Love Steven Spielberg’s Jaws? You will love it more when you know about some of the behind the scenes fun facts that I learnt about this blockbuster while reading up on its 40th anniversary.
1. Spielberg was not the first choice to direct Jaws. The film was to be originally directed by Dick Richards, but the studio showed him the door because he kept referring to the shark as a whale during narration sessions. The producers were clear about one thing; they wanted a director who knows the difference between a shark and a whale!
2. Jaws went way over budget. The original budget of the film was $3.5 million, but shot up to $9 million by the end of the shoot. Its box-office total currently stands at $471 million.
3. Not just the budget but the duration of the shoot also extended from the scheduled 55 days to an enormous 159 days.
4. The famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” wasn’t there in the written script. The dialogue was an ad-lib by Roy Scheider.
5. Bruce, the shark was named after Spielberg’s lawyer. It had another nickname ‘The Great White Turd’ which Spielberg used when angry.
6. Brody’s dog in the film was played by Spielberg’s dog, Elmer.
7. Spielberg faced a lot of problems as he shot on real locations. During shooting on a scene aboard the Orca, the boat sank. The camera was submerged in water, which almost destroyed the film. The crew rushed to labs in New York where the footage was saved.
8. Spielberg used a real shark, which was much smaller than the mechanical shark for the scene where Dreyfus’ character is underwater in a protective case.
9. After the mechanical shark was built, it was never tested in the water. When they first put it in the water it sank straight to the ocean floor. Divers had to go down and retrieve it.
10. Jaws became the first film to break the $100 million mark at the US box office, toppling records set by The Godfather and The Exorcist.
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