Word: spielbergisms
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...left-to-right movements, another for right-to-left movements, a third for underwater scenes-each was similarly operated by hydraulic pistons and compressed air. "There were no polluting fuels used," said Mattey, in a gesture to the ecology. He and 20 assistants finished assembling the Bruces while Spielberg completed all the sequences that called for dry land...
When Bruce finally revved up with enough style and conviction to shoot a short scene, the results were not initially impressive. Director Brian De Palma (Phantom of the Paradise), a buddy of Spielberg's, visited the Vineyard and saw the director trudging out from watching Bruce's first rushes. "It was like a wake," recalls De Palma. "Bruce's eyes crossed, and his jaws wouldn't close right." There was a long moment of hopeless silence, broken finally by Richard Dreyfuss. "If any of us had any sense," he said, "we'd all bail...
...ocean," Spielberg says, "was a real pain in the ass." While the technical crew scurried about under water, the director and his company waited out the vagaries of tide topside. "With all the planning we did," Spielberg recalls, "nobody thought much about the currents or anything at all about the waves." A strong current would cause equipment boats to drift away. Water color would change, the rhythm of the waves would fluctuate. "I could have shot the movie in the tank," Spielberg says, "or even in a protected lake somewhere, but it would not have looked the same...
...least he would have been spared the sailboats. When Production Designer Alves first saw and admired the Vineyard's uninterrupted horizon line, it was winter. By the time Spielberg took to the water, it was July 1; the Vineyard is one of the most popular ports in the Northeast. Small craft sailed within feet of the camera, sometimes interrupting shots...
Between weekend outings and formal regattas, sails swamped the solitude integral to the suspense of the last third of the film. Back at Universal City, executives fretting about the budget suggested that the boats be written into the action. "We couldn't do it," Spielberg says. "You have three guys out in a rickety boat, hunting a killer shark. What kind of menace is there going to be if there is a family of four only 50 feet away, having a picnic on their sailboat...