The mechanical shark, affectionately nicknamed Bruce after Spielberg's lawyer, was a $3 million disaster that rarely worked. During the 159 days of principal photography on Martha's Vineyard, the pneumatic hoses frequently filled with salt water, the frames fractured under the pressure of the Atlantic, and the neoprene skin absorbed liquid until the prop sharks ballooned and looked like deflated balloons. This technical nightmare forced Steven Spielberg to change his approach entirely. Instead of showing the monster, he began to suggest its presence through floating yellow barrels, a dorsal fin cutting through the water, and the terrifying, minimalist two-note theme composed by John Williams. The film went from a planned action spectacle to a psychological thriller, a decision Spielberg later called a godsend that saved the movie from being a laughingstock. The delays were so severe that the production earned the nickname Flaws among the crew, and the budget ballooned from $3.5 million to $9 million, nearly bankrupting Universal Pictures and ending Spielberg's career before it truly began.
The Writer Who Became The Actor
Peter Benchley, the author of the novel, found himself in the uncomfortable position of watching his own story be rewritten by a dozen different hands. He wrote three drafts of the screenplay, but Spielberg felt the characters lacked the necessary texture and humor, leading to a chaotic writing process where Carl Gottlieb rewrote nearly the entire script during the nine weeks of filming. Benchley, who was not a union member, was originally hired to bypass a Writers Guild strike, but his drafts were deemed insufficient. The final script was a patchwork of improvisations, with dialogue often created during dinner meetings between the cast and crew. Benchley eventually accepted a small on-screen role as a reporter, a decision that mirrored his own frustration with the process. He later described his contribution as merely the storyline and ocean mechanics, admitting he did not know how to put character texture into a screenplay. The controversy over the famous Indianapolis monologue remains unresolved, with some crediting playwright Howard Sackler, others pointing to John Milius, and actor Robert Shaw taking primary credit for the final version of the speech.The Men Who Hunted The Monster
The trio of men on the Orca was assembled through a series of near-misses and last-minute decisions that almost derailed the production. Roy Scheider was cast as Chief Brody after Spielberg feared he would play a tough guy, but Scheider's performance became the heart of the film. Richard Dreyfuss, who initially turned down the role of Matt Hooper, changed his mind after seeing his own performance in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and fearing he would never be hired again. The role of Quint, the shark hunter, was originally offered to Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden, both of whom passed. Robert Shaw, a reluctant actor who did not like the book, accepted the part only after his wife and secretary urged him to do so. Shaw based his performance on a local fisherman named Craig Kingsbury, whose eccentric mannerisms and off-screen utterances were incorporated into the script. The dynamic between the three men was fraught with tension, as Shaw fled to Canada whenever possible to avoid taxes, engaged in binge drinking, and developed a grudge against Dreyfuss, who was receiving rave reviews for his work.