Steven Soderbergh talks about Steven Spielberg’s jaws and why it’s the most disruptive film ever made

Steven Soderbergh has made its right dose of daring and disruptive filmsSex, lies and videotapes, TrafficAND InfectionBut when it comes to the most disruptive film ever made? For him, it’s not even a race. His Jaw.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the film, Soderbergh sat with the deadline to decompress exactly the reason why the 1975 shark thriller of Spielberg has not only redefined the cinema, but has shown that Spielberg is, without a doubt, the greatest director of all time.

Soderbergh was only 12 years old when Jaw He hit the theaters, but he left that first projection with two questions that reduced to his head: “What did” mean “and who Steven Spielberg is?”

The answers would modify his career. “It was probably the most mobile film I’ve ever seen at that point,” Soderbergh recalled, “this incredibly fuel combination of super-high concepts and Bravura cinema”.

But it was not only the terror of the shark or the pieces of suspense who made him crazy. “What separates it from most films before or since it is the work of the character,” he said. “When you watch how the film narration is built … it’s just a film narration model.”

He cites the Uss Indianapolis scene, which is nine uninterrupted minutes of three men sitting on a boat like one of the most daring moves in the history of cinema. “You can imagine, in the middle of A Star Wars Film, a nine -minute dialogue scene? It is unthinkable. “

That monologue, delivered by Robert ShawQuint, did not even exist in the original Peter Benchley novel. The book was full of subtrame sausaged, including a relationship between Hooper and Brody’s wife, that screenwriter Carl Gottlieb thrown out.

The filmmakers have remodeled the narrative around the primordial terror of the shark, the restless camaraderie of the three protagonists and, in the words of Soderbergh, “an absolutely unique talent that explodes”.

As Soderbergh explained, Jaw It was a perfect storm of risk and genius. “They were out there in the middle of AF*Cking Ocean. There is a reason why people don’t do it,” he said.

“That shark was only a pneumatic mechanical device, in the real ocean. There is no shortcut.” And when did the shark worked? “They were starting to confront the real possibility that what they were trying to do physically could not be done.”

Still, they continued. Spielberg continued. “Under a huge pressure, everyone continued to do their best job,” Soderbergh said. “It is a real clinic for a young director on the types of obstacles you meet. Don’t panic and never give up. It is quite difficult to beat.”

It is easy to forget how innovative Jaw It was in the context of his time. Soderbergh stresses that while other blows like The godfather AND The exorcist Also draw long lines, Jaw He gave the idea of ​​the film of events, large releases, saturation marketing and wateroler hum.

“You have to attribute it to Universal, recognizing that they had a rocket in their pockets and tripling this large -release strategy,” he said. But none of this would have imported if the film was not landed. “You can’t simply do it with any film. It was the beneficiary of many different elements that come together in this circumstance. And the boy made a masterpiece.”

Of course, none of this happens without Spielberg. And even after decades of success at the record box office and countless films that define the genre, Soderbergh still thinks that Spielberg is underestimated.

“It’s a singular talent that was about to emerge in one way or another,” he said. “Despite being the most successful director in history, I still think it is taken for granted.”

“There are things that he did that if any other director had done them, these would have been their career better,” said Soderbergh. “But he did so often that it is taken for granted.” He drops of name Player Player One As a technical wonder, most of the directors cannot even conceptualize, not to mention the execution between dramas appointed to the Oscar such as The post.

And then there is 1993: Jurassic Park AND Schindler list in the same year. “It’s ridiculous,” Soderbergh said. “Or one of these would put another director in the hospital.”

In the end, this is what makes Spielberg the largest of all time. Not only his eye for the show, or his ear for the emotional truth or his tireless innovation, but his ability to do it consistently, over the course of decades, in wildly different genres.

Jaw It was not just a turning point for the films, it was the moment when a generational talent took a step forward and showed us what was possible.

As Soderbergh said: “There was no other director on the planet who could have survived and do Jaw. Jaw. “And 50 years later, we are still enjoying what he delivered with that film.