There are few scores in the history of cinema as recognizable as that of Shark. By just listening to a couple of notes, almost any viewer is able to associate that sound with that of the gigantic animal in the movie. Steven Spielberg. That film, which was the second collaboration between the director and the musician John Williamsmarked a before and after in the history of cinema, but also in the relationship between both artists. And it all started with a big misunderstanding.
As told now in the documentary The music of John Williams, available on Disney+ since November 1, the story of how Williams’ score came to Spielberg well deserves its own film. In the documentary directed by the French Laurent BouzereauSpielberg himself makes an appearance to tell what his relationship is like with the famous composer, author of scores that are already part of film history as Superman, Harry Potter, Star Wars o Indiana Jones. However, before becoming one of the most successful duos in commercial cinema, Williams and Spielberg went through a somewhat strange moment, precisely regarding the score of Shark.
Spielberg was already a fan of Williams even before meeting him, as he had been enthusiastic about his work on The thievesa movie Steve McQueen based on a novel by William Faulkner. The director of Saving Private Ryan He approached the musician during a surprise lunch at the Universal studios, where Spielberg did not hesitate to approach and propose a collaboration with Williams. Their first job together was in Crazy evasionthe road movie starring Goldie Hawn. However, his first great success – and the one that would earn Williams his second Oscar after Fiddler on the Roof– it was in Shark. A film for which Spielberg had other music in mind.
In the documentary it is said that, when Williams played the iconic song to Spielberg, he started laughing. It couldn’t have been the main theme of the movie, right? He, who imagined a more epic and much less stripped-down melody. “John Williams has a great sense of humor. ¡I thought you were joking!”, Spielberg confesses in the documentary, speaking with Williams, and recalling his first impression after hearing those notes. “I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, we won’t have an orchestra, there will be a piano and Johnny will play some low notes.’ You told me to listen carefully. And I ended up understanding that your idea was great,” admitted the filmmaker in front of the musician. However, that is not the only revelation that the director of ET The extraterrestrial performs during the documentary.
The filmmaker reveals that he was not even entirely satisfied with “his shark,” namely, the mechanical animal he had to represent the real one, a colossal construction whose presence he ended up reserving almost towards the end of the film, playing only with the fact that it was intuit An idea that was undoubtedly helped by Williams’ music, which consisted more of generating a disturbing fear, and which in the end was what made the shark more terrifying, because you never knew when it might appear. “My shark didn’t work. And I didn’t realize that John was going to give me a shark that worked thanks to music. His musical shark was much more effective than my mechanical shark.”
