Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Joseph Alves Jr.

Gender: Male

Place of birth: San Leandro, California, USA

Homepage: http://www.joealvesmovieart.com/

Movie Involvements: 28

TV Involvements: 0


Most Famous Work

Biography

Joe Alves (born 21 May 1936, San Leandro, California) is an American film production designer, perhaps best known for his work on three of the Jaws films. He directed Jaws 3-D. Alves has designed three features for Steven Spielberg, firstly for The Sugarland Express. He designed the three mechanical sharks for the movie Jaws (1975) with mechanical effects man Bob Mattey supervising their physical construction in Sun Valley CA. After the sharks were completed, they were trucked to the shooting location, but unfortunately they had not been tested in water causing a series of delays that have become quite legendary over time. He was nominated for the Academy Award and won the BAFTA for Best Art Direction for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Alves worked on Jaws 2 (1978) in the capacity of both production designer and as second unit director. After John D. Hancock, the initial director of Jaws 2, was sacked, it was suggested that Alves co-direct it with Verna Fields (who edited the original Jaws). Jeannot Szwarc was hired, however, to complete the film. The model of New York he created for John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) has been described as "memorably derelict", and he was visual consultant on Carpenter's Starman (1984).

Most Famous Work

Jaws
Average
8

Jaws

(1975) Production Design
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Average
7

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

(1977) Production Design
Jaws 2
Average
6

Jaws 2

(1978) Production Design
Jaws 3-D
Average
4

Jaws 3-D

(1983) Director
Escape from New York
Average
7

Escape from New York

(1981) Production Design
Fire Down Below
Average
6

Fire Down Below

(1997) Production Design
Drop Zone
Average
6

Drop Zone

(1994) Production Design
Starman
Average
7

Starman

(1984) Second Unit Director

Acting

Art

Directing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1984 Second Unit Director
1983 Director
Year Role Movie/Tv

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