Any more I've been conditioned to where when I watch "old" movies I try to figure out which actors from today could be cast to play in a reboot.

Never mind that the movie still holds up pretty well today... who would you pick for the main characters?

I'm thinking
Chief Brody: Nathan Fillion

Quint: Viggo Mortenson or Liev Schreiber

Hooper: stuck on this one. I know I've seen some actors that would be good but I'm having a heck of a time coming up with a match. Thought maybe Andrew Garfield or Chris Pratt.

Mayor: couldn't hurt to draw from some classic star power like Gene Hackman. He might also make a good Quint.

Jaws was, and still is, a great movie.  I'm not sure it needs to be remade, just re-watched.  Is it available in Bluray?

These days, it would be turned into an environmentalist whacko, climate change, global warming story - Sharknado!

People make their living doing casting.  It seems really tough to do.  Sometimes, it's not who you pick.  You can pick almost any actor.  What really makes a difference is how well the actor performs.




Quint: Ian McShane (Blackbeard in Pirates of the Carribean)

Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;
For we've received orders for to sail for old England,...


In 1975, when Jaws was released, WWII and the Indianapolis were only 30 years prior.  Now, it is almost 70 years.  If that scene were included, it would mean the entire movie is told in the past or by a much, much older Quint.  In the original Jaws, it is in present day, in real time, in the waters off YOUR beach!

I also wonder if that story will have the immediacy, the connection to the audience, that it had back then.  The audience may have changed.

Obamas as the first shark victims.

Quint=Ian McShaw=

NAILED IT

it is on blu-ray.


Mcshane could work,
Willis could be brody, but he does not look like him. Colin Farrel or Karl Urban might be able to do it. Nathan might be able to pull it off to.
hooper is tough, maybe the guy from breaking bad. he plays goofy and serious pretty well.

Yep.

HOLY CRAP GOOD CALL!!!

Yeah, I don't necessarily think it needs to be remade, but how many reboots were necessary?

Good point on the Indianapolis scene. One of my favorite scenes. I'd hate to see them try to work it as some made up history from Iraqi Freedom or something.I watched the movie again recently and Robert Shaw blew my mind this time around. It's probably been 5-10 years since I watched it. The way he leads into telling Hooper about the tattoo and Hooper's reaction. WOW!!! I never really took it the way I did this time. For some reason it was so much more powerful. I don't think that could ever be replicated. Just amazing acting. EVen though Scheider was the main character I don't think he had nearly as much presence as Shaw or even Dreyfus.

The biggest reason I could see for a reboot is the shark is just sorry looking. Everything else about the movie is still amazing, even if it's dated by the cars and clothing (the mayor's suits are priceless).

Sharks were much more of a mystery back in those days too. I'm sure that gave it it's biggest impact. It probably had a HUGE influence on people's opinions of sharks, and not in a good way. Since then Discovery Channel has capitalized on educating people about sharks and awareness has been steered away from fear mongering and more toward apprecition and wonder.

Still.... it would be neat to see how well it could be pulled off with today's talent.

LOL!

I had developed a visceral dislike for Robert Shaw  because of the characters he'd played (Battle of the Bulge, From Russia with Love,...).  Jaws completely changed my mind about him.  He ended up one of my favorite actors.  What is really sad is he died just a couple of years after Jaws was released.

People's opinions have changed about "sharks" but the Great White is still feared.  Ask any surfer anywhere on the west coast.  Great Whites are still scary.  I agree, though, they will have to change how the shark is portrayed, at least a bit.  This is where I worry about Hollywood.  This is one place where the environmentalists and animal rights activists would insert themselves and turn the movie into shit.

Making the shark more lifelike is not a problem, at all.  Bruce the Shark was the best they could do in the 1970's.  Today,...  whew!

Roy Scheider is dead, too.  He never did anything else as well as he did Jaws.  He played the role of Chief Brody really well.

Richard Dreyfus is still kicking.

Scheider made a lot of movies after Jaws, including 52 Pick Up.  The point was, nothing else was as well done or had the impact of Jaws. His work in All That Jazz (based on the life of Bob Fosey) was also good, if you don't mind movies about drug addicts.  This, of course, is just my opinion.  As you, yourself, said, 52 Pick Up wasn't a great movie.

He did the pretty good in Blue Thunder.
That's about the only other movie aside from the Jaws-series that I know him for.

Just saw him in Marathon Man a couple of weeks ago on Netflix.

The tough questions for me are - who should play Brodie and who should play Hooper?

