Interesting Facts & Useless Trivia: Jaws
Tonight’s feature, Jaws, was released on June 20th, 1975 & is based on the Peter Benchley book of the same name. While Jaws is synonymous with movie terror, it almost had an entirely different name as Benchley submitted more than 200 titles to editors including, “The Stillness of the Water”, “Silence of the Deep” & “Jaws of Death.” Benchley based the book on actual events, including shark attacks off the Jersey coast in 1916 & the killing of a 4,500 pound shark off Mauntauk in 1964.
Producers David Brown & Richard Zanuck chose Steven Spielberg to direct the film based on his debut feature Duel, which was made for TV & featured a psychotic truck driver out for revenge. Spielberg initially turned down the project because he didn’t want to be known as a “trucks & shark” director. He eventually signed on & was given a $3.5M budget & a 65 day shooting schedule, beginning in early May of 1974. A Christmas season release was planned.
Casting the film proved difficult after Timothy Bottoms, Jon Voight & Jeff Bridges all turned down the role of Hooper that eventually went to Richard Dreyfuss. George Lucas actually suggested Dreyfuss to Spielberg after directing him in American Graffiti (’73). Roy Sheider, who plays Brody, begged Spielberg for the part after hearing the director outline a scene at a Hollywood party of the shark jumping on the boat. Quint was originally offered to Lee Marvin & Sterling Hayden before the producers suggested British actor Robert Shaw, who had starred for them as Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (’73). Shaw based his performance on real life Cape Cod fisherman Craig Kingsbury, who actually has a cameo as disgruntled fisherman Ben Gardner in the finished film. Several stories Kingsbury told Shaw actual made it into the film as improvisations by Shaw. Quint’s speech about the Indianapolis was not in the book & was written as a 3-page monologue, then edited down by Shaw the day of shooting. He requested a couple of drinks before shooting, but became so inebriated he had to be carried from the set & shooting rescheduled. Charleton Heston wanted the part of Quint, but he was not offered it & forever refused to work with Spielberg.
Spielberg chose Martha’s Vineyard to create the fictional town of Amity primarily because the Ocean depth of 12 feet extends nearly 12 miles off-shore, which provided the crew the ability to “rest” the shark apparatus on the bottom between takes. The location did produce issues, however, because local ordinances restricted the construction of any sets, so the only set allowed was Quint’s hut & that was built on a vacant lot, was deconstructed right after filming completed & the site was required to be returned to it’s exact state, including the replacement of garbage & debris that was on the lot. Similarly, the Amity billboard was erected in the morning, filmed, then torn down before sunset of the same day.
I mentioned the shark apparatus a moment ago. There were no live sharks used in the first unit shooting of Jaws. All the images of sharks shot by Spielberg are from 1 of 3 25 foot replicas, one for left side shots, one for right & 1 for head on. The apparatus weighed 1.2 tons, cost more than $250k to construct, but was constantly breaking down, which accounts for no actual shot of the shark until 1 hour & 22 minutes into the film. Does anyone know the name of the shark? It’s Bruce & was named after Spielberg’s lawyer. “Bruce” caused production delays, which stretched the aforementioned 65 day shoot to 159 days & the budget to balloon to $8 million, still a bargin. The ballooning shooting schedule led to shortcuts & cost savings, most notably the size of Quint’s boat, the Orca. The most famous line from Jaws, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”, was actually a running joke on the set for anything that went wrong, including the Orca itself one day sinking with equipment & shot film on board. Scheider actually improvised the line, changing it from the joke “We need a bigger boat” to the now more famous version & Spielberg liked it so much he kept it in the film from it’s only take. Ask me afterwards about the original ending, one that more closely resembles the book’s conclusion, because had Spielberg kept it we might not be talking about the film today.
In post-production Spielberg turned to John Williams to score the film, but he was very disappointed by the simple E & F theme & asked Williams to change it. Thankfully, Williams prevailed, an iconic theme was saved, he won the Oscar for the score & the 2 have worked together on nearly every Spielberg film since.
The extended shooting schedule precluded a Christmas release, so the film was bumped to Summertime, the normal season when studios historically dumped second rate product into the market. In a gambit that would change movie history, the producers were able to secure more than 400 screens for the opening, the first film to ever open so wide. The risk paid off & Jaws was a smash hit, the first film to gross more than $100 million & was the highest grossing film ever, until a little film set in a galaxy far, far away broke the record 2 years later. The film that is widely credited with being the first Summer blockbuster, here is Jaws!
Nuggets
-2nd unit shot the exploding shark conclusion. Spielberg was already in LA editing.
-Real sharks, shot in Australia, included putting a little person in the cage to make the sharks appear bigger. A Shark accidently got tangled in the cage & was used in the final cut
-Original ending had shark dying of Harpoon injuries, a la Moby Dick, but Spielberg wanted a crowd pleasing ending & changed it, upsetting Benchley so much that he was removed from the set.
-A scene of Quint creating a ruckus at a screening of Moby Dick had to removed from the film because Gregory Peck, the owner of the rights to the film, refused to let producers use it.
-Fidel Castro was a big fan of the film, likening the shark attacks as symbols of attacks on American Capitalism.
-Shaw was so concerned with US taxes that on off days he flew to Canada or Bermuda to avoid days in the US. He eventually forfeited his entire salary to pay back taxes.
-Book subplots that were dropped from screen version: Hooper affair with Mrs. Brody & Mayor Vaughn under pressure from the mafia to keep beaches open, not local businessmen.
-Film originally rated “R”, but a few frames of severed leg were removed to receive PG rating, although posters still contain “May Be Too Intense for Younger Children.”
