Movie Scoop: Anyone who has seen "Jaws" remembers the tension that was built in that film. Not only from the shark that caused havoc in the town of Amity, but by Quint, the fisherman played by Robert Shaw, who tells Brody and Hooper the truly frightening story of the USS Indianapolis in one of the only quiet moments of the last half of the film. The story goes that the ship was struck by Japanese torpedoes on July 30th, 1945 and was sunk in 12 minutes. Almost 900 men were left floating in the water dying of thirst, hypothermia, and shark attacks. Of the 1,200 men that were sent on that ship, only 316 came back alive.
Now Hollywood is looking to bring that monologue to the screen. However, it is being done with a twist: the film is going to be about an 11 year old boy named Hunter Scott. After watching "Jaws" for the first time in the mid 1990s and being captivated by Shaw's monologue, he decided to research it and found out that the ship's captain, Charles McVay, had been convicted of "hazarding his ship by failing to zig-zag." After speaking to survivors who said his conviction was unwarranted, Scott went in front of Congress and 2001, 23 years after McVay commited suicide, his name was cleared.
Robert Schenkkan, who wrote for the HBO series "The Pacific," is writing the script based on a story idea from Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan. Their production company, Team Downey, will produce. I am very surprised this story has taken so long for Hollywood to jump on. The monologue that Shaw gives is frightening, and I think it could be great to see this unique perspective of it. If, of course, Hollywood doesn't slap on the cheese and turn it into "Titanic."
Note: JJ abrams actually tried to do a movie based on the USS Indianapolis for Universal back in 2000, but it never got off the ground
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