How the team behind 'The Meg' set out to build a better giant-shark movie
As a filmmaker, Jon Turteltaub has always prided himself on his versatility, and over the years he has tackled everything from romantic comedies ("While You Were Sleeping") to family films ("The Kid") to action blockbusters ("National Treasure") to a movie about the 1988 Jamaican Olympic bobsled team ("Cool Runnings").
Still, when he was approached in 2016 with the idea of directing "The Meg," a film about a rampaging prehistoric giant shark, Turteltaub wasn't sure he wanted to bite.
"My agent sent me the script and said, 'Read this. Go make it. It's terrific,'" Turteltaub recalled one recent morning. "I said, 'Yeah, but it's just a big shark movie.' He said, 'Yeah, exactly.'"
From a studio's standpoint, a giant-shark movie may seem the ultimate no-brainer: "Jaws" on steroids. But, based on the 1997 Steven Alten bestseller "Meg: A
