So the unhappiness he subsequently had with The Deer Hunter was purely a financial one, the deal he signed with us was now disproportionate, in his eyes, and did not reflect the rise his colleagues had enjoyed within the community.
What I do know is that over discussions with his lawyer he felt the role in The Deer Hunter was going to be a starring role and that his fee, the deal he had signed, did not reflect that. I very much doubt that to be the case, it was a stunning script Universal were not in the habit of supporting films with poor scripts. I have heard over the years that the reason given for Scheider not doing the film is that he was unhappy with the script. We, the studio, believed that he wanted to star in The Deer Hunter and as we already had a contract with him it all fit from our perspective. Thom Mount recalled the deal as “allowing Roy to have an opportunity to explore some interesting films he was being offered. One of those would be Jaws 2 (1978), but crucially the deal allowed for two others that were not sequels to Jaws before filming commenced on Jaws 2.
Roy Scheider, hot from the box-office success of Jaws (1975) was originally favoured by Universal, who had signed the star to a multi-picture deal comprising three films. As with any film there are always other names up for consideration, such are the variables of the industry.
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