Steven Spielberg’sJawshas been a staple of the summer movie season since it started terrifying moviegoers 50 years ago. Itschallenges during productionbecame a Hollywood legend for all those involved in the adaptation ofPeter Benchley’s 1974 novel. Given the film’s rocky path to success, many of its original stars were reluctant to ever step foot in the water again as soon as Universal announcedJaws 2. One of those main stars who tried desperately to stay away from Amity Island wasRoy Scheider, who reached superstar heights in his role asChief Martin Brody. He, alongsideRichard Dreyfussas Matt Hooper, survived not only the deadly shark in the 1975 classic but also the near-fatal experience in making it. To agree to take part in a sequel seemed like insanity on the surface. For Scheider, however,working onJaws 2made him lose out on a potential Oscar win by declining 1978’sThe Deer Hunter.
The Real Reason Why Roy Scheider Left ‘The Deer Hunter’
According to the book,Roy Scheider: A Film BiographybyDiane C. Kachmar, the success ofJaws,as well as appearing in such cinematic masterpieces asThe French ConnectionandMarathon Man,landed the star a three-picture deal with Universal. Fulfilling part of the deal with 1977’sSorcerer, Scheider was set to play Michael Vronsky inThe Deer Hunter,theMichael Ciminodrama about a band of Steeltown friends whose lives are forever altered when they enter theVietnam War. By becoming one of the biggest movie stars of the decade after appearing in three seminal pictures of theNew Hollywoodera, Scheider’s star power was crucial in attracting mainstream audiences to see one of the first Hollywood dramas to depict the horrors of the divisive war under the helm of a filmmaker in his second directorial effort.
Contrary to reports of creative differences between Scheider and Cimino overThe Deer Hunterscript,Scheider left the project two weeks before shooting began due to a pay dispute, according to former Universal president Thom Mount.Mount recalled in a 2019 oral history of the Oscar-winning film byGQthat the actor’s deal asThe Deer Hunter’s lead character “was now disproportionate, in his eyes, and did not reflect the rise his colleagues had enjoyed within the community.” Additionally, the film’s producers,Michael DeeleyandBarry Spikings, felt that the Vronsky role needed not a movie star of Scheider’s stature but a real working actor likeRobert De Niro, known for playing gray area characters inMean Streets,Taxi Driver, andThe Godfather Part II.
This Icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age Almost Played Chief Brody In ‘Jaws’ — and We’re So Glad It Didn’t Happen
We can’t unsee Chief Brody parting the sea.
The decision for Scheider to pull out ofThe Deer Hunterwas a costly one, given his exclusive contract with Universal. As Kachmar revealed in Scheider’s biography,the studio offered to close out the actor’s contractual obligations to them only if he agreed to reprise Chief BrodyinJaws 2,which was set to film the same summer asThe Deer Hunter. The sequel business was still a new trend in the late ‘70s. Aside fromThe Godfather, sequels were often thrown together quickly without a fresh new story and a natural course of direction for returning characters. It was not just a matter of Schieder’s Chief Brody protecting beachgoers once again from a shark. It was the creative struggle to make it feel different from the original.
Roy Scheider Pleaded Insanity to Avoid Starring in ‘Jaws 2'
Jaws 2had production troubles very early on in development. Original director Spielberg and co-star Dreyfuss were off makingClose Encounters of the Third Kind. The new director,John D. Hancock, was replaced byJeannot Szwarc(Somewhere in Time,Supergirl) after a few days of shooting due tohis darker tone with a premise involving the island’s weakened imagefollowing the events of the original. Then there was Scheider, who went to great lengths to avoid reprising Brody.AsKachmar wrote,the actor “pleaded insanity and went crazy in The Beverly Hills Hotel.“But in Hollywood, money speaks all languages, and the actor settled on a salary higher than his work in the first installment, plus net profits.
Despite Scheider’s bigger payday,Jaws 2proved challenging without Spielberg’s involvement. Though many of its inland characters, played byLorraine GaryandMurray Hamilton, returned, Scheider’s relationship withSzwarc was not a happy one. Kachmar recounts in his biography times on set when the actor publicly complained about the director not devoting enough time to working with the cast and evengot into a physical altercation at one point. Though Szwarc confirmed Scheider’s unhappiness early in production in an interview forThe Making of Jaws 2documentary on DVD, the actor was considered “great, and he really delivered” once they got midway through filming.
Jaws 2paid off financially despite a mixed reception from critics, with a 58% rotten rating fromRotten Tomatoes. Scheider never appeared in the further Jaws sequels, as Chief Brody was revealed to have suffered a fatal heart attack off-screen in 1987’sJaws: The Revenge. Though Scheider’s missed opportunity was equallya difficult production, De Niro earned worldwide acclaim for playing Vronsky inThe Deer Hunter,which went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1979.
