"Just the facts ma'am, the unknown movie facts,that is..."

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

We will start with "JAWS"

Steven Spielberg wanted Sterling Hayden for the role of Quint. Hayden, however, was in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid tax. All Hayden's income from acting was subject to a levy by the IRS, so there was an attempt to circumvent that: Hayden was also a writer, so one idea was to pay him union scale for his acting, and buy a story from him (his literary income wasn't subject to levy) for a large sum. It was concluded that the IRS would see through this scheme, so Robert Shaw was cast instead.



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During pre-production, director Steven Spielberg, accompanied by friends Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and John Milius, visited the effects shop where "Bruce" the shark was being constructed. Lucas stuck his head in the shark's mouth to see how it worked and, as a joke, Milius and Spielberg sneaked to the controls and made the jaw clamp shut on Lucas' head. Unfortunately, and rather prophetically, considering the later technical difficulties the production would suffer, the shark malfunctioned, and Lucas got stuck in the mouth of the shark. When Spielberg and Milius were finally able to free him, the three men ran out of the workshop, afraid they'd done major damage to the creature.



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A scene filmed, but not included in the final release, was during the second beach attack. Brody's son, swimming in the "shallow area" is frozen in terror as the shark approaches him; the man saves his life by pushing the boy out of the way at the last minute and putting himself in the path of the shark. There is a shot of the bloody, dying man's upper body being dragged briefly along in the shark's jaws before being pulled underwater. Steven Spielberg shot the scene, but decided it was far too gruesome and didn't include it. The DVD release shows the scene being shot, blood and all, during the The Making of Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' (1995) (V) documentary, but it is not included in the "Deleted Footage" or "Outtakes" sections of the DVD.



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According to Steven Spielberg in the DVD 'making of' documentary, his original idea for introducing Quint was to have him in the local movie theater watching Moby Dick (1956) starring Gregory Peck. Quint was to be sitting at the back of the theater and laughing so loudly at the absurd special effects of the whale that he drove the other viewers to exit the theater, leaving Quint by himself. Spielberg says that the only thing that stopped him from doing that scene was Gregory Peck. Peck held part of the rights to that movie and when Spielberg approached him for permission, Peck turned him down. Not because he thought it was a bad idea to use the film that way, but because Peck didn't like his performance in Moby Dick (1956) and didn't want the film seen again.



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Cameo: [Steven Spielberg] voice on Quint's marine radio, when Mrs. Brody tries to contact her husband.


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Charlton Heston was considered for the role of Chief Brody. Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Jon Voight and Jan-Michael Vincent were considered for the role of Hooper.



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Victoria Principal was considered for the role of Ellen Brody.



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Richard Dreyfuss originally turned down the role of Hooper but had worries after the initial screening of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) and asked for his part back.



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Lee Marvin was considered for the role of Quint by Steven Spielberg, despite his reservations about using big-name actors. Marvin thanked him but replied that he'd rather go fishing.



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In addition to the well-known nickname of "Bruce", Steven Spielberg also called the shark "the great white turd" when he really got frustrated with the troublesome animatronic fish.



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In a biography, Steven Spielberg revealed how Robert Duvall helped to encourage him into making the movie. In return, Spielberg offered the role of Brody to Duvall but he turned it down, fearing that it may make him too famous as a result.



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Charlton Heston was so annoyed with being rejected for the role of Brody that he later made disparaging comments about Steven Spielberg and vowed never to work with him. He later turned down Spielberg's offer of the role of General Stilwell in 1941 (1979).



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Author Peter Benchley's choices for whom to cast in the film were Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen.



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Steven Spielberg originally wanted Joe Spinell and Frank Pesce to be the two guys on the dock fishing for the shark at night (Pesce as the guy who falls in the water and Spinell shouting to him). Unfortunately, Pesce couldn't make it to Martha's Vineyard.



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Quint's tale of the USS Indianapolis was conceived by playwright Howard Sackler, lengthened by screenwriter John Milius and rewritten by Robert Shaw following a disagreement between screenwriters Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb. Shaw presented his text, and Benchley and Gottlieb agreed that this was exactly what was needed.



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The live shark footage was shot at Seal Rocks (Neptune Islands), South Australia. A real white pointer was cut up and "extended" for the close-up shots.



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When the shark attacks Hooper's cage, there's live footage of a real Great White with a rope hanging from its mouth. This shark's mouth is clearly much smaller than the shark's mouth when it attacks the boat moments later. These scenes were filmed by noted shark photographers Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor with the help of shark expert Rodney Fox specifically for the movie. Because the Great White sharks they filmed would be smaller than the mechanical shark in the movie, they constructed a smaller version of Hooper's shark cage. Inside the cage they alternately used a small mannequin or a little person. One of the sharks they attracted got caught in the cage's cables and tore it apart trying to escape. The footage was so good that they changed the script to reflect the destroyed cage and Hooper escaping by hiding on the ocean floor. However, the small person used in the scene refused to go back in the miniature cage, which was damaged in the incident.



