Personal Info
Known For
Art
Gender
Male
May 21, 1936 (89 years old)
San Leandro, California, USA
Also Known As
- Joseph Alves Jr.
Joe Alves
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.
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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).
Known For
Acting
Crew
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists
Production Design
2000
Fire Down Below
Production Design
1997
Shadow Conspiracy
Production Design
1997
Drop Zone
Production Design
1994
Geronimo: An American Legend
Production Design
1993
Everybody's All-American
Production Design
1988
Starman
Second Unit Director
1984
Jaws 3-D
Director
1983
Escape from New York
Production Design
1981
Jaws 2
Production Design, Second Unit Director
1978
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Production Design
1977
Embryo
Production Design
1976