Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg admitted that he regrets how his 1975 thriller 'Jaws' led to 'crazy' sport fishermen seeking out sharks and damaging the population of the ...

The study found that the 2016 family film Finding Dory was the only to not portray sharks as threats to humans. That was the really prominent thing: that sharks were scary," the study's author Brianna Le Busque said, per Mongabay. All of the films, apart from one, had sharks that were scary, that were biting people, or people fearing sharks. Sharks don't target human beings, and they certainly don't hold grudges," he said, according to the I really truly regret that." "That's one of the things I still fear," said Spielberg.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Steven Spielberg addressed his regrets over the effect "Jaws" had on shark populations.

As The Hollywood Reporter [described](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jaws-steven-spielberg-regrets-decimation-sharks-1235284344/), Spielberg raised the subject of the film’s lingering effects, and whether or not sharks hold grudges. Steven Spielberg recently addressed this aspect of the film in a conversation with the BBC’s [sharks weren’t viewed with the level of fear](https://daily.jstor.org/sharks-before-and-after-jaws/) currently associated with them.

He told Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs he fears “sharks are somehow mad at me”, and said “I really truly regret that” about the spate of shark killings by fish ...

He added the film was partly to blame for a “feeding frenzy” of “crazy fisherman which happened after 1975″, saying: “I truly, and to this day, regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film”. Jaws was based on a 1974 book of the same name written by Peter Benchley, who went on to become a shark conservationist. He told Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs he fears “sharks are somehow mad at me”, and said “I really truly regret that” about the spate of shark killings by fish hunters after Jaws’ release.

But the headline for shark lovers and conservation advocates is Spielberg's contrition for creating a culture of fear and hate surrounding the animals. He now ...

[here](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001g8m4). “I really, truly regret that.” He now has a unique fear—not being eaten by a shark, but that sharks are actually mad at him.

Steven Spielberg apologized for creating Jaws and how that led to the decline of the shark population due to misconceptions because of the film.

It became Steven Spielberg’s big hit, however, he will forever regret the events that came to be after the movie was released. Jaws had purely been a fictional movie, the director even clarified that sharks don’t hold grudges nor do they chase after humans. The director was unwilling in terms of seeing and observing an actual shark due to his fear of sharks. Similarly, he got the mechanical shark built, one which for some reason refused to cooperate with a lot of the time. What started as an attempt to make a horror movie revolving around sharks and fixing a mechanical shark that could just not work soon turned into a real-life horror as sharks were now being targetted as trophies rather than animals living in the ocean. Steven Spielberg has been making movies that would make you both grip onto a couch and jump from the couch at the same time.

Just in case you didn't know, sharks really aren't out for vengeance and they're not cold-blooded killing machines.

Over the years, we've learned that sharks are not blood-thirsty killers. But, while sharks can and have killed people in the past, they don't necessarily do it because they want to do it. Contrary to popular belief, sharks and plenty of other apex predators don't hunt for sport - they're too busy conserving their energy so they can hunt food when they need it.

The Hollywood director says he "truly regrets" the negative impact the 1975 movie had on the public's perception of sharks.

Thousands of fishers set out to catch trophy sharks after seeing Jaws," George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research in Gainesville, added. "Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today," Benchley admitted before his death in 2006. "Not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sports fishermen that happened after 1975." I actually saw a big change happen," Oliver Crimmen, fish curator at the Natural History Museum in London, The filmmaker expressed guilt over the fact that the hit thriller was built on false assumptions incited by Peter Benchley's novel, and how the subsequent fishing boom led to a notable decline in the creatures' numbers. "A collective testosterone rush certainly swept through the east coast of the US.

Steven Spielberg regrets that Jaws painted sharks as evil killing machines capable of revenge.