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Quint's boathouse set was built in Martha's Vineyard on an abandoned lot. The city council made the production crew sign an agreement to demolish it after filming and replace everything exactly as it had been - right down to the litter.



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Preview audiences screamed when the head of a shark victim appears in the hole in the bottom of the boat. Director Steven Spielberg re-shot the scene in editor Verna Fields swimming pool because he wanted them to "scream louder".



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Author Peter Benchley was thrown off the set after objecting to the climax.



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Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, was used as Amity Island primarily because even 12 miles out to sea, the sandy bottom was only 30 feet down, allowing the mechanical shark to function. Residents were paid $64 to scream and run across the beach as extras.



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The first shark killed on the docks, which is supposed to be the "man-eater" in the movie, is actually a real shark killed in Florida because there wasn't a big enough one in Martha's Vineyard.



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Brody's dog in the movie was actually Steven Spielberg's real dog.


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The mechanical shark spent most of the movie broken-down, and was unavailable for certain shots. This led Steven Spielberg to use the camera as the "shark", and film from the shark's point of view. Many think this added to the "chilling/haunting" quality in the final release saying that it would have made it too "cheesy" had they shown the shark as much as originally planned.


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The original scene with Alex Kintner's death was so scary that it was cut to ensure a PG rating. The scene called for a doll of Alex to be floating among the bathers, then the shark would jump out of the water.


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When Roy Scheider was trapped in the sinking Orca, it took 75 takes to get the shot right. Scheider did not trust the special effects team to rescue him in case of an emergency so he hid axes and hatchets around the cabin just in case.



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There were two 300-pound weights attached to Susan Backlinie that were being tugged by two groups of crewmen on shore. One group would pull right, and the other would pull left. It took three days to film that sequence.


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After the shark was built, it was never tested in the water, and when it was put in the water at Martha's Vineyard, it sank straight to the ocean floor. It took a team of divers to retrieve it.


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The lighthouse in the film near the beach is an actual lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard where the filming took place. Because of the billboard in the scene, the lighthouse had to be "moved" with special effects in post-production.


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Steven Spielberg named the shark "Bruce" after his lawyer.



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After the surprise success of the film, Hollywood insiders ascribed the film's effectiveness mostly to veteran editor Verna Fields rather than the little-known, 28-year-old Steven Spielberg. Although he undoubtedly learned much from Fields, Spielberg wished to prove his worth in following films and never worked with Fields again. It should be said that from Jaws (1975) until Fields death, Spielberg only made three films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), 1941 (1979) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).


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Steven Spielberg played first clarinet for the beach scene.



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In the actual Jersey Beach shark attacks of 1916 (which Hooper mentions in the film), the sequence of attacks is similar to that of the film: a swimmer in the surf; a dog; a boy; and the leg of a man in a tidal slough.


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The "oceanographic institution on the mainland" that Matt Hooper comes from refers to the real-life Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Bob Ballard who rediscovered the RMS Titanic worked from Woods Hole.


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The mechanical shark used in the film was nicknamed "Bruce" by its handlers, and the "full body" version tours around museums, while "Bruce II" resides at the Universal Theme Parks and "bites at" tourists on the tour ride.



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Robert Shaw was also in trouble with the IRS and had to flee the country once his scenes were completed.


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Some scenes that have been declared "missing" from the video were not in the original theatrical release. When the movie was first televised, the network needed fillers after editing it for TV, so they used extra footage from the film's production.


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This was the first movie to reach the coveted $100 million mark in "theatrical rentals", which is about 45% of the "box office gross". It was the highest-grossing of all-time in the U.S. until Star Wars (1977).


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When it was initially released in the summer 1975, over 67 million Americans went to see the movie, making it the first summer "blockbuster".


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Robert Shaw could not stand Richard Dreyfuss and they argued all the time, which resulted in some good tension between Hooper and Quint.


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The average summer tourist population of Martha's Vineyard before the film was released was approximately 5,000 people. After it came out, the population ballooned to 15,000.


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Cameo: [Peter Benchley] reporter on the beach.


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Peter Benchley has mentioned that if he had known about the actual behavior of sharks, he would have never written the book.


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On the Anniversary edition of this picture on DVD, it is revealed on the documentary of the making of the film, The Making of Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' (1995) (V), that Lee Marvin was Steven Spielberg's first choice for Quint. When he refused, Sterling Hayden was his next choice.


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Murray Hamilton was the only star who was Steven Spielberg's first choice and was the only actor considered for the role of Mayor of Amity.



