Steven Spielberg thought his “career was over” while making ‘Jaws’
Director Steven Spielberg has admitted he believed his “career was over” during the production process of Jaws.
At the time of making Jaws, Spielberg was only 26 and still a rookie in Hollywood, with the movie serving as his second feature-length film. However, the production went well over budget, and the time on set was also far longer than anybody expected. As a result, Spielberg believed his career was in jeopardy.
Speaking at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on September 10th for a preview of its new Jaws exhibition, the director reflected on the film, and began by saying, “I didn’t come prepared in 1974 to make Jaws, or not prepare very well enough, I decided to risk it again and not come prepared with any remarks today to talk to you.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg then opened up about his fears halfway through the filming process when he “thought my career was over”.
He recalled, “Everybody was saying to me, ‘You are never going to get hired again. This film is way over budget, way over schedule and you are a real liability as a director. You are not going to get hired again.”
With Spielberg believing his career was on the line, the director decided that he had to put everything on the line to ensure the movie maximises its potential, adding, “I really thought that I better give this my all because I’m not working in the industry again after they see the movie. Fortunately, fortune smiled on us.”
The obstacles that Spielberg faced during the making of the movie would have made most directors to walk away from the project, but that wasn’t in his nature. He shared, “I was offered, actually, several times a chance to gracefully bow out of the film, not to be replaced by another director, but for the film to be shut down.”
Spielberg then explained that he had many members of the cast and crew coming to him on a weekly basis, asking him for “an incentive to keep working on your movie” amid the never-ending delays. He admitted, “I didn’t know when we were going to wrap until two weeks before we wrapped on Martha’s Vineyard. That’s how little control we had over the shark, the weather, the currents, the regattas.”
Jaws: The Exhibition is set to run from September 14th, 2025, to July 26th, 2026.
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