Look, no one wakes up in the morning and says “Let’s dunk on Richard Dreyfuss today,” but sometimes it has to happen.
Dreyfuss is, of course, a Hollywood legend — one of our best and most beloved actors with a resume that’s damn near unrivalled. However, in an new interview with Deadline, Dreyfuss was asked if he felt his legendary 1975 film Jaws should be rereleased in cinemas with a CGI shark.
I think they should do it, it would be huge and it would open up the film to younger people. Is that blasphemy? No, no, I don’t think so. The technology now could make the shark look as good as the rest of the movie.
Yes, sir, it is blasphemy. Everyone knows that one of the big reasons Jaws works so well is because the shark is so crappy. Director Steven Spielberg couldn’t show the movie’s villain as much as he wanted and that made the film scarier.
Plus, when you do see it, the prop shark is much more tactile and terrifying than any CGI effect could be. If you want to open Jaws up to younger people, just show them a 4K Blu-ray.
There’s a place for CGI sharks. Just this winter, The Meg was a goddamn delight. The Sharknado series has a ton of fans.
But The Meg isn’t Jaws. Sharknado is definitely not Jaws. And we all know what happens when iconic, classic films get rereleased with updated CG effects; the results are very rarely worth it.
At least Dreyfuss didn’t say Jaws should be entirely rebooted — but seriously, leave the shark alone.