Steven Spielberg discusses the casting of 'Jaws'

Steven Spielberg discusses the casting of ‘Jaws’

]

Jaws was the breakthrough film that changed everything for Steven Spielberg when it came out. While Spielberg had directed other notable projects such as The Sugarland Express, it was Jaws that gave him the push he needed as he followed it up with projects like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The iconic 1975 thriller is now referred to as the first summer blockbuster which provided others of the same genre with a blueprint for commercial success. However, Spielberg almost wrecked his own career due to the volatile nature of the production process for Jaws which threatened to end the project before it was even completed.

In order to fulfil his artistic vision, Spielberg tried to convince the producers to let him shoot on the ocean which presented a lot of problems. Even though he ended up shooting near Martha’s Vineyard, the obstacles kept piling up including the malfunctioning of the mechanical sharks. Fortunately, these breaks in the shooting gave Spielberg the time he needed to work on the script and he landed an unprecedented hit.

On multiple occasions, Spielberg has insisted that he would have gone back to shoot in the sea if he had to do it all over again because that’s the only way the audience would understand what it was like to be fundamentally isolated and at the mercy of nature. While talking about the script, Spielberg revealed that many of his early characters were loosely sketched out in the initial drafts but the shooting brought it all together.

Spielberg noted: “On Jaws, Richard [Dreyfuss] pretty much designed his own character with Matt Hooper. That wasn’t in the book and that wasn’t in the first couple screenplays and when Richard had a good idea, if it conformed to my overview of the whole movie, I said: ‘Great, that’s a great idea! We’ll use it’ and I pretty much sapped from Richard.”

He said that the same thing happened with Roy Scheider (who played the role of Martin Brody), an actor whose work Spielberg admired – especially The French Connection. The director said that he had run into Scheider at a party and he was telling him about how he couldn’t find anyone to play Brody until it finally hit him that he could just get Scheider for the part. Spielberg added that he worked on the character of Brody with Scheider as well, contributing to an overall atmosphere of artistic freedom during the filming of Jaws.

Follow Far Out Magazine across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

15 Sequels We Could Have Done Without

]

If a film succeeds, sequels are likely to come up. However, it’s rare for them to be as good as their prequels. Take a look at 15 sequels we could have done without:

SPIDER-MAN 3

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002) & Spider-Man 2 (2004) are considered some of the best superhero films of cinematic history. Spider-Man 3 however wasn’t received well by the audience. Topher Grace was miscast as Venom and not everyone liked ‘Bully Maguire’ back then.

HOME ALONE 3

The makers of HomeAlone should’ve stopped right after Lost in New York. Stretching the franchise for milking money by adding parts 3, 4, 5, and a 6th in 2021 was just not a good idea.

INDIANA JONES: KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

1989’s Last Crusade was a good conclusion to the Indian Jones trilogy. The fourth entry, Crystal Skull returned 19 years later but with a really poor CGI. Despite a good cast, the characters of this film felt very weak.

SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL

1994’s Speed was a film that kept us all at the edge of our seats. The film did fairly well at the box office as well. However, the sequel bombed the moment they replaced Keanu Reeves with Jason Patric.

CADDYSHACK 2

It might even come to you as a surprise that 1980’s sports comedy Caddyshack has a sequel. With no Rodney Dangerfield, no Bill Murray, and a family-friendly PG-rating Caddyshack 2 has a flop score of 4% on Rotten Tomatoes.

SON OF THE MASK

Jim Carrey’s cartoonish brilliance was discovered through The Mask in 1994. 2005’s Son of the Mask was an awful follow-up with an extremely weak script and CGI.

MEAN GIRLS 2

Mean Girls 2 flew over the radar of many people. It was so terrible, most of us don’t even know it exists. The characters in this reboot were lousy and had no connection with the original film. The entire cast was changed.

MULAN 2

Mulan 1 concluded peacefully as Mulan gained the respect of her family and country, Making a sequel just to dwell on her romance with Li Shang perpetuated the old Disney trope that it’s all about getting the guy.

