45 Mindblowing Facts About Jaws
It should have been a waterlogged disaster.
The shoot ran too long and over budget, the script was still being written as scenes were filmed, the young director woke up every day fearing he would get fired, and the mechanical shark built for the movie sank to the bottom of the ocean.
And yet, 45 years ago this summer, people lined up around the block and around the world to get scared silly by "Jaws," widely seen as the first summer blockbuster.
Here are 45 amazing facts about Steven Spielberg’s shark thriller you really need to know!
Steven Spielberg was not the first director Jaws was assigned to, that was Dick Richards. He kept on referring to the shark as the whale, so was let go.
Originally, the studio was hoping to train a real shark for the film.
Jaws was originally planned to be released for Christmas 1974.
The Brody's dog in Jaws, is Elmer and was Steven Spielberg's dog.
Jaws Author, Peter Benchley, had a cameo in the film as a news reporter on the beach.
Bruce the mechanical shark was named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
The original shooting schedule for Jaws was 58 days, it ballooned to 159.
Jaws was nominated for four Oscars. It won three in the categories of best music, sound and editing. It didn't win for Best picture.
When composer John Williams first played Steven Spielberg the simple E-F-E-F Jaws motif on the piano, Spielberg thought that he was kidding him. He wasn’t. It continues to be famous in swimming pools worldwide.
The Jaws score was recorded in March 1975 with a 73 peice orchestra.
It’s estimated that an astonishing 67 million Americans saw it upon release.
It took just 38 days for Jaws to swim past the magic $100 million barrier.
When is a film about a shark not a film about a shark? When said shark only has four minutes screen time.
The Ben Gardner head scene was a late addition to the film and was shot in editor, Verna Fields' swimming pool.
The fictional town of Amity Island was Martha's Vineyard.
As extras, Martha’s Vineyard residents were paid $64 each for running up and down the beach during the shark attack scene.
The Orca was a converted Nova Scotia fishing boat called the ‘Warlock’.
To make the Orca look like it had exposed to the elements, the SFX team painted seagull poop all over it
Lee Fierro (Mrs Kintner) was the local drama teacher on Marthas Vineyard
The scene at the dinner table between Brody and Hooper featured real red wine. usually movies use red grape juice. This was a prank by prop master Bill Patrotta. Roy and Richard didn’t say a word and got drunk for real shooting the scene to Steven Spielberg’s bemusement.
Quint’s limerick about Mary Lee was improvised by Robert Shaw after seeing it on a gravestone in England.
The shark’s teeth were mostly elastomer - hard teeth for biting things and soft ones for biting people.
The crew became so frustrated with the constant set backs making the movie, they referred to the film as FLAWS.
The children splashing in the water just before the Alex Kintner attack are karate chopping the water - the same children that allegedly karate chopped some local picket fences.
Joe Alves was knocked out by Roy Scheider when he was stabbing some styrofoam (in place of the shark during the final battle)
Producers David Brown & Richard Zanuck paid Jaws novelist Peter Benchley $175,000 for the movie rights to his book - before it had been published!
The character of Quint was originally to be introduced laughing while watching Moby Dick in a theatre.
Star Wars director George Lucas suggested Richard Dreyfuss for the part of Hooper having worked with him on American Graffiti.
The 2 actors who played the boys that pulled the cardboard fin prank are brothers in real life.
An American Werewolf in London director John Landis helped set up the jetty/holiday roast scene.
Horror writer Stephen King declared in a tweet that “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” is the best line in movie history.
Steven Spielberg makes an uncredited appearance as the voice of the Amity Point Coastguard.
The medical inspector / coroner is played by Martha’s Vineyard’s then real life doctor Robert Nevin.
Jonathan Filley, who plays Chrissie’s date Cassidy, worked again with Steven Spielberg as a production manager on War Of The Worlds (2005).
In 2001, Jaws was named as culturally significant by the library of congress and selected for preservation on the national film registry.
Jaws’ editor Verna Fields was affectionately called ‘Mother Cutter’ by the cast and crew as she cut the movie and cooked them great food.
Steven Spielberg kept Ben Gardner’s head in his office until he was eventually persuaded to give it up to Universal Studios.
The number plate pulled from the Tiger shark’s stomach (007 0 981) is also seen in Deep Blue Sea (1999) and In Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018).
Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody) was the first actor casted the movie.
The Jaws poster was designed by Roger Kastel, he would go on to design the Gone With The Wind-style poster for The Empire Strikes Back.
Actors Sterling Hayden and Lee Marvin were first choices to play Quint.
Steven Spielberg didn’t direct the shark exploding - he had already left the island and was on his way back to Los Angeles.
The faint roaring sound that is heard after the shark is blown up was also used by Spielberg in Duel, when that film’s villainous truck falls off a cliff.
Although the movie is set in midsummer, producers began filming in early May 1974 to avoid an actors' strike that was scheduled to begin July 1. If you look closely in the background of some scenes, you can see trees with no leaves.
Spielberg, frustrated by the shark's frequent malfunctions, had another name for it: "the great white turd."
What’s your favourite Jaws factoid?