Jaws: Jumping the "Bruce" | Behind the Screen

The Story:

Jaws is one of the most popular and well-known movies of all time. The tale of an enormous great white shark gone berserk tapped into some of our most primal fears, and the film itself captured the imagination as only a Spielberg picture can. But it might not have worked out that way.

Among a host of problems with a film shoot that included an unfinished script, unwelcoming waters, and uncooperative studio executives, Steven Spielberg was having trouble with the most important character/prop of the entire movie: the shark itself.

Training a shark to do the necessary stunts would have obviously been impossible, and the rubber props that were suggested to the rookie film director rang false. He decided instead on a mechanical shark designed by none other than Bob Mattey, best known for creating the squid in 20 Leagues Under the Sea. 

Spielberg received one of three requested sharks (all named Bruce, after his lawyer), and immediately began experiencing problems after it sunk to the bottom of Nantucket Sound on its very. first. day. It rusted up, and the mechanisms didn't work properly. Worse, the shark had to be hosed down every day to keep the corrosion from getting worse. This great white shark was turning into a great white elephant.

Spielberg got creative, though. He started figuring out ways to essentially tell the story without the shark. He took inspiration from Hitchcock, putting the shark under the water, in shadow, and revealing only a few tidbits here and there to titillate the senses, adding to a general sense of growing dread throughout the film. The shark became a spectre, embodying that deep-seated fear far more than it could have done were it front and center in every scene.

The result is a tense suspense thriller that - coupled with the collaborative script-writing process - became a critical and popular success (7th highest grossing movie of all time in the US & Canada), and catapulted Spielberg from a novice TV director to one of the most lauded filmmakers of all time.

Can you imagine what would have happened if the shark had worked?

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Title: Jaws
Based on: Jaws by Peter Benchley
Released: June 20, 1975
Genre: Suspense/Horror
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb
Music: John Williams
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton


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The Case of the Ruby Slippers | Behind the Screen

"They're gone! The ruby slippers. What have you done with them?"

~ The Wicked Witch of the West - The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Story:

In one of those bizarre twists of reality mirroring art, this week's story is about the disappearance of one of cinema's most iconic props: the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. 

Note that when I say "one of," it has a double meaning. You see, there was more than one pair of those slippers, at least five that is known of, and there has been a lot of lore surrounding the fate of the many pairs of ruby slippers. Since studios had not started keeping a tight rein on costumes until the '70s, many of the pairs had been sold to collectors or given away to well-connected persons over the years; some were auctioned. One particular pair ended up on loan from a collector in a Minnesota museum...and that's where things got really weird.

One night in late August 2005, shortly before the infamous shoes were to go back to the collector, someone broke into the museum and stole the ruby slippers. They have never been found.

Even stranger, the stories that have surrounded this theft could be ripped right out of a conspiracy movie. The theft happened on a night when the alarm and video cameras weren't working, pointing to a possible inside job. At one point, authorities believed they had found the slippers, only to discover later that they were replicas. The insurance company paid out $1 million to the collector, and then offered a reward to anyone able to locate and return the pair. Even the circumstances surrounding the theft were drama-worthy: "They took nothing else and left behind no fingerprints or clues—only a trail of broken glass from the door to the case and a single red sequin." (Source)

It's been more than a decade since the theft and the ruby slippers remain at large. What happened to them? Did they get taken back to Oz? We may never know.

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Title: The Wizard of Oz
Based on: Frank L. Baum's book of the same name
Released: August 25, 1939
Genre: Fantasy
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor, Mervyn LeRoy, George Cukor, Norman Taurog
Writer: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf
Music: Harold Arlen, Herbert Stothart
Actors/Actresses: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton

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Introduction: The Dedication of Leonardo DiCaprio | Behind the Screen

Leonardo DiCaprio, for me, belongs in the same category of actor as Brad Pitt: always play someone who is at least "mildly insane." I've always found those roles to be their most compelling, the ones that stretch them as actors and get the best results. So it should be no surprise that I include among that list of roles Leonardo's portrayal in Django Unchained, in particular, the now famous scene of Leonardo DiCaprio's lengthy speech that resulted in an injured hand.

The Story:

Leonardo plays his nastiest role: the incredibly racist "Monsieur" Calvin Candie - plantation owner, phrenology enthusiast, and all-around insanely evil shithead. Leo took the role as an opportunity to play someone who is decidedly evil, and he nails it. I won't go on about that, as it is his great dinner table speech that bears particular note.

In it, Candie has discovered that he is being played by the two main heroes of the movie, and rather than confront them immediately, sets about to terrorize them in a slow, disturbing reveal. At a critical moment in the action, Candie slams his hand down on the table, a movement meant to keep attention on him. Though rehearsed, in the passion of the moment, DiCaprio accidentally slams his hand on a crystal glass, shattering it and severely slicing open his palm. Any actor might call cut at that moment, but not Leo.

What's remarkable about this is the sheer concentration that DiCaprio displays as he continues through the scene. He barely reacts, though you can see his body subconsciously react to the wound for a fleeting second. Leo keeps his presence of mind, even using the wound to his advantage, and playing off of it as his character inspects said wound, removes the piece of glass, and even uses his blood to terrorize another character (and the actress, poor thing). It's a moment of sheer acting brilliance. And did he get acknowledgement for it at the Oscars? No.

Not that I'm bitter.

Check out the scene here.

Introducing "Behind the Screen" 

Each week, I hope to bring you a new story; a behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite moments in cinema history. This could be a scene, a quote, or just a tidbit about film history in general. I'll keep 'em short and sweet, and may include video or other tidbits.

Sources:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-how-404160
https://variety.com/2012/film/news/leonardo-dicaprio-in-django-unchained-1118062924/

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Title: Django Unchained
Based on: Original work with reference to a 1966 Spaghetti Western named Django
Released: 2012
Genre: Drama/Action/Blaxploitation
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Music: Multiple artists
Actors/Actresses: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson...


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