Jaws 3D par Romain Néophyte

« Romain, j’ai adoré l’article consacré aux deux jeunes figurants de Jaws 3D! Et depuis, je rêve d’obtenir des informations sur la belle blonde qu’on voit de dos en tenue de guide au début du film! » Vos prières ont été exaucées! Grâce à l’aide de mon ami Greg May, je vous offre une interview exclusive de Julie Brown qui, en dépit d’un temps de présence à l’écran plutôt court, a de nombreuses anecdotes à partager avec les fans purs et durs de ce troisième volet!

« I was 22 years old and living in Orlando Florida when I saw an ad in the Orlando Sentinel for speaking parts in a movie being filmed at Sea World.  I remember it was the month of October, 1982.  The day I arrived on the set inside the Sea World Park, the weather was perfect.  It was sunny and in the mid 80’s.  There were only a few hundred people visiting the park that day.  It was early morning and I had been told to wear shorts and to dress like a tourist for two scenes, and clubbing clothes for one scene filmed at the Village Bar off Kirkland Road.  They paid me 75.00 for my time, and fed me a lunch from a tent set up to serve food to the extras, cast and crew.When I arrived, I was  informed that all the speaking parts had been filled.  I was wearing shorts with a red and white striped top and am 5″11 with long blonde hair and weighed 115 lbs.« .

« Out of the three scenes that I shot, one made it to the final cut and onto the big screen. It was a scene in where a group of trainees were gathered around a pirate ship and we were being told what to do for opening day. I remember the girl they chose, a local for the speaking part in the scene, was not very good at her lines. I was sure that they would cut the part of her instructing us, and they did. I am standing in my shorts and red/white striped top and can be seen for a few seconds in the movie. »

Il se pourrait que Julie apparaisse dans cette tenue lors d’un autre plan pendant la conférence de presse: « It seems familiar, but I can’t be sure.  A lot of the scenes required a lot of takes and changing people positions, so it is hard to remember.  Lou Gossett might have been there that day.  It was 30 years ago and I was in a lot of scenes, I vaguely remember some of those scenes« . Mais notre jeune figurante laisse volontairement planer le doute: « I think it is the girl in the leaking shark tunnel scene in this shot (P.T Horn), she had blondish hair and had bangs and was not as tall as me and is wearing the same outfit.  It could be me or her, although I don’t see any bangs and she had bangs.  I don’t remember her being in the « welcome to Seaworld » repeat scene« . Un simple visionnage du DVD Pal met à mal la théorie P.T Horn (ici)… Frange,taille et poitrine… Mon oeil expert a parlé: c’est bel et bien Julie Brown.

« I also watched the filming of several other scenes.  The first scene was of two beautiful mermaids set on each side of the sidewalk sitting on fake columns greeting you as you walked into the park.  They were just stunning in their mermaid outfits with hair down to their waists! I remember them fanning themselves to keep from sweating off their makeup.  They sat there all morning!!! » Des sirènes qui feront l’objet (si tout va bien) d’un prochain article. Entre les prises, la jolie blonde d’Orlando a aussi eu la chance d’assister aux préparatifs de la scène Marion Cotillard-style de Baby Bruce: « It was now lunch time and we were fed food catered from a local company from a tent set up for the cast, crew and extras.  I was then asked to hang around in case I was needed for other scenes, so I wondered over to the tank to watch them try to get the baby shark to work for the scene where it died.  The running joke on set was that the baby died a hundred deaths! »

« The second scene that I was in was my favorite. I had never been in a movie before so I did not know that they were shot out of sequence. I had just had a run in with a park employee while walking on the long winding sidewalk to my next scene.  As I walked down a long narrow sidewalk that loops through the park, a four wheeler came careening around the corner going at top speed with a handsome man wearing a park uniform at the wheel. He slammed on the brakes just inches away from running me over and squashing me like bug. He said he was sorry, but in my shock and anger, I told him he was an ass for driving like that in a park full of people, and that I was going to report his careless driving to park management. He just flashed his big baby blues and brilliant smile at me, as he drove off laughing.  When I arrived at the second scene still shaken from my encounter with the park employee, I saw this gorgeous man running in place for about three minutes and being lightly misted in the face and neck with a spray bottle of water; to give him the appearance of having run a great distance.   Imagine my chagrin as I felt myself glow bright red all over when I realized that Dennis Quaid was the employee that I had just told off, and who turned out to be the star of the movie.  I still laugh about telling Dennis Quaid what an ass he was. I am sure that I was not the first, nor would I be the last person to tell him that, but at least most had the advantage of knowing him« .

  « I  was embarrassed, but also secretly amused.  I kept waiting for Dennis to point me out and have me thrown out of the park, but he just looked at me and smiled.  I became a smitten fan right then and there.  Dennis was quite the professional actor.  He never missed a line and had perfect delivery every time.  Each scene would take one to two hours to film as the director Joe Alves, would stop time and time again, to adjust the lighting and camera angle as well as the position of the actors and extras.  In this scene, I was one of about ten people who’s job was to just walk past Dennis in the background.  It was really cool to watch this scene being filmed, seeing Dennis running in place long enough  that he would be out of breath when speaking his lines, and being sprayed with water to look sweaty from running across the park, when he had only moments before just arrived on a four wheeler. »

« We were asked not to take pictures so I do not have any from those two days. I did see Lea Thompson, who was an unknown and Bess Armstrong.  Lea went on to make many movies and become a big star.  When I saw the movie in the theater,  I was shocked at how toned down Dennis Quaid looked on screen.  The camera could not capture how handsome he really looked in real life, the same went for Lea. The final scene that I was in was at the Village bar off Kirkman Road, in Orlando.  I wore a black satin skirt and purple top with a white collar, and again, Dennis Quaid looked at me from across the parking lot and this time; pointed me out to his co-stars.  We also filmed a scene inside the bar, but I did not see myself in any of these scenes in the movie.  All in all I had a blast, and will always consider it my best, although lowest paying job ever! »

Merci à Julie Brown pour ses confidences, à Greg May pour son aide et à la Jaws 3D community pour rendre tout cela possible!