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To create the sound of a drowning woman during post-production, Susan Backlinie was positioned, head upturned, in front of a microphone, while water from above was poured down into her throat.

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

"JAWS" continued...

Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown avoided casting big-name stars because they thought they might distract audiences from the story's tension.


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Steven Spielberg shot roughly 25% of the film from water level to provide the viewers the perspective as if they were treading water.



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Amity Island is actually Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Whereas Amity Island was also its own town, Martha's Vineyard has six different towns on it.



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The original U.K. video release of the 25th Anniversary version was wrongly labeled as a P.G. rating, when it should have been a 12 rating, due to Roy Scheider saying the "F" word in the documentary. The mislabeled videos have been withdrawn.



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When composer John Williams originally played the score for Steven Spielberg, Spielberg laughed and said, "That's funny, John, really. But what did you really have in mind for the theme of Jaws (1975)?" Spielberg later stated that without Williams's score, the movie would only have been half as successful.


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The scene where the head pops out from under the boat was not originally scripted. Director Steven Spielberg says he "got greedy" after he saw the preview audience's reaction to the scene where the shark jumps out behind Brody's head and wanted "one more scare."



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Quint's boat is named "Orca". In real life, the Orca whale (usually known as "killer whale") is a known enemy of the shark.



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With the schedule ballooning from 52 to 155 days, Steven Spielberg had to juggle Universal's impossible deadlines, an unfinished script, chaotic conditions off Martha's Vineyard and a belligerent actor in Robert Shaw. On the last day of shooting, Spielberg wore his most expensive clothes to deter a dunking from the mutinous crew. As soon as the shot was captured, he jumped in a speedboat and sped shoreward yelling, "I shall not return."



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The producers have said that had they read the book more than once, they would have known ahead of time that there would be problems filming the movie, and thus wouldn't have made it.


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There is a much-repeated story that a lot of the pain on Susan Backlinie's face (Chrissie Watkins, the first victim) is real, since as well as moving her about in the water, the frame she was strapped into was breaking her ribs. In a radio interview, she denied being injured.


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Roy Scheider stated in an interview that in the scene where Lee Fierro (Mrs. Kintner) smacks him in the face, she was actually hitting him. Apparently, the actress could not fake a slap and so the multiple takes were some of the "most painful" of his (Scheider's) acting career.



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According to writer Carl Gottlieb, the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was not scripted but improvised by Roy Scheider.



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The "forward tracking, zoom out" shot used when Brody realizes Alex Kintner has been eaten has been called "the Jaws shot" by some video teachers who instruct students on using this move. However, this shot is merely a reverse of the "forward zoom and reverse tracking" shot invented by Irmin Roberts for the disorienting height shots in Vertigo (1958). A similar shot appears to have been used for the dream sequences in Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1966), in which Montag runs down an apparently endless corridor, passing doors on both sides but seems to never get closer to the end.


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When Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss first realize the size of the shark, Shaw's character then goes inside and assembles a harpoon gun. The voice over the CB Radio that calls the "Orca" is Steven Spielberg's.


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Composer John Williams conducted the orchestra during the 1976 Academy Awards, so when it was announced that he won the Oscar for Best Score, he had to run up to the podium to accept his Oscar and then run back to continue conducting the orchestra.


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According to the boat handlers who worked on the film, Quint's boat, "Orca", was a studio fabrication based upon a boat purchased locally. After the special effects team finished with it, it was so top-heavy as to be unseaworthy. Ballast would correct that, but the only large quantity of lead that could be located locally was owned by a local dentist who was going to use it to shield his X-Ray room. So that was rented from him at an exorbitant fee. The fake Orca, designed to sink, was actually more seaworthy than the real thing.

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The tax problem Robert Shaw was facing was that if he spent more than a certain amount of time in the U.S. he would face a tax liability. To circumvent that, Shaw was flown to Canada on his days off.


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An accident during filming caused the Orca to begin sinking. Steven Spielberg began screaming over a bullhorn for the nearby safety boats to rescue the actors. John R. Carter, already up to his knees in water on the sinking Orca, held his Nagra (tape recorder) up over his head and screamed, "F**k the actors, save the sound department!" During the accident, the film camera was submerged, so its film, still submerged in sea water, was flown to a New York film lab where technicians were able to save the film. The accident is described starting at 01:30:07 in "The Making of Jaws" on the 30th Anniversary edition DVD.



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During the filming of the scene where Brody shoots at the "fish", the gun jammed at least four times before the shot worked.



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Steven Spielberg's biggest fear other than the appearance/performance of the mechanical shark was that cameras would catch sight of land.


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According to The Making of Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' (1995) (V) documentary, the shooting star that appears during the night scene where Brody loads his revolver was real, not an optical effect.