And [The Fabelmans](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/topic/the-fabelmans) is now in theaters and On Demand. It was my good luck and I think it was the audience’s good luck, too, because I think it’s a scarier movie without seeing so much of the shark." "To this day, I regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film. Jaws is, without a single shred of doubt, a cultural touchstone and one of the scariest and most important movies ever made. "Hitchcock did that and I think Hitchcock was a tremendous guide for me in the way he was able to scare you without really seeing anything. Still, things might have turned out differently if the shark animatronic ( [lovingly nicknamed "Bruce" by the crew](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/jaws-joe-alves-interview-45-anniversary)) had worked as intended. Sharks were swimming the oceans for millions of years until we showed up on the scene and started ruining the natural world. "When you kill an adult breeding shark, you destroy generations upon generations of sharks that will fulfill the community because there are just not that many of them. "There are too many people with too much modern equipment going after too few fish and catching most of them," he explained. “That’s one of the things I still fear. Because if you take the apex predators out of the food chain, nature will be out of balance." While it's the film that really launched his directorial career into the stratosphere, Spielberg can't help but feel a little responsible for the negative stereotype that has endured for close to five decades.

The movie contributed to a rise in shark trophy hunting.

[London Daily Express](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/opinion/endangeredpredators.html) in 2006. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and, most recently, The Fabelmans (2022). Benchley went on to become a conservationist who championed the animals’ protection. Jones says individuals he has encountered with galeophobia, a fear of sharks, often cite films like Jaws as the basis of their fear, since most people have not seen a shark in the wild. “The cases of shark population decline are very clearly fisheries overfishing.” “I had to be resourceful in figuring out how to create suspense and terror without seeing the shark itself,” Spielberg tells BBC Radio 4. In fact, sharks rarely take more than one bite out of people, because we’re so lean and unappetizing to them.” In the years following the film’s release, the number of large sharks in the waters east of North America declined by about 50 percent. It was my good luck, and I think it’s the audience’s good luck, too, because it’s a scarier movie without seeing so much of the shark.” “That’s one of the things I still fear—not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sport fishermen that happened after 1975,” Spielberg tells BBC Radio 4’s Lauren Laverne. Some experts, however, are more inclined to let Spielberg off the hook for sharks’ plight. [Christopher Paul Jones](https://christopherpauljones.com/) tells the Guardian that much of the film’s power comes from the emotions it creates.

The famous film director, responsible for Jaws (1975), states in a recent interview that he feels guilty about the way most people view the species.

If you still haven't seen one of the most famous movies in the history of cinema, or if you want to enjoy a classic again, there's good news and bad news. In terms of total bites, they were up to 73 unprovoked attacks (a year earlier, the figure stood at 57). It was in 1975 when Steven Spielberg made us see sharks as a particularly dangerous and deadly animal, an idea that practically all of us share.

Research shows Steven Spielberg's iconic thriller also led to humans killing sharks more, and now the Oscar-winning director feels guilty for that. In an ...

He’s got millions of fans across the globe. It found that most attacks happened in a shark's natural habitat. "What we found is that it was really consistent to how the news media portrays sharks. All of the films, apart from one, had sharks that were scary, that were biting people, or people fearing sharks. “To this day [I] regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film. The film became an instant classic and won three Academy Awards, including one for its score, among the most famous in cinema history.

"That's one of the things I still fear. Not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sport fishermen"

That was the really prominent thing: that sharks were scary," the article read. All of the films, apart from one, had sharks that were scary, that were biting people, or people fearing sharks. He lectured on marine conservation and even traveled the world to make documentaries that featured him swimming with sharks and whales alike. Sharks don't target human beings, and they certainly don't hold grudges," he said at the time. "That's one of the things I still fear," Spielberg confessed. I really truly regret that."

Research shows Steven Spielberg's iconic thriller also led to humans killing sharks more, and now the Oscar-winning director feels guilty for that. In an ...

He’s got millions of fans across the globe. It found that most attacks happened in a shark's natural habitat. "What we found is that it was really consistent to how the news media portrays sharks. All of the films, apart from one, had sharks that were scary, that were biting people, or people fearing sharks. “To this day [I] regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film. The film became an instant classic and won three Academy Awards, including one for its score, among the most famous in cinema history.

