THE MEG
YOU'RE GONNA NEED A MUCH BIGGER BOAT... AS THE MEG DIRECTOR JON TURTELTAUB TELLS RICHARD EDWARDS
Jason Statham? Geezer. Top geezer. Right tasty with his fists. Giant prehistoric shark? Fish fingers, mate.
“IF I’M LUCKY, I’VE MADE THE SECOND BEST SHARK MOVIE OF ALL TIME!”
LAUGHS The Meg director Jon turteltaub. in case you’re wondering, number one in the list is not Sharknado. Because whether it’s Deep Blue Sea, Open Water or, er, Shark Tale, anyone even contemplating unleashing an underwater killing machine has hollywood’s ultimate apex predator to contend with. You know the one – you can tell it’s coming from its fin breaking above the waves, it’s been known to go by the name of Bruce, and its arrival is usually accompanied by the sound of some ominous cello notes.
Yes, steven spielberg’s Jaws is such a flawless behemoth of cinema – “i got into the movie business with a passion because i saw Jaws when i was 11,” turteltaub admits – that it’s remarkable any other filmmaker would even contemplate going back into the water. think about it: every artistic decision you make is likely to be either seen as an imitation of what spielberg did – or the wrong choice.
“technically, Jaws is a big help,” says turteltaub, “because you can watch it and see what works and what doesn’t work. What is so great about it is that you can steal a few things on a technical and cinematic level.
“it’s a bigger hindrance if you’re the composer!” he continues. “That’s a no-win job. Probably the single worst composer job ever is to do a shark movie that isn’t Jaws. But our lovely composer, harry gregson-Williams, did a brilliant job anyway, and he probably got paid more than John Williams did for writing the Jaws score. so there’s that!”
SIZE MATTERS
The fish that terrorised amity island in Jaws may have been a monster in the pantheon of great white sharks, but next to the antagonist of The Meg it’s a mere tiddler. this guy’s a megalodon, a prehistoric, super-sized relative of modern sharks who some scientists believe may still survive somewhere in the remotest depths of the ocean. in the movie – based on steve alten’s 1997 book Meg: A Novel Of Deep Terror – it’s rediscovered swimming off the china coast, and it’s hungry. Very hungry.
“When people compare The Meg to Jaws, i say it’s more like King Kong,” says turteltaub. “We’re dealing with prehistoric creatures that have survived across time and are larger than they’re supposed to be. But the advantage King Kong has is that it has a very sweet face when it needs to. sharks look just as horrible when they’re angry as when they’re cuddly.”
Everybody’s familiar with the cold, lifeless eyes and brutally efficient elegance of a shark, but turning them into a monster of epic proportions isn’t quite as simple as looking at a great white through a magnifying glass.
“i want to keep audiences excited, but i also want to make scientists happy,” explains turteltaub. “so the goal is to make something real – we wanted to stay within the parameters of what scientists think – but imaginative at the same time. the easy way would be to have made the Meg a super-giant great white shark, which some scientists think the megalodon may have been – but most don’t. My problem with that was i thought it’d look really cheesy and cheap. i wanted the Meg to have its own character and be its own species. there’s also a point where things just get stupid-big. if a person is about the size of a tooth, there’s no point in a megaladon eating you. You need to stay nutritious!”
that’s kind of the point, because however massive your fishy star is, they’re a tad anaemic as a threat if they don’t have a taste for humans – who wants to watch a movie about a pumped-up whale shark amiably drifting through the ocean munching on krill? however, the Meg may have met more than it can swallow in Jonas taylor, a deep-sea diver turned palaeontologist who’s had a close megalodon encounter before – and comes in the ’ard-as-nails form of Jason statham.
There’s no point in the Meg eating you if you’re small – you need to stay nutritious!
“The first thing i consider when reading a script is whether i can do justice to the role,” says statham. “The Meg played to my fascination with the underwater world and to my love of scuba diving. so, it was very appealing to me – and a nice change of pace. it’s probably the first movie i’ve done in a while where i’m not running around with a gun!”
“there’s a reason we look for stars like Jason,” adds turteltaub. “it’s a subtle thing: when Jason statham’s on screen, you feel safe. there’s a little part of you that feels like someone’s going to take care of the problem. Jason walks in and everyone feels like, ‘We’re all in good hands now, something good is going to happen.’ that’s the real sign of a movie star.”
While the stath is probably as safe as it’s possible for any human being to be when it comes to facing off against giant sea beasts – let’s face it, the guy’s practically immortal – a supporting cast including Orange Is The New Black’s ruby rose, Star Trek: Discovery’s rainn Wilson, Transformers: Age Of extinction’s li Bingbing and Fear The Walking Dead’s cliff curtis must have spent the entire shoot looking over their shoulders for angry fish.
“It’s funny, when actors get the job on the movie, they’re excited that they get a really cool death scene and they only have to work three weeks,” turteltaub laughs. “then they start worrying that the movie’s good, and they won’t be able to do the sequel. it’s a very complicated situation, dying in a movie these days – with all these sequels, no one wants to die any more!”
MASSIVE ATTACK
Judging by the trailer, which features someone gamely trying to escape from the Meg by Zorbing, it’s clear the filmmakers were looking for more innovative ways to turn people into fish food than the old “swimmer gets a nibble on the toes” cliché.
“i did a short-lived murder mystery tV series called harper’s Island a few years ago,” turteltaub recalls. “the most fun we had was thinking of ways of killing people, and it’s the same with this. it became this little game – we had to think of clever ways we could destroy somebody. the problem is, to keep the movie at a rating where younger people can see it, we did have to limit our imagination a little bit. We had heads rolling around and feet appearing in strange places – we had to cut that out. But there’s still some good dying going on!” rest assured that the shark in the movie is
not real – beyond a full-scale wire-framed front half used for reference in certain conditions, it’s an entirely cg creation. Yet despite all the horror stories about shooting on water that have emerged from Cutthroat Island, Titanic,
Waterworld and pretty much every other movie to have filmed on the open sea, turteltaub was determined to set sail for real.
“Visual effects can give you any image, but they can’t give you the feeling of being at sea when you’re shooting,” he says. “there’s something to being in the real elements that ups everybody’s performance, and makes you behave in a better, more realistic manner.
“But no question it’s a pain in the neck,” the director admits. “Movie sets are all about having control and there’s very little of that when you’re out on the ocean. But the appeal to me is two things. one, it’s exciting and it’s a great way to get up in the morning knowing you’re about to go out on a ship and have an adventure. the other side of it is it’s very hard for producers and studio executives to bug me and ask me questions about the film when i’m 100 metres away on a boat. it’s even better when i’m in scuba gear going under the water – that’s when you really get left alone!”
The Meg is in cinemas from 10 August.