Mother Cutter: Remembering Oscar winning JAWS editor Verna Fields
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The success of JAWS can really be divided into four parts:
1. The cast.
2. The director.
3. The musical score.
4. The editing.
And while those responsible for the first three parts are all household names, it’s the fourth who maybe made the greatest contribution to the film. Her name is Verna Fields.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri 105-years ago (!), Fields began her career in Hollywood in 1956 as a sound editor, maintaining sound and adding necessary sound effects to both films and television programs.
In the next five years she found herself busy at work on three popular television series (“Sky King,” “Death Valley Days” and “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” and “The Tom Ewell Show”) handling sound duties on nearly (150) episodes.
In 1960 she began her career as a film editor on the film Studs Lonigan. In 1972, she began a three film association with director Peter Bogdanovich with the classic comedy What’s Up, Doc?,following it up the next year with Paper Moon and, in 1974, Daisy Miller. She earned her first Academy Award nomination (along with Marcia Lucas) for her work on American Graffiti.
In 1974 she was picked to edit the first feature film of a young director named Steven Spielberg, The Sugarland Express Spielberg was so impressed with his work that he invited her to edit his sophomore film, a little picture called JAWS.
Field’s editing was flawless, seamlessly putting scenes that were shot months apart together so that they looked like one continual moment. My favorite example is the aftermath of the Alex Kintner attack. After the shark attacks, there are dozens of people running across a sandy beach on a sunny day. After Mrs. Kintner calls for her son, we see a shot of the boy’s mangled raft washing ashore. A powerful moment. So powerful that the viewer never even notices that the beach shown in this scene has dark sand and is covered with rocks while the sky is overcast. That’s magic! Her skill and advice earned her the affectionate nickname "Mother Cutter."
Of course Field’s most famous contribution to the film may have been her backyard swimming pool. It was in this pool that, after the film had been test screened in Dallas, director Spielberg decided to go for one more scare and, with the help of a cut-away boat hull and the prosthetic head of Craig Kingsbury, created one of the best jump scares in film history.
For her work on JAWS, Fields received the Academy Award for Film Editing. This was to be her last film as she was soon made a Vice President at Universal Studios. Among her first duties – overseeing the production of JAWS 2. After original director John D. Hancock was let go the studio toyed with the idea of Joe Alves or Fields taking over the film. However, due to the recently created “Eastwood Rule,” neither were able to do so. For those unfamiliar, the “Eastwood Rule” came about after director Phillip Kaufman was fired from The Outlaw Josey Wales. He was replaced in the director’s chair by the film’s star, Clint Eastwood. The “Eastwood Rule” mandates that, should a director be fired, no one already working on the film can take over.
Verna Fields passed away on November 30, 1982, at the age of 64. In 2017 she was inducted into the Online Film and Television Association Hall of Fame.
Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.
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