AMERICAN PSYCHO 2

Patrick Bateman is murdered by a 12-year-old girl who then kills innocent people to try and become an FBI agent so she can help save lives by stopping other serial killers. One of the worst sequels of all time, American Psycho 2 will leave you wondering why American Psycho ever needed a sequel.

EVERY JAWS SEQUEL

The decline through rotten tomatoes score of JAWS clearly explains how unnecessary it was to make more of its kind: Jaws: 98%, Jaws 2: 61%, Jaws 3-D: 11%, and Jaws The Revenge: 0%.

BLADE: TRINITY

The first 2 Blade films laid the critical and financial groundwork for the modern superhero boom. It all went wrong in part 3. Studio feuds with Snipes and a director swap resulted in a disappointing conclusion to the trilogy as well as the character.

ON STRANGER TIDES

The 3rd film wasn’t the best, but it wrapped up the trilogy nicely. Without Orlando Bloom & Keira Knightley, critics say this 4th installment, an obvious cash-grab, forced in new characters, and the previously iconic Jack Sparrow came across as a tired caricature.

ZOOLANDER 2

A critic who prides himself on sitting through anything walked out. The sequel undid the heart of the original, opening on the center for kids who can’t read good burning down, Matilda dying, and Derek being a neglectful father. Many were offended by Benedict Cumberbatch’s caricature of a transgendered model.

THE GODFATHER III

The Godfather 3 turned out significantly different than the other two for several reasons. The first two parts were about power and its consequences but this one was more about forgiveness. The film was rather dull and predictable

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

The first 2 X-Men films were critical and financial successes that gave us Hugh Jackman’s iconic Wolverine. The third entry felt rather rushed. The film’s scheduling conflicts led to strange character rewrites that tanked a very solid trilogy.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to feature jaw-dropping cameo?

]

(L-R): Rachel McAdams as Dr. Christine Palmer, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez in Marvel Studios’ DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.

A recently surfaced leak has revelead that there will be a surprising cameo in the newest movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

As we head into the new year, many Marvel fans are anticipating the release of the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After the hype and success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, they cannot wait to see the surprises in store for Marvels newest multiversal tale.

Well, recent reports have implied that Marvel recently held their first test screenings for the newest installment in the Doctor Strange franchise. This is the first time that Marvel has shown the movie since the major reshoots that went down. According to Grace Randolph on Twitter, the movie tested very well with audiences during a test-screener.

With the movie being seen by people, leaks and rumors are going to be inevitable, and that already seems to be the case as a major possible revelation has surfaced in recent days.

According to rumors reported by The Illuminerdi, Marvel has reportedly brought in The Office actor John Krasinski to join the MCU and cameo in the newest Doctor Strange film. What role would Krasinski play you ask, well he would play none other than Reed Richards, a.k.a, Mr. Fantastic.

Is John Krasinski playing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

With any leak, its important to take them take them with a grain of salt, so the same applies here. But if true, this is absolutely huge news for the MCU and the fans as Krasinski is one of the most highly-requested actors to take over the role of Reed Richards by fans.

While yes, it is exciting to see an actor like Krasinski possibly be playing the role of Reed Richards, it might come with a little bit of an asterisk. According to rumors, this version of Richards will be a variant and will be part of a group called the Illuminati. This does not confirm whether or not John Krasinski will be playing Reed Richards in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

It has been highly rumored and speculated that the Illuminati would have a part in this new film, but this rumor adds more fuel to the fire. In the comics, the Illuminati is a group of superheroes that share information with one another in order to preserve the peace and safety of the Earth. Some of the key members in the group are Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Namor, and Professor X.

Once again though, take everything you hear or see with a grain of salt; but after almost every leak in Spider-Man: No Way Home ended up coming true, there is definitely excitement once again about the potential of this MCU movie. Once again, we won’t really know until we see the movie, but fingers crossed that Krasinski is indeed playing Reed Richards.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness releases exclusively in theaters on May 6, 2022.

