Well I’ll be a monkeys uncle. Did you know that the shark in Jaws had a name? It did, this is despite it not even being a real animal. I mean, just think about it for a minute. Who goes around naming puppets, apart from very young children? So I guess you are wondering what the sharks name is, and possibly why it was named that.
So it looks like Steven Spielberg couldn’t have chosen a less terrifying name for a creature designed to instill sheer terror. Bruce, like really? The man eating shark in Jaws was named Bruce. That’s not a name that you give a something that kills in a lustful manor. That’s a name you give a gay hairstylist, or drag queen. Even Disney knew this when they named their vegetarian shark in Finding Nemo Bruce, but we’ll talk a little more about later.
So why did they name the shark in Jaws Bruce? Well, the mechanical beast, of which there were actually three mechanical sharks for the film, was named after Stephen Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer. How fitting, right? I’m not sure for the exact reason that he named the killing machine after his lawyer, but you can use your own imagination on this one.
Sadly Bruce is no more. Because the movie went dramatically over budget, and the success of the movie can never be guaranteed, all three working Bruce’s were sent to the scrap heap shortly after the movie was made. There was simply no money left over from the production to try and preserve at least one working specimen. But there is some good news to the end of this story. An avid Jaws fan, and a journalist as well stumbled across a rotting fourth Bruce rotting away in a junk yard. He has since recovered and restored it.
Now to the Bruce in Finding Nemo. As we know, the vegetarian Bruce in Finding Nemo was called Bruce. He was actually given this name as homage to the Jaws Bruce, but he was clearly less intimidating.
SOURCES
- Hunting Bruce, Or, On The Trail Of The ‘Jaws’ Shark
- What did ‘Jaws’ crew name the mechanical shark?
- Jaws
