Bruce The Shark From Jaws Finds New Home At The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Bruce the shark is home after being installed at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, in Los Angeles.
Back in march 2018, The Daily Jaws reported ‘Junkyard Jaws’, the last known remaining original mould of Bruce the shark used in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), was to be restored by Greg Nicotero (executive producer, special effects make-up effects supervisor and director on The Walking Dead), and exhibited at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
Today that reality took a giant thrash of the tail forward as a fully restored Bruce was installed - and he looks stunning.
Bruce the shark - in all his glory
Designed and built by Jaws Production Designer and retired SFX genius Bob Mattey, ‘Bruce’ (named after Steven Spielberg’s lawyer Bruce Ramer) was 25 feet long and when attached to the shark platform and mechanical arm weighed around 12 tonnes.
“I’ve been involved with the Junk Yard shark for a number of years. The Museum representative contacted me regarding having it restored and knowing Greg Nicotero for many years, I thought him and his group would be the perfect people to restore it. I’m glad the restored shark has found it’s home at the Museum of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for everyone to enjoy.”
Jaws Production Designer Joe Alves with Bruce the shark mid-build
It is of course 45 years since the cinematic juggernaut of Jaws first surfaced on cinema screens. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it was the first film in history to swim past the $100 million barrier at the US box office.
Jaws was big, huge, as a book, written by Peter Benchley - who also had a co-screenwriter credit along with Carl Gottlieb and had a cameo as a TV news reporter in the film - but the film was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. It still continues to captivate today.
The original junkyard Jaws being moved to a secret location for the restoration to begin
Bruce is hoisted into position
Every detail was painstakingly recreated by SFX maestro Greg Nicotero
Foreground? Scale? Anybody?
We all love Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, but there is just something magical about Bruce the shark.
Not bad going, considering he's only got four minutes of screen time, for much of the film he's a glimpse here or there, a point of view shot or suggested by the foreboding musical brilliance of John Williams.
And that score, the sound editing and editing - by Verna Fields - all brought home Oscar glory in 1976. It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing out to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and didn't even feature for Best Director (Spielberg famously had a TV crew film the Oscar nominations, hoping to capture the reaction to his nomination that never appeared).
Bruce the shark inside what is now the world’s largest fish bowl
“It’s fitting that an iconic film has a genuine icon representing it in an iconic setting. It all fits together.”
It's hard to even imagine that Robert Shaw's mesmerising turn as Quint didn't even warrant a nomination, but Oscar and Hollywood still loves Jaws. And now Bruce is set to astound a whole new generation of film fans as he rubs pectoral fins alongside such iconic film artefacts as Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, the typewriter used to write the screenplay to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, tablets from The Ten Commandments and a space suit from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
After 45 years, Bruce is still feared, still inspires, so it's no wonder he's still got Hollywood's biggest smile.
Bruce is set to be unveiled when the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opens in April 2021.
Words Ross Williams & Dean Newman
Images and video courtesy of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