The director behind Jaws shares his thoughts about one of his most beloved films nearly 50 years later.

The draw of Jaws also contributed to spawning entertainment like While it’s tough to lay the blame on Jaws for sure, it was certainly bad press for sharks, which are routinely characterized as vengeful and bloodthirsty creatures thanks to the creature feature. The filmmaker’s words were in response to his thoughts on if he was theoretically on a desert island surrounded by shark-infested waters. [Steven Spielberg’s many movies](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2496246/steven-spielberg-movies-available-for-streaming-right-now) that remain an iconic part of cinema’s history is 1975’s Jaws. He’s regretful that his movie, along with Peter Benchley’s original novel, are somewhat responsible for one-third shark species being among Earth’s most threatened with extinction, per the Spielberg recently spoke to this aspect of Jaws, saying this:

This essay is one of several contributed by filmmakers and actors as part of Variety's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time package. Henry Hill, Jimmy the Gent, ...

Director Steven Spielberg writes about Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas' and what makes it one of the best movies of all time.

[Goodfellas](https://variety.com/t/goodfellas/)” again. It’s no longer a guilty pleasure to sit for 2 hours and 26 minutes, but rather a master class for any aspiring filmmaker who wants to see a breathtaking balancing act of multiple storylines, timelines, shocking violence and violent humor. Henry Hill, Jimmy the Gent, Tommy DeVito, Paulie, Karen, Billy Batts, the Lufthansa heist …

Steven Spielberg has created his own Frankenstein's monster, as the director deeply regrets that his iconic movie "Jaws" has encouraged the hunting of ...

the Extra-terrestrial" participated in "Desert Island Discs" the BBC Radio 4 program where they ask their guests about how they would feel if they were on a desert island and what objects they would want to have with them if they were in that situation. I really truly truly regret that". That is why he now fears a shark attack as revenge.

In a new essay, Steven Spielberg praises Martin Scorsese's classic 1990 gangster film Goodfellas, calling it an “epic cinematic masterpiece.”

However, the film took on a new life with audiences, becoming a frequently rewatched and often quoted movie. Even beyond the violence, he was pressured to cut the runtime down, with scenes like the dinner with DeVito's mom being put on the chopping block due to its length. And while Goodfellas remains one of [Scorsese's top-rated films](https://screenrant.com/goodfellas-movie-meet-crew-scene-meaning-reference/), Spielberg is keen to let people know just how well-crafted the finished product is. [Variety](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/steven-spielberg-goodfellas-best-movies-1235464091/), he details his love for Martin Scorses's 1990 gangster film Goodfellas, calling it an "epic cinematic masterpiece." He praises the cast, the script, Scorsese, and even the depiction of food, pointing to the movie's perfect balance of attributes as "a master class" in filmmaking. However, he has been nominated for the award eight times, including for E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Munich.

In an essay for Variety's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, Steven Spielberg talked about a poignant connection between "Goodfellas" and "The Godfather."

[100 Greatest Movies of All Time list](https://variety.com/lists/best-movies-of-all-time/?cx_testId=51&cx_testVariant=cx_2&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s), including legendary "Jaws" and "The Fabelmans" director Steven Spielberg. ["The Godfather"](https://www.looper.com/39397/untold-truth-godfather-trilogy/) both depict eating and making food as an essential activity, something that invigorates familial and friendly relationships. Spielberg has a great point about these films and their portrayal of food and cooking. The Martin Scorsese gangster classic scored [an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1991) when it came out in 1990 and has appeared in [several rankings](https://www.thegreatestfilms.com/Film/1990/Goodfellas) of the greatest films ever made. Where the 1972 Francis Ford Coppola movie is focused largely on the upper-class family in charge of the mob, "Goodfellas" is about "working stiffs." "The Godfather" is also closer to old-school classic filmmaking, whereas the style of "Goodfellas" is fueled more by cinematic adrenaline and Henry's chaotic, violent life.