Tonight’s feature, Jaws, was released on June 20th, 1975 & is based on the Peter Benchley book of the same name. While Jaws is synonymous with movie terror, it almost had an entirely different name as Benchley submitted more than 200 titles to editors including, “The Stillness of the Water”, “Silence of the Deep” & “Jaws of Death.” Benchley based the book on actual events, including shark attacks off the Jersey coast in 1916 & the killing of a 4,500 pound shark off Mauntauk in 1964.
Producers David Brown & Richard Zanuck chose Steven Spielberg to direct the film based on his debut feature Duel, which was made for TV & featured a psychotic truck driver out for revenge. Spielberg initially turned down the project because he didn’t want to be known as a “trucks & shark” director. He eventually signed on & was given a $3.5M budget & a 65 day shooting schedule, beginning in early May of 1974. A Christmas season release was planned.
Casting the film proved difficult after Timothy Bottoms, Jon Voight & Jeff Bridges all turned down the role of Hooper that eventually went to Richard Dreyfuss. George Lucas actually suggested Dreyfuss to Spielberg after directing him in American Graffiti (’73). Roy Sheider, who plays Brody, begged Spielberg for the part after hearing the director outline a scene at a Hollywood party of the shark jumping on the boat. Quint was originally offered to Lee Marvin & Sterling Hayden before the producers suggested British actor Robert Shaw, who had starred for them as Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (’73). Shaw based his performance on real life Cape Cod fisherman Craig Kingsbury, who actually has a cameo as disgruntled fisherman Ben Gardner in the finished film. Several stories Kingsbury told Shaw actual made it into the film as improvisations by Shaw. Quint’s speech about the Indianapolis was not in the book & was written as a 3-page monologue, then edited down by Shaw the day of shooting. He requested a couple of drinks before shooting, but became so inebriated he had to be carried from the set & shooting rescheduled. Charleton Heston wanted the part of Quint, but he was not offered it & forever refused to work with Spielberg.
Spielberg chose Martha’s Vineyard to create the fictional town of Amity primarily because the Ocean depth of 12 feet extends nearly 12 miles off-shore, which provided the crew the ability to “rest” the shark apparatus on the bottom between takes. The location did produce issues, however, because local ordinances restricted the construction of any sets, so the only set allowed was Quint’s hut & that was built on a vacant lot, was deconstructed right after filming completed & the site was required to be returned to it’s exact state, including the replacement of garbage & debris that was on the lot. Similarly, the Amity billboard was erected in the morning, filmed, then torn down before sunset of the same day.
I mentioned the shark apparatus a moment ago. There were no live sharks used in the first unit shooting of Jaws. All the images of sharks shot by Spielberg are from 1 of 3 25 foot replicas, one for left side shots, one for right & 1 for head on. The apparatus weighed 1.2 tons, cost more than $250k to construct, but was constantly breaking down, which accounts for no actual shot of the shark until 1 hour & 22 minutes into the film. Does anyone know the name of the shark? It’s Bruce & was named after Spielberg’s lawyer. “Bruce” caused production delays, which stretched the aforementioned 65 day shoot to 159 days & the budget to balloon to $8 million, still a bargin. The ballooning shooting schedule led to shortcuts & cost savings, most notably the size of Quint’s boat, the Orca. The most famous line from Jaws, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”, was actually a running joke on the set for anything that went wrong, including the Orca itself one day sinking with equipment & shot film on board. Scheider actually improvised the line, changing it from the joke “We need a bigger boat” to the now more famous version & Spielberg liked it so much he kept it in the film from it’s only take. Ask me afterwards about the original ending, one that more closely resembles the book’s conclusion, because had Spielberg kept it we might not be talking about the film today.
In post-production Spielberg turned to John Williams to score the film, but he was very disappointed by the simple E & F theme & asked Williams to change it. Thankfully, Williams prevailed, an iconic theme was saved, he won the Oscar for the score & the 2 have worked together on nearly every Spielberg film since.
The extended shooting schedule precluded a Christmas release, so the film was bumped to Summertime, the normal season when studios historically dumped second rate product into the market. In a gambit that would change movie history, the producers were able to secure more than 400 screens for the opening, the first film to ever open so wide. The risk paid off & Jaws was a smash hit, the first film to gross more than $100 million & was the highest grossing film ever, until a little film set in a galaxy far, far away broke the record 2 years later. The film that is widely credited with being the first Summer blockbuster, here is Jaws!
Nuggets
-2nd unit shot the exploding shark conclusion. Spielberg was already in LA editing.
-Real sharks, shot in Australia, included putting a little person in the cage to make the sharks appear bigger. A Shark accidently got tangled in the cage & was used in the final cut
-Original ending had shark dying of Harpoon injuries, a la Moby Dick, but Spielberg wanted a crowd pleasing ending & changed it, upsetting Benchley so much that he was removed from the set.
-A scene of Quint creating a ruckus at a screening of Moby Dick had to removed from the film because Gregory Peck, the owner of the rights to the film, refused to let producers use it.
-Fidel Castro was a big fan of the film, likening the shark attacks as symbols of attacks on American Capitalism.
-Shaw was so concerned with US taxes that on off days he flew to Canada or Bermuda to avoid days in the US. He eventually forfeited his entire salary to pay back taxes.
-Book subplots that were dropped from screen version: Hooper affair with Mrs. Brody & Mayor Vaughn under pressure from the mafia to keep beaches open, not local businessmen.
-Film originally rated “R”, but a few frames of severed leg were removed to receive PG rating, although posters still contain “May Be Too Intense for Younger Children.”
