Steven Spielberg’s favourite Steven Spielberg ripoff: “It turned out fine”
Hollywood is a cyclical place by nature, and not just because studios are happier than ever to dip into the archives to repurpose, remake, and reboot almost anything. Filmmakers steal from each other all the time and then subsequently pay it forward, and one movie that blatantly ripped off Steven Spielberg got the ultimate seal of approval when its biggest inspiration gave it the thumbs up.
Spielberg evidently has no issues being a touchstone for those who follow in his wake, just as he had absolutely no problem admitting his own style was heavily indebted to Akira Kurosawa, John Ford, and David Lean: three titans of cinema the highest-grossing director in history used as the springboards to developing his own signature style of sweeping, crowd-pleasing epics.
Bong Joon-ho embraced the Spielbergian with Okja, JJ Abrams has built his entire career on trying to emulate his idol, M Night Shyamalan fused Amblin with the supernatural and third-act twists to establish his brand, with the three-time Academy Award winner an inevitable shadow looming in the background for any aspiring auteur who dreams of melding family drama with blockbuster escapism and whimsy.
Of course, there’s a major difference between homage and plagiarism, and the movie that launched Spielberg’s career and changed cinema forever was the catalyst for the industry declaring open season on aquatic creature features. Once Jaws had scared the moviegoing public out of the water, multiplexes were suddenly swamped with cheap, pale, and shoddy imitations.
Some of them even ran into legal trouble, with Universal filing an injunction to try and prevent Joe Dante’s Piranha from being released. The predators may have been smaller, but it was basically the same film: a dwindling band of characters are confronted with underwater terrors that have developed a taste for human flesh.
Spielberg could have sat idly by and watched Piranha get mothballed by the studio’s lawyers, but he didn’t. In fact, he gave Dante’s B-tier horror a ringing endorsement and became one of the most pivotal figures in ensuring that it was rolled out to a theatrical audience.
“He told them it didn’t have anything to do with Jaws,” Dante told SciFiNow. “And they were told to lay off, so even though I didn’t know him at the time, Spielberg was partially responsible for letting them have the movie.” The Roger Corman-produced schlocker ended up as distributor New World Pictures’ highest-grossing film ever, riding the wave generated by Jaws to a tidy profit.
“Luckily, it turned out fine, and it was very successful for Roger,” Dante offered, even if it would be the last time he worked for the legendary career launcher. As for Spielberg? He called it “the best Jaws ripoff” ever made, a sentiment that many people would agree with. Not only that, but the two filmmakers developed a personal and professional relationship that saw them become friends and frequent collaborators, so not shelving Piranha worked out in the best interests of everyone.
