Quint in JAWS was inspired by a Martha’s Vineyard resident who gave Steven Spielberg some great dialogue to work with

While Steven Spielberg he was casting for his film Jaws, held an open casting call on Martha’s Vineyard where the film was to be shot. It was during this part of the development process that the director met Craig Kingsbury, who according to Spielberg was “the purest version of who, in my mind, that character really was.” Spielberg even considered casting him for the role because he liked him so much!

While Kingsbury wasn’t cast in that role, he did appear in the film as Ben Gardner, and also gave Spielberg some great dialogue to work with, dialogue he actually put into Quint’s script for the film. The boy proved to be an invaluable asset to Spielberg, and Kingsbury’s involvement helped make the film as good as it is!

Ben Gardner was a local fisherman on Amity Island and became a well-known figure following the infamous “Amity Incident” in 1974. He was the third victim of the shark. The scare of him with his head floating is heralded as an iconic moment in horror film history.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Spielberg was asked about the venue that inspired Quint and he said:

“Yes, and he plays Ben Gardner in the film. He was a selector on Martha’s Vineyard. I met him at an open casting call: I might as well have come close to flirting with the idea of ​​using him to play Quint because he was the purest version of who, in my mind, that character really was. When I met him, he came up with some amazing dialogue and I kept adding to his part of him. I told him, “I want you to be in my film and you can create your own dialogue.” He came up with all those things when he was on the boat with other islanders, trying to catch the shark, saying, “They’ll wish their fathers never met their mothers, when they start ripping their butts and banging on rocks.” , lad.’ He was amazing!”

Yes, that guy was awesome! I loved that little bit of dialogue and it’s like “who makes this up!?” Well, it was Gardner. Spielberg went on to tell how Kingsbury contributed to the making of the film:

“And when Richard Dreyfuss says, ‘Hi,’ and he says, ‘Hello back!’ this too was his idea. Very intuitive, colorful and primal person who never pursued acting. And what happened is I sat down with Craig with a tape recorder. I was honest and told him, “I want you to talk to me because I want to use some of your local color for Quint.” Craig told me some great lines: One of them was in Robert Shaw’s speech when he first showed up at the city commissioners meeting and said, “Bad fish.” It’s not like going down the pond chasing bluegill and tommycod.’ This is Craig’s line. Carl Gottlieb wrote much of that speech based on lines Craig had given me in one of our conversations.

It’s a fantastic trivia that I didn’t know about before. Some of these lines of dialogue are amazing and without Kingsbury the film wouldn’t have had that sort of thing! Spielberg has a lot to thank that guy for! he seems like the kind of guy i would love to have a conversation with!