50 years of the shark and not hear them. Steven Spielberg: “It was the most traumatic experience of my life”

Even cinematic summer 2025 cannot do without sharks. Fifty years ago Steven Spielberg’s cult came out in theaters Jaw (the shark), The first blockbuster in the story that exceeded 100 million dollars of built -in dollars. And to think that the director, then twenty -seven -year -old, considered his finished career after the filming of that complicated project (he had clear the processing plan of over 100 days). And instead it was the film that launched it.

From today the documentary is available on Disney+ Jaws 50: The Definitive Inside Storydirected by Laurent Bouzereau, who pays homage to the cult through unpublished images from the archives of Spielberg and Wendy Benchley, through personal videos, rare fuoriscena, interviews with some cast members and JJ Abrams, James Cameron, George LucasSteven Soderbergh, Guillermo del Toro, Robert Zemeckis and the composer John Williams Its soundtrack entered the story won the Oscar.

The doc sets off in the footsteps de The shark: from the 1974 Peter Benchley best-seller to the filming on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the Massachussets, from the mechanical sharks of Joe Alves, who did not work in the middle of the ocean, to stress Post-traumatic of Spielberg. “It was a traumatic experience, the most complicated film of my career. For years I have had nightmares and panic attacks, “says the director.

The film, beyond the production difficulties, has become a mass phenomenon and fueled an obsession towards the most famous predator of the ocean. In fact, Laurent Bouzereau appeals important activists and marine scientists to expand the spectrum about what became a real Jowsmania.

Director Steven Spielberg on the set of jews with the Mechanical Shark in the background. (Courtesy of Universal Studios licensing LLC)Courtesy of Universal Studios licensing LLC

For the media Spielberg was “the man who terrified America”, thus headlined the newspapers of the time. While people put themselves in line in front of the cinemas. The shark He infects the world with splashes of oil thanks to his seductive and terrifying force. “When I saw him at 9 he was a visceral experience,” says Jj Abrams. For James Cameron e Quentin Tarantino “Jaws is a perfect car»That mixes terror, directorial wisdom, forefront special effects, realism and suspense.

The director who influenced the most Spielberg was in fact Alfred Hitchcock. He himself admitted him in the documentary. “The first scene that opens the film is shocking,” violent and at the same time simple “, comments the actress Emily Blunt«It’s like the shower scene in Psycho: the audience is terrified of something unknown. He knows what is happening, but it is not seen ». Today The shark Continue to terrorize as 50 years ago.