Jaws WeMaker shares his inspiration for 'Quint's Day Off'
When Jaws WeMake premiered on 20th June (45 years to the day since Jaws itself premiered), viewers went crazy for ‘Quint’s Day Off’, a hybrid of Quint living Ferris Bueller’s Day Off created by Mark Schriefer. The Daily Jaws caught with Mark to learn more.
I'm 34 years old and hail from Toledo, Ohio. I work as a graphic designer for a local news station, doing on-air animations, print and web ad design. I also teach a class on Graphic Communication part time at the University of Toledo.
I enjoy beer, movies and storytelling. I have a four-year-old son, so it's a lot of fun to introduce him to all the things that I loved (and still love) from my childhood. He just watched Jaws with me for the first time on the 45th anniversary.
I don't remember the first time I watched Jaws. But I was 5 or 6. I know this because I remember drawing Jaws pictures in Kindergarten. My mom, who was always very cool at letting me watch movies when I was younger than I *probably* should have been, rented a VHS for me at the store.
This, I remember. I remember where I was standing in the condensed video rental section of our local Food Town grocery store. "Oh, you'll like this. It's about three guys who go out after a shark," she told me. So I was in. Again, I don't remember that first viewing. But I do remember falling in love with that tape. I remember falling in love with Jaws: The Revenge.
Yeah. The Revenge. What a twist, right? You see, my mom had mistakenly rented me Jaws 4, thinking it was the original. I doubt she even knew Jaws 4 existed. But that didn't matter. I LOVED that movie. Nobody is a film snob at age 5. There was a shark that was eating people and I loved every minute of it. That's why I still have a soft spot for The Revenge today. It was my gateway Jaws. And you can only imagine my excitement when I found out that there were MORE Jaws movies. Bigger and better cinematic things lie ahead.
Even at a young age, I quickly realized that the original Jaws was the superior movie. Not just superior to The Revenge, but superior to every other movie I had ever seen - or would ever see. Why is that? I don't know, exactly. I could talk about the characters and actor performances, I could talk about the pacing - about the talents of Spielberg, Butler, Fields, Alves, Gottlieb, Mattey and so many others. But this isn't an essay, or at least it's not supposed to be. So for those still reading I will summarize the longevity and power of Jaws with one memory.
In 2012 I saw Jaws on the big screen in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. In Amity. Surrounded by Jaws fans - some even bigger fans than I was, which was cool because until that weekend I had never met anyone who loved Jaws as much as I did. Anyway, when it got to the part where our trio first sees the shark, and Quint wants Hooper to hook up a barrel, but Hooper isn't there ("Hooper, get clear of the barrel...HOOPAHH?!") and William's score is just surging ... I got ANXIETY. Anxiety from a scene from a movie that I had seen a hundred times (actual count: more than one hundred, I'm sure). I knew what was going to happen. But in that moment, in that screening, it was like watching it for the first time. I've never experienced that with another movie.
Quint has always been my favorite. Robert Shaw is just, I dunno, a FORCE. And whatever he does as that character, it's impossible to take your eyes off of him. My favorite side character has to be Ben Gardner. ("Get away from there you goddamn fool, you!" It's just so good.) I have several Jaws shirts, artwork, knick knacks. I have the 1975 Ideal Game, and the McFarlane Movie Maniacs set (still in the box!) that I'm very proud of. But my most treasured item is the 1975 Chemtoy rubber Jaws shark, that I've gotten the autographs of Jeffrey Kramer, Lee Fero and Richard Dryfuss on - with hopefully more signatures in the future. I had the pleasure of meeting Hendricks and Mrs. Kintner in 2012, and HOOPAHH a few years ago at a con in New Jersey. They were all incredibly nice and pleasant to talk to. Lee Fiero was a soft-spoken sweetheart.
For the WeMake, I wanted to do something fun and something different. Something niche. I had recorded myself doing the Indianapolis speech before, for JawsFest 2012, so I didn't want to simply do that again. Since we were all in quarantine, I thought it might be fun to have a character out of character, at home. I had the idea of Quint in a bathrobe, and the next place my mind went to was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. So I thought maybe I could marry the two together. I edited it shot for shot with the Ferris monologue (I mean, to the best of my ability) and combined the Ferris/Quint characters. Don't get me wrong, I like Ferris but I love Jaws. I wasn't sure if it was exactly what you guys at The Daily Jaws were looking for, but I liked how it turned out.
My wife and I shot it over the course of an afternoon, and I edited it over the next day or so.
Thanks to The Daily Jaws for putting the WeMake together. I very much enjoyed making this video and I thought everyone did a wonderfully creative job.
I hope you enjoy "Quint's Day Off."
-Mark
Bonus Fun Fact: The 'gansett can on the shelf in the shower is empty. I only had ONE unopened can to get that last shot. I'm not much to brag, but that was a one take wonder.