“You’ll never go in the water again” — or will you? Television producer Mike Fleiss admits he has a penchant for thrillers — and his favorite spine-tingler of all time is Jaws. In fact, Fleiss thinks it was so fin-tastic, that he recalls seeing it thrice the first day it hit theaters on June 20, 1975.
“I’m always on boats, and I swim in the ocean seeing sharks. That movie sent me on a path,” Fleiss shares. “As a kid, I remember seeing it three times the first day it came out. I had a broken arm. It was in the summer and I couldn’t go to the beach. I had read the book at that point, and I was waiting for the movie to come out.”
Once the movie debuted, Fleiss says his mother dropped him off at the cineplex at 11 in the morning — he stayed until 6 p.m.
Jaws, directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg, is an iconic thriller that took the world by storm. Set against the picturesque backdrop of Amity Island, this cinematic masterpiece plunges audiences into a gripping tale of fear, suspense, and the indomitable power of nature. Spielberg skillfully builds tension through the film’s ominous score and groundbreaking cinematography. Police Chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, finds himself thrust into a harrowing battle against an unseen adversary lurking beneath the waves.
Mike Fleiss, who is an avid fisherman, says he still cherishes watching it to this day.
“It was incredible,” Fleiss exclaims. “We’ll be watching it on the boat. We watch it on the boat, play it on the boat, and it’s just the greatest movie.”
Fleiss is no stranger to seeing beasts in the ocean waters.
“[I’ve seen sharks] many, many, many times,” he adds. “I’ve swam with a shark, I’ve seen a shark. I’ve never been bit. I’m not afraid of sharks. I’m more afraid of cats.”
Although some feel Jaws jumped the shark with multiple sequels, Mike Fleiss has a soft spot in his heart for every Jaws film made, including Jaws 2, Jaws 3-D, and Jaws: The Revenge.
“I love them all,” he confesses.
“Even Jaws: The Revenge, the low point of Michael Caine’s pristine career. He just retired so I’m safe to say that was probably the low point of his career. I love them all, and I watched them all. The third one is the 3D and it doesn’t look good, but you can still leave it on in the background.”
The Hollywood filmmaker says it inspired him to try his hand at a 3D flick, too.
“Because of that, we made our own bad 3D shark movie, Shark Night 3D, because we wanted to make another 3D shark movie, so we did that. That movie looks better. I would say it might even be better than all three.”