Why Richard Dreyfuss did not return as Matt Hooper in JAWS 2

Hello, Islanders!

After Steven Spielberg, the one person most missing from JAWS 2 is actor Richard Dreyfuss, who played oceanographer Matt Hooper in the original film.  If you’ve read Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws” you will recall that the character of Hooper dies in the story.  This was also supposed to be his fate in the film.  However, thanks to the amazing live shark footage supplied by Ron and Valerie Taylor, including a great white shark destroying a cage that has been brought to the surface, the new idea was to have Hooper escape the cage before it’s destroyed, hide on the bottom and pop up triumphantly in time to swim back to shore with Brody.  If that doesn’t spell sequel, I don’t know what does.

At a recent appearance here in Kansas City, a fan asked Dreyfuss why he wasn’t in the sequel.  His answer?  Money.  None of the cast or crew were ever rewarded monetarily for being part of the most successful film of all time.  Dreyfuss recalled that, when American Graffiti came out, director George Lucas divided one of his “points” between the (10) main actors in the film.  According to the actor, this 1/10th point has earned him more money then any other project he has done.  On the flip side of this story, it is rumored that Universal promised production manager Bill Gilmore that he would be rewarded for his help on JAWS.  He was…with a new television!    

But what else kept Hooper on the research vessel “Aurora,” instead of bringing him back to Amity?  Steven Spielberg.  Or, more to the point, no Steven Spielberg.  Had the director’s demands been met, mostly a six-month delay in starting JAWS 2 so he could finish Close Encounters, I’m pretty sure that Dreyfuss would have been there with him.  The original script actually had Hooper in the story.  Once Dreyfuss passed the producers toyed with the idea of having another actor play the part.  Eventually smarter heads prevailed, and it was decided that Matt Hooper would always be sailing.   

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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