INTERVIEW: Nat Geo celebrates 50th anniversary of ‘Jaws’
Photo: Jaws @ 50 features behind-the-scenes stories of the making of Jaws. Photo courtesy of Edith Blake / Courtesy of Martha’s Vineyard Museum / Provided by Nat Geo press site with permission.
Summer 2025 is the summer of Jaws. The landmark blockbuster film from director Steven Spielberg is being feted around the world on its 50th anniversary. There are special events, museum exhibitions, sold-out screenings and plenty of merchandise for shark-loving devotees. One of the most anticipated events of the celebration is the release of Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, which will air on Nat Geo Thursday, July 10, at 9 p.m. Streaming begins July 11 on Hulu and Disney+.
The new documentary, which is part of the network’s annual Sharkfest, offers viewers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the making and impact of Jaws. The film features interviews with Spielberg and key players in the production of the movie. Plus there are scenes shot on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where the original blockbuster was filmed more than 50 years ago.
Laurent Bouzereau, whose previous credits include Faye and Music by John Williams, is the director of the 90-minute spectacle, and for him, Jaws @ 50 is the ultimate passion project.
“I grew up in France, where Jaws was known as The Teeth of the Sea, and it literally changed my life,” Bouzereau said in a recent Zoom interview. “Not only did I become obsessed with the name Steven Spielberg, but I collected everything to do with Jaws. My bedroom was covered with the posters and the lobby cards. I was reading the book and sort of immersed myself literally into that world. It cemented my love for American cinema. It cemented my love for American culture.”
The director particularly loves the scenes in the movie that depict intimate conversations at the dinner table, featuring Roy Scheider’s Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss’ Matt Hooper and Lorraine Gary’s Ellen Brody. He felt that these quieter scenes offered viewers like himself a glance at American life.
“Everything felt new and exciting to me,” he said. “The whole cultural aspect of the film itself was super-impressive and very much part of the fabric of it, not to mention the scares. I loved suspense movies. I was a Hitchcock fanatic and loved disaster movies right before Jaws, and so the spectacle of it was essential in that experience. But it truly was the director that attracted me the most and that desire to not only meet him but to speak this language and enter that world that he created on film. Of course, as he grew with subsequent movies, I continued to follow him and eventually moved to America the summer of E.T. actually. And here we are 50 years later talking about Jaws.”
Bouzereau said he hopes the audience for the documentary is multifaceted. Jaws-heads are likely going to tune in no matter what; he said those viewers are already “baked in.” But he’s really interested in newcomers to the Jaws storyline, and he wants to see what they have to say about Spielberg’s film and the unbelievable making of the blockbuster.
“I really made the film for people who may not know Jaws, young people who are discovering Jaws for the first time this summer, young people who want to become filmmakers,” he said. “Jaws is a survival story, not only on screen but also in the making of it. It’s a total survival story and therefore is an inspiration, so I would love for people who know nothing about the mythology surrounding Jaws to watch this. I hope that this is the core audience for it. I think the Jaws audience hopefully will watch it, but I don’t know what that reaction will be. I hope it will be positive, but it’s really trying to pass this passion that everyone feels for Jaws on to the next generation. That’s my ultimate dream.”
Bouzereau began talking about this project more than a year ago. He discussed the documentary with Spielberg and Wendy Benchley, wife of Peter Benchley, who wrote the original novel that the movie is based on. The director said that Nat Geo is the best partner for the film because of its emphasis on the ocean and sharks this time of year.
“I mean, it was a solid year in the making, but I had very specific benchmarks in order to make the release date because in order for it to be on TV in July it had to be done and finished by March,” the director said. “So it was really fast and furious. I had two editors and a great composer. It was a machine and a very complicated one because all of the things to do with documentary filmmaking, licensing and so on. It was a very complex film to make, potentially one of the most difficult films I’ve made in terms of the production itself because also trying to capture the Martha’s Vineyard of it all and going there and going to Boston and going to New York.”
Bouzereau added: “If it was that easy, it wouldn’t be fun, so I embrace the challenges. But it was complicated.”
When Bouzereau stepped foot on Martha’s Vineyard last year to film this documentary, that was actually the first time he had visited this legendary island off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He remembers he couldn’t pronounce the island’s name back when he was younger and watching Jaws for the first time.
“I could not pronounce it because the ‘th’ sound is very complicated in French, so I knew Martha’s Vineyard as Marta Vinegar,” he said. “And it took me a while to practice, and so there was this mythology around this island. And I never went actually until last year. I wanted to go there with a purpose, and so it took a while. And when I went there, it was surreal.”
Bouzereau said: “The people there are obsessed with that experience, and it’s something that’s passed on between the grandparents to the parents to their kids. It’s like a generational thing. It’s amazing, and I felt that those people lived that experience so deeply that it shows in the film. That’s what brings authenticity to it. They’re serious about bringing life to who they are basically. I think that’s pretty unique. I’ve not necessarily researched it, but I don’t think there are many films that have that local recognition to that level, to that degree. It’s almost intimidating.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story premieres on Nat Geo Thursday, July 10, at 9 p.m. Streaming is available July 11 on Hulu and Disney+. Click here for more information.