The Shark is Broken is a compelling must-see for Jaws fans

]

Photo credit: Universal

The production issues of Jaws have long been legend in the movie industry, especially since it overcame those issues to become a massive hit, one of the most iconic movies of all time.

It’s not necessarily the type of movie you’d expect to see on a West End stage, but Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon found a way to bring the spirit of Jaws to the theatre. Set during production in 1974 on Martha’s Vineyard, The Shark is Broken focuses on the three lead stars as they while away the hours waiting for the mechanical shark “Bruce” to be fixed.

Taking place totally on a replica of the Orca, the 90-minute play sees Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider play card games, reminisce about their lives, drink and eventually clash with each other. But they also get some filming done on the memorable USS Indianapolis scene, which doesn’t quite start off as good as it becomes…

Photo credit: Helen Maybanks

Buy The Shark is Broken tickets

For Jaws fans, there’s probably not much insight here that they wouldn’t already know about the movie’s troubled production. Yet the dramatisation of the cast’s dynamic during filming brings an often-told story to life in a compelling way, whether or not you know the stories already.

Arguably the biggest draw of The Shark is Broken is the fact that co-writer Ian Shaw is playing his father Robert. He’s not only a mirror image of him, but has also perfected his mannerisms so that it never comes across as a gimmick. It’s a wonderful performance and one that doesn’t shy away from Robert Shaw’s struggles with alcoholism.

His father died when Ian was eight years old, only a few years after the release of Jaws, and Ian has previously admitted that the subject originally felt too personal to go near. However, it’s this rawer aspect of the play that elevates it beyond an entertaining trip down cinematic memory lane.

Photo credit: Helen Maybanks

Ian Shaw’s co-stars Liam Murray Scott and Demetri Goritsas are equally as brilliant as Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider. They may not have the familial connection to the real-life actors, but they’re as believable as Shaw and the trio have a chemistry that is enjoyable to watch.

Story continues

There are times when the script gets a bit too on-the-nose when it comes to pop culture gags about Jaws’ legacy. This is very much a dramatisation, so you have to take the dialogue with a pinch of salt. It feels authentic enough to what might have been said that it’s a minor thing.

With only a month left of its current London run, The Shark is Broken is definitely worth catching if you’re comfortable attending the theatre right now.

How to buy The Shark is Broken tickets

The Shark is Broken has extended its run at London’s Ambassadors Theatre, but the show’s final performance will be on Sunday, February 13.

You can buy tickets right now from the likes of ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre and London Theatre Direct.

Prices start from £20 and there are performances every Tuesday to Friday evening at 7.30pm, as well as matinee performances at 2.30pm on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Shark is Broken is playing at the Ambassadors Theatre in London until February 13. Tickets are now on sale from the likes of ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre and London Theatre Direct.

Daniel Radcliffe Cast as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in Upcoming Biopic

]

“Weird Al” Yankovic is the latest artist to get the biopic treatment. The comedic songwriter will be portrayed onscreen by Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.

According to a press release (via The Hollywood Reporter), Weird: The Al Yankovic Story “holds nothing back," chronicling everything from Yankovic’s rise to fame with hits like “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” to his “torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.”

“When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule,” said Yankovic. “And I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”

Co-written by Yankovic and director and producer Eric Appel, the movie is set to go into production next month and will eventually be released exclusively on the Roku channel.

“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it," Appel said. “But I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”

“There clearly aren’t enough biopic movies about famous musicians, and we were excited to shine a light on the incredibly true, unexaggerated story of Weird Al,” said Colin Davis, Roku’s head of original scripted programming. “This is sincerely the ultimate combination of talent, creativity and friends coming together to make something genuinely funny and we could not be prouder to call this film a Roku Original.”

Yankovic is also scheduled to launch a 133-date tour in April that will wrap up in October in New York City. A complete list of concert dates can be viewed on his website.