Entertainment

Jaws: How Steven Spielberg directed the horror classic because of a… blunder

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Universal Pictures producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown had originally tapped Dick Richards, who had a successful western called The Culpepper Cattle Company, to direct.

A landmark for horror films is the Jaws, (The Jaws of the Shark) with its director Steven Spielberg to make generations and generations look at the water element with some… fear. However, Spielberg was not the first choice for Jaws… Universal Pictures producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown had initially shortlisted Dick Richards, who had to his credit a successful western entitled The Culpepper Cattle Company. Then why did the then 29-year-old Spielberg take the directorial reins? This is due to a blunder by Richards…

According to Joseph McBride’s biography of Spielberg, in the producers’ first meetings with Richards, the director insisted on calling the “protagonist” (the shark) a whale.

The producers are annoyed he was reportedly told that they weren’t doing … Moby Dick, and they couldn’t work with someone who couldn’t tell the difference between a whale and a shark. The rest, as they say, is history.

Despite not taking on Jaws, Richards – a very talented director – had a great career. His biggest hit was probably Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman, which he co-produced with Sidney Pollack.

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