A Look at the Expanded Edition of Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel

With 2018 marking the 40th anniversary of Jaws 2, it only seems appropriate that Jaws fans are treated with something special to commemorate this franchise milestone. That special something is the expanded edition of Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel, which was written by Michael A. Smith with Louis R. Pisano and published by BearManor Media. Read on to learn more about the expanded version of this behind-the-scenes book, and why it’s worth the double dip (no pun intended) for those who have the original 2015 edition.

The expanded edition of Making of the Hollywood Sequel includes new interviews and almost 200 new photos, including a few by Edith Blake. (Blake’s name should ring a bell among die-hard Jaws fans: She also wrote Making of the Movie Jaws, one of the earliest books that detailed the production of the first movie.) The expanded edition is available in both softcover and hardcover versions, as well as in color and in black and white. In the color version, all of the pictures are in color, including those from the first edition (except in cases where color originals are not available, such as the storyboard pics). The color version is limited to 1000 copies, and it includes an original Topps Jaws 2 trading card and an autograph from Smith. If you already read the first edition, the new content is easily identifiable so you can just dive right in (pun still not intended) to read the extended material.

I really enjoyed the first edition of this book (you can read my review here), and the expanded content does a fantastic job in providing more insight about the production and history of Jaws 2. It answers a few questions that fans have been asking for decades (such as clarifying rumors about the “Irish” version of Jaws 2), and it sheds more light upon how the cast and crew approached the sequel. Believe it or not, Smith himself used to run the Roy Scheider fan club, which was authorized by Scheider himself; thus, Smith includes snippets of an interview he did with Scheider back in 1980, where the actor discusses how he reprised the role of Amity Police Chief Martin Brody. Scheider maintains that he didn’t want to return to the Jaws franchise, but his comments make it easy to see why his performance is one of the best things about Jaws 2.

Jaws 2 fan art by Federico Alain, the same artist who provided the cover art for

the expanded version of Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel. 

Another insightful interview is with Eddie Surkin, a member of the sequel’s special effects crew who was in charge of the sled sharks and also tasked with the maintenance of the underwater equipment. Even though Jaws fans know how frequently sharks malfunctioned during the production of the movies, Surkin puts into perspective how difficult it was to meet tight production demands while facing unpredictable weather conditions and a mechanical monster that would need repairs while submerged under 30 feet of ocean water. According to Surkin’s anecdotes, one of the biggest threats to the Jaws 2 shark was not an island resort police chief but a drunken tugboat captain (!).

If you’re a Jaws fin-atic like me, then the expanded edition of Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel is absolute must-get, even if you already have the first edition. You can order your copy either directly from author Michael Smith by contacting him here or from BearManor Media. You can also check out an interview with Smith that aired on the Fox affiliate in Kansas City over at YouTube.

The expanded section in the Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel includes background information about sequel’s iconic teaser poster (above) and release poster (below).