The Hollywood stars Steven Spielberg considered to play Brody, Quint and Hooper in Jaws

Hello, Islanders!

They’re known as the “Big 3.” The “3 R’s.” Roy Schedier, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. The above the title stars of – in this humble writer’s opinion – the greatest film ever made. “Jaws.” Watching the film now it’s hard to even imagine any other actor in those roles. But that wasn’t always the case. Let’s take a look at, if the circumstances were different, what might have been.

Once Zanuck/Brown bought the rights to Peter Benchley’s novel, “Jaws,” they immediately went to work on finding the right cast. A conversation with author Benchley informed them that he envisioned Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Robert Redford as, respectively, Brody, Quint and Hooper. A great cast. Great actors all. But try as I might I can’t imagine them in the roles.

Newman was eight years older than Scheider. In the novel, the character of Brody is written as a slightly older man, with three children – the oldest, Martin Jr., is not in the film. So, Newman may have been a good choice. Redford certainly had the looks of the Matt Hooper described in Benchley’s novel. Shaw was three years older than McQueen and, while it wasn’t a part of the script, would have actually been old enough to have served in the Navy near the end of World War II. McQueen would have been 15. Of course, the discussion may have been moot as both Newman and McQueen were filming “The Towering Inferno” while casting was being discussed.

Once he came on board, director Steven Spielberg had some casting ideas as well. He offered the role of Brody to Robert Duvall, who declined. Duvall only had interest in playing Quint. For Quint, Spielberg wanted Oscar winner Lee Marvin. But Marvin turned the role down, commenting that he’d rather fish for sharks then make a film with them. He then considered actor Sterling Hayden, who played the crooked police captain shot by Michael Corleone in “The Godfather.” Hayden was interested but, due to some “issues” with the Internal Revenue Service, was unable to accept the job. For Hooper Spielberg wanted Jon Voight. Sorry, I can’t see it. NOTHING Jon Voight did up to 1974 even suggested he could bring the warmth and humor that would eventually be needed for the role of Matt Hooper.

As in most casting discussions, other actors are often considered before a final decision is made. Every up and coming young actor in Hollywood was presumably considered for the role of Hooper, including Jan Michael Vincent, Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Kline (?) and Joel Grey (???).

One actor who wanted to be considered was Oscar winner Charlton Heston, who was very interested in playing Brody. While an excellent actor, director Spielberg felt that, once audiences saw Heston on the screen, they would relax because it was, well, CHARLTON HESTON! The audience wouldn’t genuinely feel that Brody was in any danger as long as Heston was on the screen. Feeling slighted, Heston vowed to never work with Spielberg. He kept that promise when Spielberg offered him the role of Major General Joseph Stillwell in “1941.” The role went to Robert Stack.

So would our favorite film BE our favorite film had any of the cast changed? In my opinion, I really don’t think so. As filming progressed, the cast became more comfortable with each other, and also added a lot of their personality to the roles. Roy Scheider’s “every man” persona. Richard Dreyfuss’ sharp sense of humor. And Robert Shaw’s ability to not only research his role – his performance is greatly inspired by his conversations with both Craig Kingsbury and Captain Lynn Murphy – but his ability with a pen. I would put his U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue, written by Howard Sackler, Carl Gottlieb and Shaw himself, against anything Shakespeare may have written.

There you have it. The story of what might have been…and thankfully wasn’t!

Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.

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