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The first actor to be signed on was Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody. Steven Spielberg hired her after seeing her in "Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders (#1.0)" (1973), because he thought she was so naturalistic.



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In 2004, Empire magazine voted this as the 10th best film of all time.


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Voted #3 in Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time list (November 2005).



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During the display in which Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw compare battle scars, Roy Scheider lifts up his shirt to reveal an appendix incision. This is not a prosthetic, but Scheider's own scar.



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Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown optioned the film rights to the novel for $175,000 in a deal which also included a first-draft screenplay from author Peter Benchley. This draft, extremely faithful to the novel, would later be rejected by Steven Spielberg. The subsequent two drafts from Benchley would also be rejected.



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Three mechanical "Bruces" were made, each with specialized functions. One shark was open on the right side, one was open on the left side, and the third was fully skinned. Each shark cost approximately $250,000.


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When Universal saw the finished film and were more than happy with the result, they began an advertising campaign on television costing an unprecedented $700,000.



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The film was simultaneously shown in 490 theaters on its opening weekend, the first time for Hollywood, setting the standard for subsequent films. The film was originally booked in about 1000 theaters, but MCA executive Lew Wasserman wanted that cut back, saying he wanted lines at the box office.


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This was voted the sixth scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.



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Tommy Johnson was the tuba player whose ominous sounds announced the sharks' arrival.


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In the socialist Hungary, the movie was only released in 1985. It became the second biggest grossing film that year: 1.5 million tickets were sold (Hungary's population was around 10 million at that time!) The biggest hit that year was Bomber (1982) starring Bud Spencer.



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There's a scene on the beach where Brody tells a guy "That's some bad hat, Harry." The same line is used by "Bad Hat Harry Productions" at the very end of the TV show "House M.D." (2004). There's even an animated shark that swims by.


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Although he goes uncredited, the baseball announcer we hear over the radio during one of the beach scenes is sports announcer, Charlie Jones. He was mostly known for football. All of the players he announces here are fictional.


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On the DVD documentary, Steven Spielberg states that his original idea for introducing the shark was going to be a scene that took place at the dock at night: The harbor master would be watching TV, and through the window behind him the audience would see a row of boats rising and falling as the shark swam underneath them. Spielberg believed that the swell of the boats would help indicate the huge size of the shark; however, the logistics involved (for example, getting all the boats to go up and down at the correct intervals) proved too difficult to coordinate properly. Additionally, the constantly malfunctioning shark would not allow the scene to be filmed. Much to Spielberg's disappointment, the scene had to be shelved.


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Several decades later, Lee Fierro, who plays Mrs. Kitner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an "Alex Kitner Sandwich". She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago. The owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her - none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They hadn't seen each other since the original movie shoot.



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Though respected as an actor, Robert Shaw's trouble with alcohol was a frequent source of tension during filming. In later interviews, Roy Scheider described his co-star as "a perfect gentleman whenever he was sober. All he needed was one drink and then he turned into a competitive son-of-a-bitch." According to Carl Gottlieb's book "The Jaws Log," Shaw was having a drink between takes, at which point he announced "I wish I could quit drinking." Much to the surprise and horror of the crew, Richard Dreyfuss simply grabbed Shaw's glass and tossed it into the ocean. When it came time to shoot the infamous USS Indianapolis Scene, Shaw attempted to do the monologue while intoxicated as it called for the men to be drinking late at night. Nothing in the take could be used. A remorseful Shaw called Steven Spielberg late that night and asked if he could have another try. The next day of shooting, Shaw's electrifying performance was done in one take.

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

and still more facts about "JAWS"....


The film was simultaneously shown in 490 theaters on its opening weekend, the first time for Hollywood, setting the standard for subsequent films. The film was originally booked in about 1000 theaters, but MCA executive Lew Wasserman wanted that cut back, saying he wanted lines at the box office.


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This was voted the sixth scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.



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Tommy Johnson was the tuba player whose ominous sounds announced the sharks' arrival.


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In the socialist Hungary, the movie was only released in 1985. It became the second biggest grossing film that year: 1.5 million tickets were sold (Hungary's population was around 10 million at that time!) The biggest hit that year was Bomber (1982) starring Bud Spencer.



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There's a scene on the beach where Brody tells a guy "That's some bad hat, Harry." The same line is used by "Bad Hat Harry Productions" at the very end of the TV show "House M.D." (2004). There's even an animated shark that swims by.


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Although he goes uncredited, the baseball announcer we hear over the radio during one of the beach scenes is sports announcer, Charlie Jones. He was mostly known for football. All of the players he announces here are fictional.


