Here we have brand new interviews with Spielberg, Gottlieb, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider (who also narrates), John Williams, Joe Alves, Bill Butler, Richard Zanuck and David Brown, and Peter Benchley. They all repeat what has already been said about the making of the film; however, what makes these interviews interesting is their description of what came after the movie's release. One example is Gottlieb, who tells the story of how he and Spielberg would go and sit in the back of the theatre during the Ben Gardner head scene to watch the audience's own heads bob up in unison. They even feature footage that I didn't know existed of audiences reacting to the classic scare. Another is Spielberg’s account of what happened to the original Orca boat.
Along with the usual suspects, they feature new interviews with a multitude of different people from Percy Rodriguez, the voice actor for the Jaws trailers, to a long lost interview with Craig Kingsbury, the man who played Ben Gardner and taught Robert Shaw his salty fisherman accent. This just goes to show how in depth this documentary is. All of the players in the film's success come forward and give their unique perspectives on what it was like for them on their own side of the island.
There is also a great portion of the doc that deals specifically with Robert Shaw. The most interesting bits of this section come from Dreyfuss, who admits that there really was a "working class hero crap" rivalry between the two. It is a great look into the man, and I’ll admit that I teared up a bit during its conclusion.
Along with the filmmakers of Jaws, The Shark is Still Working also features interviews with filmmakers who have been inspired by the film. Bryan Singer, Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, and many more go into great detail about how the film continues to influence their work and career today. Greg Nicotero also goes into his recreation of Bruce the shark for Jaws-Fest ‘05. The documentary also features interviews with many of the film's fans including our very own Sean Clark. Every angle and base is covered.
One of the greatest aspects of the whole doc is that it features behind-the-scenes footage and stills that have never been seen before. How they found such items is beyond me because I didn’t realize that they even existed. The documentary carries right through the making of Jaws to the night the Academy Award nominations were announced and video of Spielberg’s reaction to him not getting the Best Director nod. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the kinds of things The Shark is Still Working digs into.
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