“We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” that’s a classic line from the movie “Jaws.” That boat, the Orca Two, went down in the movie. A true hero. Now, exactly 50 years later, the boat, like everything in Hollywood, is getting a sequel. Deco’s shark bait editor Alex Miranda is here with more.
At Universal Studios you can ride the movies, and you may remember that Jaws ride closed in 2012, but one Florida boat builder loved the movie so much, he recreated every inch of it and now, you can step back inside The Orca.
Jaws isn’t just Michael Sterling’s favorite movie…
Michael Sterling: “I saw it in 1975, I was 7 years old.”
Building a jaw dropping replica of its iconic boat…
Michael Sterling: “I’ve handcrafted this from scratch, pausing the movie and taking a screenshot.”
Became the marine carpenter’s father-son passion project.
Michael Sterling: “Most important part is working on it with me son. He’s 13 now and it doesn’t feel like nine years, but time flies when you’re having fun. He grabs the baseball bat and he comes in and smashes the radio. And then you’ve got chief over here, ‘You certifiable Quint!'”
Michael Sterling: “Yeah. Hooper, say ‘Oh boys, I think he’s back for his noonday feeding.'”
Michael Sterling: “Let’s just say me wife tells us we have to be quiet once in a while.”
And you can see it for yourself, 50 years after Hollywood’s first modern blockbuster took a bite out of theaters at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
Michael Sterling: “It’s there to see for the public for free. The fighting chair. You hear this when the boat’s sinking towards the end, you hear the bell clanging.”
Michael Sterling: “This is the original radio, the same as the one. The exact stove, same lamp. One of my favorite items, Quint’s machete. The lamp that falls down and sets on fire, and he says ‘Put that out, Chiefy.’ This is the Grenier Harpoon Gun.”
Michael Sterling: “This was actually one of the backup guns that was never got used on the movie.”
Michael Sterling: “We don’t do any of that anymore, we’re into shark preservation now. This is basically just a movie prop. Richard Dreyfuss was on the boat for the first time in 50 years and he sat on there and he sang ‘show me the way to go home.’ I was speechless.”
Catch The Orca at Pier 66, October 29 through November 2.
Michael Sterling: “I’ve been blown away because literally people sitting, crying on the dock and thanking me because they never thought they’d get to see it.”
Again, it is free to the public. You don’t need a ticket to the Boat Show to see it.
But based on the crowds he saw when he brought that baby up to Martha’s Vineyard, it draws a big crowd.
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