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On the DVD documentary, Steven Spielberg states that his original idea for introducing the shark was going to be a scene that took place at the dock at night: The harbor master would be watching TV, and through the window behind him the audience would see a row of boats rising and falling as the shark swam underneath them. Spielberg believed that the swell of the boats would help indicate the huge size of the shark; however, the logistics involved (for example, getting all the boats to go up and down at the correct intervals) proved too difficult to coordinate properly. Additionally, the constantly malfunctioning shark would not allow the scene to be filmed. Much to Spielberg's disappointment, the scene had to be shelved.


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Several decades later, Lee Fierro, who plays Mrs. Kitner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an "Alex Kitner Sandwich". She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago. The owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her - none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They hadn't seen each other since the original movie shoot.



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Though respected as an actor, Robert Shaw's trouble with alcohol was a frequent source of tension during filming. In later interviews, Roy Scheider described his co-star as "a perfect gentleman whenever he was sober. All he needed was one drink and then he turned into a competitive son-of-a-bitch." According to Carl Gottlieb's book "The Jaws Log," Shaw was having a drink between takes, at which point he announced "I wish I could quit drinking." Much to the surprise and horror of the crew, Richard Dreyfuss simply grabbed Shaw's glass and tossed it into the ocean. When it came time to shoot the infamous USS Indianapolis Scene, Shaw attempted to do the monologue while intoxicated as it called for the men to be drinking late at night. Nothing in the take could be used. A remorseful Shaw called Steven Spielberg late that night and asked if he could have another try. The next day of shooting, Shaw's electrifying performance was done in one take.


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Voted #5 On Empire's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008)


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Most of the film was shot handheld as that was the best way to countermand the ocean's swell.


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The Orca was originally called The Warlock.

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The color red is never used in any clothes or any backgrounds as Spielberg wanted it to be only seen as blood.



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This was the first time that Martha's Vineyard was used as a location for a feature film.



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Howard Sackler was asked to contribute to the screenplay because of his experience as a scuba diver. Sackler's only proviso was that he not receive screen credit as he felt that he didn't work long enough on the film.


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Pre-production had been cut short in the hopes of taking advantage of the unseasonably good weather in Martha's Vineyard. However, when the production landed at the Vineyard, the weather took a turn for the worse. Consequently, shooting had to begin without a finalized script, meaning Steven Spielberg and Carl Gottlieb had to work on the screenplay after they'd finished filming for the day.


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As most of the seaside resorts in 1975 experienced a downturn in visitors, some of the establishments would resort to innovative ways to lure in customers. One recorded example was a seafood restaurant in Cape Cod which proudly displayed the sign "Eat Fish - Get Even".



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Richard Dreyfuss initially passed on the part of Hooper, saying that Jaws (1975) was a film he'd love to watch but not to make.


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Richard Dreyfuss was tested and cast at the suggestion of George Lucas who had just worked with him on American Graffiti (1973).



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Jaws (1975) opened on only 409 screens. Within 78 days it had become the highest grossing film of all time but even then it was still showing in less than 1000 screens.



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Filmed under the threat of an impending actors' strike.



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Following the release of the film, interest in shark fishing soared.


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A real shark became entangled in a line that had been lain down over the underwater cage. This footage was subsequently used in the film.


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Some of the incidents that befell the troubled production included writer Carl Gottlieb and Steven Spielberg nearly getting killed in seafaring accidents.


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As the shoot ballooned from 55 days to 159, with the budget likewise spiraling, the film earned the nickname amongst the crew of "Flaws".


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Jaws (1975) single-handedly caused a downturn in the package holiday trade.


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Steven Spielberg almost accidentally came across the property when he spotted the galley proofs for 'Peter Benchley (I)'s book sitting on producer David Brown's desk.



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Voted #5 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).



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After filming was completed Steven Spielberg said "My next picture will be on dry land. There won't even be a bathroom scene". He was true to his word. His next film was Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).



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The music by John Williams was ranked at #6 by the American Film Institute for their list of the 25 greatest film scores.



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Was voted the 48th greatest film by the American Film Institute on their list of the 100 greatest movies in 1998. Ten years later, it dropped eight ranks to #56.


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The shark was ranked the eighteenth greatest villain on the AFI's list of 100 Heroes and Villains.


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Was ranked the second greatest thriller on the AFI's list of 100 Thrills.


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As Brody and Hooper are on the boat during a night scene a meteor appears clearly behind them.



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The movie _Mission of the Shark (1991)_ is about Quint's story about the Indianapolis.



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The gray and cloudy sky in water scenes is artificial. It is an image on a giant wall placed in the Universal studios. In front of the wall is a huge artificial lake, the "Falls Lake", which - together with the wall - was a backdrop for more than 20 movies already, including "Jaws".