I must be blocking the answers because, as I said, I think the original is superb... even the Mayor (another perfect casting).

there is an excellent documentary on Jaws which airs occasionally on AMC or one of those channels.  

in the documentary it is explained that the "storytelling" scene was shot with the actors pretty well sauced; Robert Shaw had suggested it and Spielberg approved it.  so they had quite a bit to drink before production shooting started.  Shaw had rewritten that entire scene, making the drama up as he went along with the story of the USS Indy.

and in reference to the shark -- Spielberg explained that the mechanical model just didn't fucking work.  the pneumatics were always breaking, the supporting structure was crap, etc etc etc -- everything about the shark itself sucked.  delays got longer, dates were missed, budgets were exceeded, Spielberg was told by the money people in LA that the whole movie might be scrapped, and the pressure was really on.  Spielberg hit on this idea that it might actually be better if he *didn't* show the audience the shark.  they would be left imagining how big/how scary/how awful the creature really was.  no one had really thought about making a scary shark movie without showing the actual shark, but that was Spielberg's plan.  he would keep the shark out of sight until the very end, when he needed it.  in the meantime, blood in the water, screaming kids, pulsing music, and so forth would keep the viewer interested and absolutely sure that whatever it was, it was in fact really scary.

ar-jedi

I read on Wikipedia that Shaw was so drunk he actually passed out during the filming of that scene.

I still have no good ideas for Brodie or Hooper.  

I wonder if a remake is a good opportunity for relatively unknown actors to make their mark - new faces for the players in a well-known story.

Brody & Hooper?  Given current trends it's probably these two metrosexuals.

LaBeouf... I find him moderately likeable.
It's hard to find a nerdy looking actor that hasn't already been typecast in comedy movies. I would almost say someone like Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) could fit the character, but he'd really need to tone it down and not bring in characters he's already done. Hell, you cold almost plug DJ Qualls (Roadtrip) into the role. I'm not sure today's stereotype of a marine biologist/shark nerd would fit the one from the 70's though. James McAvoy (X-Men First Class) is a decent actor who  is somewhat nerdy but can pull off action guy pretty well (ref Wanted).
But yes, given current casting trends we'd end up with one these actors because they fit the nerd stereotype:
- Jesse Eisenberg (I could almost get on board with him as this character because his pace is similar to Dreyfus)
- Jason Sudeikis
- Jonah Hill
- Michael Cera
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse
- Seth Rogan
- Jay Baruchel

Brody...
- Still like Nathan Fillion although I'm not sure he's a "headliner". He kind of screams more TV series actor of made-for-tv movie, even though he killed it in Serenity.
- Michael Fassbender
- Christian Bale (I know people are probably sick of him by now though)
- Benedict Cumberbatch (not sure I've heard him do an "American" accent yet though)
- Jon Hamm (this is a pretty good one)

I had to look up who Nathan Filion is.

Shame on you.
You'll be dealt with. You may not know when. You may not know where. But you will be.

LOL!

I know the face and know him from his work on Serenity/Firefly.

I also looked up John Hamm.  I agree, he is a good candidate for Chief Brodie.  I just couldn't get an appropriate picture of him to post.

Link to IMDB for John Hamm

BTW, if Cumberbatch is in, I am out!

Ray Liotta or Matt Dillon as Brody












 

Sorcerer.

In any case, a remake of Jaws would be an abomination the Devil himself couldn't dream up.

Quint- Ed Harris

Any reboot of Jaws would probably feature a noble shark fighting evil humans hell bent on destroying the environment.

samuel l jackson

And yet, if I remember right, that was one of the most talked-about aspects of the movie when it came out... how real the robot shark looked, blah blah blah.  I guess when you're looking back and comparing it to 60's-era science fiction stuff it probably WAS pretty impressive at the time.

Luke Evans, as Hooper

I just watched The Great Train Robbery on Netflix.  Luke Evans played the leader of the robbers.  He was great in that role.  He plays Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit.  In both roles, he's fairly 'intense'.  I was thinking of him for Chief Brody but he's too young to simply slip into that role.  You'd have to rewrite it a bit, so I thought of the Hooper role.  I bet he could do that with no problem.

So far, I've picked two British actors.  Perhaps, the entire film could be remade as a British film using a very foggy British, Irish or Scottish location (Loch Ness ).  That might provide enough of a break from the 1970's version.  It could change the entire "feel' and aesthetic of the film.  <-- just a thought.

I can't imagine anyone doing it justice myself. The Indianapolis scene..wow. Top 5 movie moments ever.

Very true, very true, however, if Hollywood couldn't help themselves (and they cannot), who would you pick?

Timothy Olyphant as Brody

Joseph Gordon Levitt as Hooper

Sean Bean as Quint