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Thirty years after film audiences became afraid to go back in the water, the world is more fascinated than ever with the micro-megalodons and its relatives that inhabit the oceans of the world. No film has inspired so much fear, fascination, and fun in any aspect of nature than the film JAWS, released in 1975. I can recall my older brother reluctantly agreeing to take me to see JAWS for my 14th birthday, which brought about the first real fear I'd ever experienced in a movie theater.
As younger people might not recognize the impact that JAWS had on the film industry, it should be pointed out that JAWS was the first film to reach and eventually surpass the 100 million dollar box office. To quote the Washington Post, "Darth Vader might never have existed if it weren't for that 25-foot fish with the voracious appetite." Based on the book by Peter Benchley, this film single-handedly transformed the film industry. Interestingly enough, the film barely acknowledges the text found in the book; it has its own very divergent path.
JAWS has spawned many book spin-offs, television shows, museum exhibits, myths, legends, rumors, and merchandise that lives on to this day. There is even a regular gathering of JAWS "fin-atics" known as "JAWS-Fest" which brings together JAWS fans from around the world.
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| The production crew of "The Shark is Still Working" with the the fishing boat "Orca" from the film "JAWS." |
James Gelet, one of these devotees to the phenomena of JAWS, has been collecting JAWS memorabilia for several years, and with a production team made up of himself, Michael Roddy, Jake Gove, and Erik Hollander, has produced a documentary about the impact of JAWS in social and cinematic circles over the past 30 years. He was kind enough to take a few minutes to answer some questions about his film and the way that they're producing the project. The movie was shot in HDV using the Sony HVR-Z1U camcorder and the team is editing on the increasingly popular Sony Vegas 6 software application. James described the beginnings of the project this way:
I guess you could say that this documentary has been over fifteen years in the making. Jake is the host of Jawsmovie.com. Michael, Erik and I have been close friends since the 80?s, and big JAWS fans that entire time. Because of that there have been trips to Martha?s Vineyard, the collecting of JAWS props, etc. over the years. Well, this year is JAWS? thirtieth birthday, and there was a big celebration on Martha?s Vineyard called Jawsfest ?05. The actual idea to do a documentary was originally limited to Jawsfest itself, and just be kind of a ?Trekkies? about JAWS fans. But once we started getting so many interviews with many of the major personalities who made the film, we realized how huge this thing had the potential of being. So now we?re talking about JAWS' impact on culture anywhere we can find it.
Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss don?t appear to be too shy to mug for your camera as well; are they also seen in this film? How did they respond once they learned of your project?
Yeah, nobody is the face of JAWS more than Spielberg, Scheider, and Dreyfuss. So those guys are the spine of the piece and we interviewed another forty or so people as well. So this thing is vast. Roy Scheider was very kind right from the start. Richard Dreyfuss was hesitant at first. I think it?s because he learned about the project pretty early on, before we really had much legitimacy going for us. But then we got Scheider AND Spielberg, and he (Dreyfuss) actually contacted us. It would have been a real drag to not have Dreyfuss in it. Not just because he's the big star that he is, but our very title, "The Shark is Still Working", was inspired by him. We got it from the way he famously tells the story of how loudspeakers on Martha's Vineyard repeatedly echoed the phrase, "The shark is not working. Repeat, the shark is not working. Finally one day, the announcement came that "The shark is working" and they were able to shoot.
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| Erik Hollander and James Gelet interview Steven Spielberg for "The Shark is Still Working." |
Steven Spielberg makes a very rare appearance in your film. He's a reclusive guy, how did that all come about?
We're still trying to figure out how that happened. What a coup! Michael Roddy, who is one of our co-producers on the doc, worked for Universal Studios Florida for a few years, and during that time he ended up meeting a lot of people in the business. He contacted Dreamworks and the rest is history. Somehow Mr. Spielberg thought our idea was unique enough to be worth his time, and he actually blocked out two hours for us. His skill as a storyteller carries over into the way he gives an interview. One great story after another! He not only was generous with his time, but he was very enthusiastic during the interview itself. He was quite fond of the idea of a celebration. In fact Jawsfest featured a screening of JAWS that was an official Universal event. Before the movie played, it featured a unique message from Spielberg that we were asked to shoot when our interview was done. That was an extra cool bonus for us, and Steven Spielberg was really into it. In fact, in the same sitting, we also shot Spielberg's special hello to Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey for what went on to become Tom's famous "couch-jumping" appearance on Oprah.
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