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Though his affair with Brody's wife was left out of the film, Hooper's death was actually in the script. The plan was to have a dummy representing Hooper placed in a cage underwater, and a New Zealand-based couple would entice an actual shark to attack the cage and tear the dummy apart. They could never provoke the shark properly. Ultimately, the shark did attack and destroy the cage, but there was one problem: the Hooper dummy wasn't inside at the time. As this was the best footage they had, Steven Spielberg decided to use it, and allow Hooper to escape the shark.

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

Steven Spielberg's biggest fear other than the appearance/performance of the mechanical shark was that cameras would catch sight of land.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to The Making of Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' (1995) (V) documentary, the shooting star that appears during the night scene where Brody loads his revolver was real, not an optical effect.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first actor to be signed on was Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody. Steven Spielberg hired her after seeing her in "Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders (#1.0)" (1973), because he thought she was so naturalistic.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 2004, Empire magazine voted this as the 10th best film of all time.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voted #3 in Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time list (November 2005).



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the display in which Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw compare battle scars, Roy Scheider lifts up his shirt to reveal an appendix incision. This is not a prosthetic, but Scheider's own scar.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown optioned the film rights to the novel for $175,000 in a deal which also included a first-draft screenplay from author Peter Benchley. This draft, extremely faithful to the novel, would later be rejected by Steven Spielberg. The subsequent two drafts from Benchley would also be rejected.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three mechanical "Bruces" were made, each with specialized functions. One shark was open on the right side, one was open on the left side, and the third was fully skinned. Each shark cost approximately $250,000.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Universal saw the finished film and were more than happy with the result, they began an advertising campaign on television costing an unprecedented $700,000.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roy Scheider stated in an interview that in the scene where Lee Fierro (Mrs. Kintner) smacks him in the face, she was actually hitting him. Apparently, the actress could not fake a slap and so the multiple takes were some of the "most painful" of his (Scheider's) acting career.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to writer Carl Gottlieb, the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was not scripted but improvised by Roy Scheider.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The "forward tracking, zoom out" shot used when Brody realizes Alex Kintner has been eaten has been called "the Jaws shot" by some video teachers who instruct students on using this move. However, this shot is merely a reverse of the "forward zoom and reverse tracking" shot invented by Irmin Roberts for the disorienting height shots in Vertigo (1958). A similar shot appears to have been used for the dream sequences in Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1966), in which Montag runs down an apparently endless corridor, passing doors on both sides but seems to never get closer to the end.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss first realize the size of the shark, Shaw's character then goes inside and assembles a harpoon gun. The voice over the CB Radio that calls the "Orca" is Steven Spielberg's.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Composer John Williams conducted the orchestra during the 1976 Academy Awards, so when it was announced that he won the Oscar for Best Score, he had to run up to the podium to accept his Oscar and then run back to continue conducting the orchestra.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to the boat handlers who worked on the film, Quint's boat, "Orca", was a studio fabrication based upon a boat purchased locally. After the special effects team finished with it, it was so top-heavy as to be unseaworthy. Ballast would correct that, but the only large quantity of lead that could be located locally was owned by a local dentist who was going to use it to shield his X-Ray room. So that was rented from him at an exorbitant fee. The fake Orca, designed to sink, was actually more seaworthy than the real thing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tax problem Robert Shaw was facing was that if he spent more than a certain amount of time in the U.S. he would face a tax liability. To circumvent that, Shaw was flown to Canada on his days off.


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An accident during filming caused the Orca to begin sinking. Steven Spielberg began screaming over a bullhorn for the nearby safety boats to rescue the actors. John R. Carter, already up to his knees in water on the sinking Orca, held his Nagra (tape recorder) up over his head and screamed, "F**k the actors, save the sound department!" During the accident, the film camera was submerged, so its film, still submerged in sea water, was flown to a New York film lab where technicians were able to save the film. The accident is described starting at 01:30:07 in "The Making of Jaws" on the 30th Anniversary edition DVD.



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During the filming of the scene where Brody shoots at the "fish", the gun jammed at least four times before the shot worked.



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[Dr.Teufel Geist]

and finally......

Amity Island is actually Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Whereas Amity Island was also its own town, Martha's Vineyard has six different towns on it.



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The original U.K. video release of the 25th Anniversary version was wrongly labeled as a P.G. rating, when it should have been a 12 rating, due to Roy Scheider saying the "F" word in the documentary. The mislabeled videos have been withdrawn.



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When composer John Williams originally played the score for Steven Spielberg, Spielberg laughed and said, "That's funny, John, really. But what did you really have in mind for the theme of Jaws (1975)?" Spielberg later stated that without Williams's score, the movie would only have been half as successful.


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The scene where the head pops out from under the boat was not originally scripted. Director Steven Spielberg says he "got greedy" after he saw the preview audience's reaction to the scene where the shark jumps out behind Brody's head and wanted "one more scare."



