Translating a major bestseller like The Meg to the screen isn’t always going to be a totally faithful enterprise. Bringing literature to life at the movies sometimes requires a bit of invention to spice things up, for better or for worse. In the case of author Steve Alten and his megalodon-centered franchise, there were some pretty ridiculous choices made in an earlier iteration of what would eventually lead to the 2023 movie release currently in theaters. The most ludicrous of them all, in Alten’s opinion, would have been a roaring mistake.
In honor of the release of Meg 2: The Trench, I was able to speak with the man who created Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) and his world of aquatic terror. While preparing to do so, I knew we had to talk about the long road that Steve and his team had taken to get this vision into theaters.
Quite literally, the effort to make Meg happen has been raging on since the first book hit it big in 1997. Admitting to CinemaBlend that the process was as interesting as you’d have thought, Steve Alten offered the following memory of the most painful change The Meg almost entailed:
I remember all of them, believe me. They’re burned into my brain. … The one where the Meg roared, growled underwater. … That’s the only one I want to mention, the rest are too painful of a memory.
I completely understand that when it comes to something like this tale of prehistoric sea creatures wrecking havoc from an underwater land that time forgot, suspension of disbelief is required. Having said that, I share Mr. Alten’s feelings that allowing a gigantic megalodon to “roar” underwater would have been one of the most ridiculous. In a comparison that'll make sense in a moment, this was a moment that would have put The Meg on par with Jurassic Park III's talking raptor moment.
Surprisingly, that didn’t stop Steve Alten from wanting The Meg to have her day on the big screen. With the project originally kicking off at the defunct Hollywood Pictures in 1997, the next huge iteration of the project would come in the form of New Line Cinema’s 2005 pitch involving Twister director Jan de Bont. It’s uncertain which of these attempts introduced the Meg that growled, but the moment was surely burned into Steve Alten’s brain once it had happened.
One need only look at the landscape of best sci-fi movies, especially its state in 1997, to see how The Meg was an almost instant pickup for cinematic development. If anything, two words that were used to sell the initial publishing sum up just what some studio execs must have seen in this project’s potential: “Jurassic Shark.”
With this initial Alten text arriving on shelves after The Lost World: Jurassic Park became a summer box office hit, gigantic creatures squaring off against humanity was a market that would be mined for several decades to come. The comparisons to Michael Crichton’s literary hit and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of that series wouldn’t end any time soon, as even Meg director Jon Turtletaub endured Jurassic Park comparisons when touting the finished product.
Once 2018’s release of The Meg proved Steve Alten’s universe was a box office hit, it didn’t take as long for the sequel to get its greenlight. Meg 2: The Trench was actively discussed mere months after the franchise starter debuted in theaters, which eventually yielded the current Ben Wheatley-helmed entry. While the wait may have denied Alten the ability to cast the original actor he’d envisioned in the role, it did push the entire enterprise to a point where special effects could truly convey the man’s creation.
More importantly, it killed the idea of letting The Meg’s pivotal beast making any sort of sound underwater. If you want to see what Meg 2: The Trench has hidden beneath its thermocline, you can venture to a theater near you to discover those secrets. Those of you looking for a refresher course in Megalodon 101 before you head out can use your Max subscription at the time of this writing, as that platform is the current streaming home for The Meg.
