Steven Spielberg is walking down the memory lane with 1974’s superhit!
The director candidly revealed that he didn't prepare a speech for the Academy Museum's Jaws exhibition preview, and he explained why.
"Because I didn’t come prepared in 1974 to make Jaws, or not prepare very well enough, I decided to risk it again and not come prepared with any remarks today to talk to you," the legendary director said.
Spielberg was impressed by the exhibition, which features a vast collection of rare objects, photos, memorabilia, set pieces, and immersive environments.
"I'm empty-handed except for the collection of memories stimulated just in the last hour and a half of walking through the exhibition that they have so ingeniously assembled from the archives of collectors all over the world," he said.
The Jaws exhibition is the largest dedicated to a single film in the Academy Museum's history. It features Spielberg's annotated script, storyboards, and original concept illustrations of the shark by production designer Joe Alves.
Spielberg recalled the challenges of making Jaws, including the mechanical shark's malfunctioning and the production going over schedule and budget.
"I just really was not ready to endure the amount of obstacles that were thrown in our path," he said.
"Starting with Mother Nature, my hubris was that I thought we could take a Hollywood crew, go out 12 miles into the Atlantic Ocean and shoot an entire movie with a mechanical shark. I thought that was going to go swimmingly."
Despite the challenges, he credited the company of his crew and cast for getting them through the troubled production.
"The camaraderie that happens when you’re just trying to survive something, it brought all of us closer together," he said.