Susan instructed me you pulled when the shark first assaults her.
Sure, I did it myself, however that was then—I don’t go into the water anymore.
How did you solid Susan?
I didn’t need an actor to do it. I wished a stuntperson as a result of I wanted someone who was nice within the water, who knew water ballet, and knew the best way to endure what I imagined was going to be an entire lot of violent shaking. So, I went to stunts to seek out her, and Susan was as much as the problem.
I perceive that you just looped her screaming later. You gave her a bassinet of water and did all these sounds throughout publish.
Sure, we went to the looping stage, and she or he did her personal screaming and choking on glasses of water.
The following sufferer is the Kintner boy—there’s wonderful pressure and suspense in the best way you created that scene.
The dying of the Kintner boy on his raft—all of the paranoia, pressure, and suspense main as much as the precise assault—was one thing I wished to do in a single sustained shot. It wasn’t potential, so as a substitute, I got here up with the concept to have bathers with totally different coloured bathing fits strolling in entrance of the digicam, making a wipe that might both reveal Roy Scheider or his viewpoint. It wasn’t one shot, but it surely gave a seamless feeling to the scene.
I’m additionally interested in [fisherman character] Ben Gardner’s dying. Wasn’t the invention of his boat initially shot within the daytime?
I had an afterthought concerning the scene. However both means, I at all times thought the very best answer was to not present Ben’s dying in actual time, and to have Hooper uncover not solely the outlet within the boat with the shark’s tooth however Ben’s head.
**Sure, and that was shot later on the MGM tank, whereas the well-known close-up on Ben’s head was shot in [**Jaws editor] Verna Subject’s swimming pool! Did you ever surprise how the shark killed Ben? Did he chew him and spit out his head?
[Laughs.] I didn’t assume that deeply about it. All I do know is that he was lifeless!
By way of Quint’s dying, was it very disturbing to movie that sequence?
No, it wasn’t disturbing as a result of it was towards the top of the film, and I simply couldn’t wait to get off the image. I simply couldn’t wait to get again to Los Angeles—get on that airplane in Boston at Logan Airport and fly as rapidly as a aircraft might take me again residence. So, no, there was nothing scary about it for me. For that sequence, I used to be following the storyboards I had been engaged on for months. I shot the ending of the movie and left simply earlier than results pushed the button and blew the shark into shark bait.
As for the portrayal of Quint, I consider numerous the inspiration got here from an area named Craig Kingsbury, proper?
Sure, and he performs Ben Gardner within the movie. He was a selectman on Martha’s Winery. I met him in an open casting name—I’d even have come near flirting with the concept of utilizing him to play Quint as a result of he was the purest model of who in my thoughts that character actually was. After I met him, he got here up with some nice dialogue, and I saved growing his half. I stated to him, “I would like you to be in my film, and you’ll create your personal dialogue.” He made up all that stuff when he’s on the boat with different islanders, attempting to seize the shark, saying, “They’ll want their fathers had by no means met their moms, once they begin takin’ their bottoms out and slammin’ into them rocks, boy.” It was nice!
