As cinephiles celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Jaws” this summer, Universal honored the film’s iconic director, Steven Spielberg, by unveiling their backlot’s new theater named in his honor.
NBCUniversal chairman Donna Langley presided over the ceremony, which was also attended by Seth Rogen, John Travolta, Dakota Fanning, Ke Huy Quan, and Ben Mankiewicz, among others.
“It is such an honor to have Steven as the namesake of this theater, and our hope and dream is that it’s not just the place that is founded on his extraordinary legacy, but it is the place of future hopes and dreams of filmmakers and storytellers who are going to take this company into the next 100 years,” Langley said.
Spielberg’s career is deeply entwined with Universal, going back to his teenage years. At the ceremony, Spielberg recounted how he would sneak off the tour buses going around the lot and hide in the bathroom until it left. He would then wander around the famed movie sets with a mixture of wonder and a gnawing fear of being caught.
“I was never cited for misdemeanor trespassing, but that’s exactly what I was doing for three months that summer,” he told TheWrap. “My biggest fear was getting thrown out by a security guard and, even worse, being arrested for trespassing.”
Not only was Spielberg never caught, but the Universal lot became his first home in Hollywood when then studio president Sidney Sheinberg signed him to his first contract. Through that contract, Universal’s television division released Spielberg’s directorial debut film, the 1971 thriller “Duel.” Starring Dennis Weaver and airing on ABC, “Duel” follows a traveling salesman who finds himself attacked by a mysterious semi-truck.
Three years later, Spielberg released his theatrical debut, “The Sugarland Express,” with Universal, before breaking through with “Jaws” in 1975. Regarded as the first modern blockbuster, “Jaws” launched Spielberg into a career that included hits at Universal like “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park” as well as one of the most acclaimed Oscar winners of all time, “Schindler’s List.”
But while “Jaws” transformed both Spielberg’s life and the landscape of cinema forever, it also left scars on the filmmaker. The stress of directing such a complex film with loads of special effects, stunts, and a final battle at sea left Spielberg with anxiety and trauma.
“I would wake up in a sweat at three in the morning ten years later because I thought I was still making the movie,” Spielberg said.
So like in his teenage years, in 1984 Spielberg turned to the Universal lot to detox. Thanks to the wild success of “Jaws,” Universal had placed the Orca, the famed boat where Martin Brody, Matt Hooper, and the misanthropic sea captain Quint go hunting for the deadly shark, in the middle of Falls Lake, a man-made lake that for decades was used for ocean scenes like “Psycho,” “Apollo 13,” and “Bruce Almighty.”
This time, Spielberg wasn’t dodging security guards. He was dodging the trams that drove by Falls Lake for the Universal Studios tour. But in between those trams, he snuck out to the Orca and sat inside, quietly confronting the tough side of making one of the greatest movies of all time.
“I would sit there in the corner booth where Quint gives his Indianapolis speech, and I would just deal with what I couldn’t deal with at home or at the office. I could just let all the bad memories fly through me. It was such a meaningful thing that the studio did for me. Being in that environment was my therapy,” he said.
“Jaws” will be the focus of an upcoming exhibit at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles this fall, featuring never before seen artifacts from the film. The exhibit will feature storyboards, props, sheet music, script pages, and costumes from every scene of the film and will be the largest exhibit the Academy Museum has dedicated to a single film to date.
Spielberg’s next film, an untitled sci-fi film starring Emily Blunt, is set to be released in June 2026.
The post As Universal Unveils His New Theater, Steven Spielberg Reflects on How the Studio ‘Was My Therapy’ a Decade After ‘Jaws’ appeared first on TheWrap.