielberg Worried Jaws Would Sink His Young Career
Universal
By Jeremy Smith/June 20, 2022 10:00 am EST
If Steven Spielberg had his way in 1974, he would’ve left “Jaws” during preproduction and signed on to direct the prohibition-era comedy “Lucky Lady.” If you’re asking, “What the heck was ‘Lucky Lady’,” well, we’ll get to that.
Let’s skip back a year to 1973. Spielberg had just completed “The Sugarland Express” for producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, and was hearing rumblings about one of the duo’s latest acquisitions: a soon-to-be-published novel titled “Jaws” by Peter Benchley. Spielberg wanted the gig, but Zanuck and Brown had already assigned it to Dick Richards on the strength of his critically acclaimed directorial debut, “The Culpepper Cattle Co.” When Richards couldn’t stop referring to the great white shark as a whale, the producers detached him from the project and hired the twenty-six-year-old Spielberg. Everything had fallen into place, or so it seemed.
Let’s skip back a year to 1973. Spielberg had just completed “The Sugarland Express” for producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, and was hearing rumblings about one of the duo’s latest acquisitions: a soon-to-be-published novel titled “Jaws” by Peter Benchley. Spielberg wanted the gig, but Zanuck and Brown had already assigned it to Dick Richards on the strength of his critically acclaimed directorial debut, “The Culpepper Cattle Co.” When Richards couldn’t stop referring to the great white shark as a whale, the producers detached him from the project and hired the twenty-six-year-old Spielberg.
Everything had fallen into place, or so it seemed.
The truck and shark director
Brown wasn’t having it. “Jaws” hit bookstores in February 1974, and was a runaway bestseller. The producers didn’t have time to root around Hollywood for another director. Spielberg was their man whether he liked it or not. Brown could’ve taken a hardline with his filmmaker, but instead appealed to his ambition, telling him “After [‘Jaws’], you can make all the films you want.” Spielberg sat tight, and “Jaws” commenced principal photography as scheduled on May 2, 1974. The film was set to wrap fifty-five days later on June 26, but wound up shooting until October 6 for a total of 159 days. That is a different, much longer story.
