Friday, March 1, 2013

How did Robert Shaw prepare for Quint's Indianapolis monologue in "Jaws" (1975)?

The great movie director Steven Spielberg himself discusses how Robert Shaw performed the beloved scene from Jaws. Read the quote below. Watch Jaws online or on blu-ray.

"We shot it twice. The first time we attempted to shoot it Robert came over to me and said, 'You know, Steven, all three of these characters have been drinking and I think I could do a much better job in this speech if you let me actually have a few drinks before I do the speech.' And I unwisely gave him permission.
    
"He went into the Whitefoot, which was a big sort of support boat that we always took our lunch breaks on and all the bathrooms were on that boat, it was a big tug boat, and Indianapolis he went into the hold with my script girl Charlsie Bryant and I guess he had more than a few drinks because two crew members actually had to carry him onto the Orca and help him into his chair. I had two cameras on the scene and we never got through the scene, he was just too far gone. So, I wrapped the company at about 11 o’clock in the morning and Robert was taken back to his house on Martha’s Vineyard.

"At about 2 o’clock in the morning my phone rings and it’s Robert. He had a complete blackout and had no memory of what had gone down that day. He said, 'Steven, tell me I didn’t embarrass you.' He was very sweet, but he was panic-stricken. He said, 'Steven, please tell me I didn’t embarrass you. What happened? Are you going to give me a chance to do it again?' I said, 'Yes, the second you’re ready we’ll do it again.' The next morning he came to the set, he was ready at 7:30 out of make-up and it was like watching Olivier on stage. We did it in probably four takes."

Source: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/49921

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