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Steven Spielberg Reveals How a Memorable Father-Son Moment in Jaws Helped Inspire E.T.
Spielberg still had Jaws' Chief Brody on the brain as his filmmaking career moved into the '80s.
One of Steven Spielberg's greatest cinematic strengths has always been his seemingly effortless ability to depict family life (broken or otherwise) on the silver screen.
Of course, those everyday interactions between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters have almost aways served as something of a cathartic stunt double for the director's own turbulent upbringing. But the filmmaker's penchant for delving into the emotional waters of family dynamics goes well beyond the heartache of divorce and into wider anthropological territory.
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"Exploration of human behavior fascinates me," the director admits in Spielberg: The First Ten Years.
New Book Explores Steven Spielberg's First Seven Movies
Written by Laurent Bouzereau — longtime producer of the supplemental documentaries found on the home release editions of Spielberg's movies — the upcoming book chronicles the seven films that officially kicked off a hallowed Hollywood legacy: Duel (1971), The Sugarland Express (1974), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), 1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Hitting stands in late October of this year, the 256-page tome features definitive Q&A interviews with the man himself, as well as a collection of never-before-seen production stills from the aforementioned titles.
The quote above comes from the section on Jaws, which Vanity Fair ran as an exclusive last week. In the middle of their conversation about the shark thriller that invented the modern summer blockbuster, Bouzereau asks Spielberg about the memorable scene where a morose Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) sits at the kitchen table shortly after receiving a sharp slap on the face by a grieving Mrs. Kintner (Lee Fierro).
RELATED: Steven Spielberg and Paul McCartney Are Movie Pals, Spotted Seeing Oppenheimer Together
Racked with guilt and unsure of what to do next, the exasperated police chief of Amity Island sips a glass of alcohol and buries his face in his hands — only to discover his younger son, Sean (Jay Mello), has begun to mimic his every move. The interaction breaks Brody out of his depression and offers the audience a small respite by way of genuine human connection. It truly feels like something that could happen between any parent and child the world over.
How a Single Scene in Jaws Influenced E.T. the Extra-Tesrrestrial
"I think we improvised that moment on the day — I wanted Roy to show he was depressed, and his son imitates him," Spielberg recalled. "It lightens up the mood, and Brody can see that he does have a life outside his job, that he has children and a family."
The scene came back to him years later while developing the script for E.T. alongside Melissa Matheson. "I wanted a similar scene where E.T. imitates Elliott, which leads to them communicating for the first time. I thought, 'Hey, if it worked in Jaws, it could work in E.T.'"
Check out both scenes below:
Published by Insight Editions and distributed by Simon & Schuster, Spielberg: The First Ten Years goes on sale Tuesday, October 24. Pre-order a copy for yourself right here!
The complete Jaws quadrilogy is now streaming on Peacock. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, meanwhile, is available to purchase from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