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Quint's boat is named "Orca". In real life, the Orca whale (usually known as "killer whale") is a known enemy of the shark.



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With the schedule ballooning from 52 to 155 days, Steven Spielberg had to juggle Universal's impossible deadlines, an unfinished script, chaotic conditions off Martha's Vineyard and a belligerent actor in Robert Shaw. On the last day of shooting, Spielberg wore his most expensive clothes to deter a dunking from the mutinous crew. As soon as the shot was captured, he jumped in a speedboat and sped shoreward yelling, "I shall not return."



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The producers have said that had they read the book more than once, they would have known ahead of time that there would be problems filming the movie, and thus wouldn't have made it.


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There is a much-repeated story that a lot of the pain on Susan Backlinie's face (Chrissie Watkins, the first victim) is real, since as well as moving her about in the water, the frame she was strapped into was breaking her ribs. In a radio interview, she denied being injured.


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Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown avoided casting big-name stars because they thought they might distract audiences from the story's tension.


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Steven Spielberg shot roughly 25% of the film from water level to provide the viewers the perspective as if they were treading water.

[BlackLagoon]

Lee Marvin : "Fish don't eat me, I eat motherf**king fish!"

Supposedly, Lee Marvin, while under the influence of alcohol blurted that out while reading the script.

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

Lee Marvin : "Fish don't eat me, I eat motherf**king fish!"

Supposedly, Lee Marvin, while under the influence of alcohol blurted that out while reading the script.

that sounds like something he would do.. 

[Dr.Teufel Geist]

"POLTERGEIST"
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The hands which pull the flesh off the investigator's face in the bathroom mirror are Steven Spielberg's.

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The weird way the family members descend the stairs at the beginning of the film was created by having the actors walk backward up the stairs and playing the film in reverse. The same effect was used later in the movie during the scene showing video playback of the ghosts.

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Steven Spielberg worked on Poltergeist (1982) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) literally back to back. Principal photography on Poltergeist ended in August of 1981, then Spielberg took a few weeks off and began work on E.T. Spielberg also supervised the visual effects for both films simultaneously (which were produced at Industrial Light & Magic under the supervision of Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren). Once post production work on Poltergeist began in early 1982, Spielberg was in total control. He was responsible for the editing of the film (Spielberg's usual editor Michael Khan edited this film while Carol Littleton edited E.T), the final sound mixes and loops, the supervision of the visual effects, and the selection of Jerry Goldsmith as the composer of the score. Poltergeist and E.T opened to theaters nationwide only a week between each other during the summer of 1982, Poltergeist on June 4th and E.T. one week later on June 11th. Spielberg later said "If E.T. was a whisper, Poltergeist was a scream".


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The sign at the Holiday Inn reads, Welcome Dr. Fantasy and Friends. Dr. Fantasy is a nickname for producer Frank Marshall.


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Heather O'Rourke, who played the little girl Carol-Anne, and Dominique Dunne, who played the teenage daughter, are buried in the same cemetery: Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Dunne was strangled into brain-death by her boyfriend in 1982, the year of the film's release. Six years later, O'Rourke died of intestinal stenosis.


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The film was originally given a R rating, but the filmmakers protested successfully and got a PG rating (the PG-13 rating did not exist at the time).

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When writers Michael Grais and Mark Victor first met with Steven Spielberg, they were being hired to write the film that eventually became Always (1989). When Spielberg happened to mention he also had an idea for a ghost story, Grais and Victor said they'd rather write the ghost story than Always and that's how they got this job.


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The crawling steak was done by using a real steak which was laid over a slot cut between the tiles in the counter top. Two wires were fastened to the bottom of the steak and a special effects operator, hidden under the counter, simply moved the wires to make the steak crawl like a caterpillar. A similar operation was done when Diane presents to Steven the chairs that move across the room by themselves. A wire was fastened to one of the chair's legs under the set. An operator first wobbled the chair with the wire, then dragged the chair across to its destination.


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Shirley MacLaine was offered a starring role in the film, but backed out in order to make Terms of Endearment (1983).


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The shot of the chairs that position themselves in the amazing balancing act on the table was all done in one take. As the camera panned along with JoBeth Williams, who was getting some cleaning materials, several crew members quickly set an already organized pyramid of chairs on the table, then took the single chairs away before the camera scrolled back. See Goofs entry.

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The Rams (then Los Angeles Rams) vs. Saints football game seen near the beginning of the film, is taken from a Monday Night Football game in 1980.

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The scene in which Diane opens the bedroom door and is met with a fearsome scream was the first to be filmed.

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The scene in which Marty hallucinates in the bathroom was the last to be filmed.

