15 Facts About The Movie Jaws

You may or may not know these 15 facts about the movie Jaws. There’s a lot more going on than you see in the movie.

It was the first real blockbuster

What’s funny about this fact is that Jaws was supposed to come out during the winter. But when it came out in the summer of 1975 it created an effect that gave birth to the blockbuster type of film.

The movie is rated PG

It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? The rating system back then still wasn’t what it is now, so Parental Guidance was different than it is now.

There was a book published first

Peter Bentley wasn’t entirely pleased about what happened to his book, since he did write the story first. He came up with stories about a couple of aquatic beasts actually.

The director almost quit

Just reading a little further into the facts of the movie it appears that there were a lot of issues and delays. But thankfully, Steven Spielberg stuck around and finished the film.

Casting could have been very different

The actors who made the movie famous weren’t the original choices. That’s not much of a surprise, but, fortunately, the changes were made since the cast is iconic.

The director wasn’t on board with the score

Spielberg wasn’t fully onboard with the score, but it turned out to be so iconic that people still use it. That type of score is legendary and isn’t taken lightly.

One of the actors had a drinking problem

Actors are generally allowed enough freedom to be themselves, but it would appear that the actor who played Quint slowed things down. A drinking habit can cause schedule issues and become a bigger concern, but, surprisingly, actors allow this to happen.

The director was afraid of repercussions

It sounds as though Spielberg was afraid that his days as an onset tyrant weren’t lost on him. With the plethora of issues this movie had, he was nowhere to be seen when the film wrapped, just in case.

One of the actors had to be flown in and out every day

The actor playing Quint had to be brought to the set every day since if he stayed in America too long he would experience a serious tax issue. That sounds like a lot of stress to endure day in and day out.

It stands out as the first major film shot on the ocean

Out of all the major issues that happened to delay this movie, this was one of the biggest. It’s impressive to shoot on the open ocean, but trying to control every variable is tough.

The crew came up with many names for the shark

A few of the names that the shark acquired were less than complimentary thanks to the many issues that people faced. But the overall name that people know this shark by is “Bruce”.

There were problems with the animatronics

Even with the impressive nature of the animatronic shark, one has to imagine that there were plenty of issues. The technology at that time wasn’t quite up to par yet, and it forced Spielberg to get creative with many shots.

One of the actors rewrote his part

Robert Shaw, aka Quint, rewrote part of his lines to provide a better story, as he might tell it. But the author wasn’t too keen on the idea since it wasn’t in the book, and he fought tooth and nail over it, but eventually lost.

One of the death scenes was meant to be more graphic

Horror movies have made it clear over the decades that kids aren’t exempt from danger. But the young boy that was mauled and taken under in the movie was supposed to have a much more gruesome demise. In the end, the fact that the shark kept freezing up mid-scene made it necessary to come up with a different scene.

The most recognizable line was ad-libbed

Actors tend to ad-lib a lot when they can get away with it. But Roy Schreider’s line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” wasn’t even in the script. Obviously, no one cares, since it turned out to be such an awesome line.