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VERNA FIELDS TRIBUTE
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| Verna Fields won an Oscar for editing JAWS.
She was a real pioneer in helping women break the glass ceiling in Hollywood.
I've met a couple of women who hold her in high regard including one who
was a good friend and would visit with her and often talk about the Ben
Gardner head- popping scene which was filmed in her swimming pool shown
in the picture above. Director Steven Spielberg wasn't happy with the original shot and wanted one more scare in the movie. Universal didn't want him to mess around with what they felt worked just fine. So he decided to finance the new shot himself and secretly had the prop department at Universal build him a section of the hull of Gardner's boat. He snuck Ben's head out of the department and went to Verna Fields' house in the suburbs. Spielberg then had pieces of aluminum foil dumped in the pool to create silty-like particles and added carnation milk for a cloudy, milky appearance. He covered the pool with a tarp and reshot the scene timing Ben's head to appear at the perfect time to scare the shit out of all of us. It worked. The pool room at the back of the photo had been converted to an editing room and that is where Verna Fields cut JAWS! |
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| Another interesting tidbit about Verna Fields shared to me by one of her friends was that during the days of JAWS Verna had adjoining offices with Spielberg in a 3 office suite at Universal. Later on, Sylvester Stallone hit it big with Rocky and moved into the other office flanking Verna with two big heavyweights! |
JAWS is © UNIVERSAL