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Both of the terrors that plague Robbie came from Steven Spielberg's own fears as a child, a fear of clowns and a tree outside his window.


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Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper wanted virtually unknown actors to play the Freelings because they wanted to add a realism to the family that would off-balance the ghost story. They felt that if the audience watched well-known stars, then it would take away from the realistic feel of the characters.


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The swirling, flickering lights coming from the closet during the rescue scene were achieved using a very simple effect by having an aquarium full of water in front of a spotlight. Then a fan blew on the surface of the water to make it swirl.


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The house used to film this movie is located in Simi Valley, California where it still stands today. The family who owned it when this movie was filmed still live there today.


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In addition to the two times that the Beast appeared in the movie (the face that appeared in the closet and the creature that guarded the kid's door), the script had it appearing during the scene where the family and investigators are looking at the tape of the manifestation. The giant ghost that they saw visually slowly resolved itself into the image of a face of a cruel old man: the man we know in the later films as 'Reverend Henry Kane.'

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A common translation of the German word "Poltergeist" is "rumbling spirit".

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During all the horrors that proceeded while filming Poltergeist (1982), only one scene really scared Heather O'Rourke: that in which she had to hold onto the headboard, while a wind machine blew toys into the closet behind her. She fell apart; Steven Spielberg stopped everything, took her in his arms, and said that she would not have to do that scene again.


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The movie's line "They're here!" was voted as the #69 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).


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Drew Barrymore was considered for the role of Carol Anne, but Steven Spielberg wanted someone more angelic. It was Barrymore's audition for this role, however, that landed her a part in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).



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In reality, Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams are only 14 and 11 years older than Dominique Dunne, who plays their teen-aged daughter.


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Stephen King was briefly approached to write the screenplay. It would have been the first written by King directly for the screen, but the parties could not agree on the terms.


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Footage from this movie was used in a 2008 DirecTV commercial.

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When Steve Freeling first meets with the university paranormal specialists, he states that his wife, Diane Freeling, was "32" at the time, and their eldest daughter, Dana, was "16". Thus, Diane was only sixteen years-old when she gave birth to Dana.


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Though on-screen credit goes to Tobe Hooper, a wealth of evidence suggests that most of the directorial decisions were made by Steven Spielberg. In fact, Spielberg had wanted to direct the film himself, but a clause in his contract stated that while still working on E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Spielberg could not direct another film. Members of the cast and crew, including Executive Producer Frank Marshall and actress Zelda Rubinstein, have stated that Spielberg cast the film, directed the actors, and designed every single storyboard for the movie himself. Based on this evidence, the DGA opened a probe into the matter, but found no reason that co-director credit should go to Spielberg.


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[WILHELM SCREAM] When the TV plays Go for Broke! (1951), one of the soldiers screams.


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On top of the master bedroom television set sits an Atari Video Computer System console with its two joysticks; later known as the Atari 2600.

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The house that gets sucked into a black hole at the end was actually a model about four feet across. The model took several weeks to complete. The shot was arranged with the camera placed directly above model, which was mounted over an industrial strength vacuum generator (the front door was facing directly up, straight at the camera). The model also had about 100 wires attached to various points of the structure. These wires went down through the back of the house, and down through the vacuum collection sack. The camera was turned on, and took 15 seconds to wind up to the required 300 frames per second. The vacuum was turned on, the wires were yanked, and several SFX guys blasted the house with pump-action shotguns. The entire scene was over in about two seconds, and they had to wait until the film was developed before they knew if they would have to do it again. Luckily, they got it right on the first take. The finished scene was sent to Steven Spielberg, who was on location shooting E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). He gave it to a projectionist, who assumed it was dailies from ET and was startled by the images. Spielberg had the remains of the model encased in perspex, and it is now sitting on his piano. The model itself was worth well over $25,000.


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During the scene where Robbie (Oliver Robins) is being strangled, the clown's arms became extremely tight and Robbins started to choke. When he screamed out, "I can't breathe!" Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper thought that the boy was ad-libbing and just instructed him to look at the camera. When Spielberg saw Robbins's face turning purple, he ran over and removed the clown's arms from Robbins's neck.


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The sound effect for the beast that attacks the house at the end of the movie is the source for the current MGM lion roar.


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The skeletons that emerge from the swimming pool while Diane searches for help are actual skeletons. JoBeth Williams didn't know this until after the scene was shot.


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Despite being a horror/thriller film, there are no murders or fatalities depicted in the film.


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JoBeth Williams was hesitant about shooting the swimming pool scene because of the large amount of electrical equipment positioned over and around the pool. In order to comfort her, Steven Spielberg crawled in the pool with her to shoot the screen. Spielberg told her, "Now if a light falls in, we will both fry." The strategy worked and Williams got in the pool.