Jaws (film)
Principal photography began on the 2nd of May 1974, on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The production team faced immediate logistical nightmares as they attempted to film aquatic sequences with life-sized mechanical sharks. Three full-size pneumatically powered prop sharks were built and nicknamed Bruce after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer. These models frequently malfunctioned due to bad weather, salt water corroding pneumatic hoses, and frames fracturing under water resistance. One platform used to tow the side-view sharks capsized during a lowering operation, forcing divers to retrieve it from the ocean floor. The sea-sled model often got entangled among forests of seaweed, while its neoprene foam skin soaked up liquid and caused the shark to balloon out of shape. From the first water test onward, the crew struggled to get usable footage. During the average 12-hour daily work schedule, only four hours were actually spent filming. Disgruntled crew members gave the film the nickname Flaws because of these constant technical failures. The budget ballooned from an estimated $3.5 million to $9 million, with effects costs alone reaching $3 million. Spielberg later admitted he was naive about the ocean and the hubris of trying to conquer nature. He had planned to shoot the movie in a tank but insisted on using the Atlantic Ocean for authenticity. This decision led to delays that stretched principal photography from a scheduled 55 days to 159 days, wrapping finally on the 6th of October 1974.
Peter Benchley wrote the first three drafts of the screenplay before handing over control to other writers. Benchley delivered his final version to Spielberg declaring I am written out on this and that is the best I can do. The producers promised Benchley he could write the first draft to ensure a script existed despite an impending Writers Guild strike since he was not unionized. Spielberg felt the characters in Benchley's initial scripts were unlikable and invited young screenwriter John Byrum to do a rewrite. Byrum declined the offer along with Columbo creators William Link and Richard Levinson. Howard Sackler offered to do an uncredited rewrite while in Los Angeles and quickly agreed to the job. Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Howard Sackler came up with the backstory of Quint as a survivor of the World War II disaster. Carl Gottlieb became the primary screenwriter after sending Spielberg three pages of notes about what he would change. He picked the part of Harry Meadows, the politically connected editor of Amity's newspaper. Gottlieb eventually rewrote nearly the entire script during a nine-week period of principal photography. The script for each scene was typically finished the night before it was shot after Gottlieb had dinner with members of the cast and crew. Many pieces of dialogue originated from actors' improvisations during these meals or were created on set just prior to filming. John Milius contributed other dialogue polishes while Sugarland Express writers Matthew Robbins and Hal Barwood also made uncredited contributions. One specific alteration Spielberg called for changed the cause of the shark's death from extensive wounds to a scuba tank explosion because he felt audiences would respond better to a big rousing ending.
Spielberg wanted somewhat anonymous performers to help the audience believe this was happening to people like you and me rather than stars bringing memories that could corrupt the story. The first actors cast were Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody and Murray Hamilton as the mayor of Amity Island. Stuntwoman-turned-actress Susan Backlinie was cast as Chrissie Watkins because she knew how to swim and was willing to perform nude. Most minor roles were played by residents of Martha's Vineyard where the film was shot including Deputy Hendricks played by future television producer Jeffrey Kramer. Lee Fierro plays Mrs. Kintner, the mother of the shark's second victim Alex Kintner who was played by Jeffrey Voorhees. The role of Brody was offered to Robert Duvall but the actor was interested only in portraying Quint. Charlton Heston expressed a desire for the role but Spielberg felt Heston would bring a screen persona too grand for the part of a police chief of a modest community. Roy Scheider became interested after overhearing Spielberg at a party talk with a screenwriter about having the shark jump up onto a boat. Nine days before production started neither Quint nor Hooper had been cast. The role of Quint was originally offered to Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden both of whom passed. Zanuck and Brown suggested Robert Shaw who decided to accept at the urging of his wife Mary Ure and his secretary. Shaw based his performance on fellow cast member Craig Kingsbury a local fisherman farmer and legendary eccentric. For the role of Hooper Spielberg initially wanted Jon Voight while Timothy Bottoms Jan-Michael Vincent Joel Grey and Jeff Bridges were also considered. George Lucas suggested Richard Dreyfuss whom he had directed in American Graffiti.
John Williams composed the film's score which earned him an Academy Award and was later ranked the sixth-greatest score by the American Film Institute. The main shark theme is a simple alternating pattern of two notes variously identified as E and F or F and F sharp. Williams described the theme as grinding away at you just as a shark would do instinctual relentless unstoppable. The piece was performed by tuba player Tommy Johnson. When asked why the melody was written in such a high register instead of using the more appropriate French horn Williams responded that he wanted it to sound a little more threatening. When Williams first demonstrated his idea playing just the two notes on a piano Spielberg was said to have laughed thinking it was a joke. At other points in the score Williams evoked pirate music which he called primal but fun and entertaining. Calling for rapid percussive string playing the score contains echoes of Claude Debussy's La mer and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Music scholar Joseph Cancellaro proposes that the two-note expression mimics the shark's heartbeat while Alexandre Tylski argues it suggests human respiration. The relationship between sound and silence is exploited toward the film's climax when the shark suddenly appears with no musical introduction. Spielberg later said without Williams's score the film would have been only half as successful. According to Williams the score jumpstarted his career after they had previously collaborated on The Sugarland Express.
Universal spent $1.8 million marketing Jaws including an unprecedented $700,000 on national television spot advertising. The media blitz included about two dozen 30-second advertisements airing each night on prime-time network TV between the 18th of June 1975 and the film's opening two days later. As early as October 1974 producers Zanuck Brown and Benchley hit the television and radio talk show circuit to promote the paperback edition of the novel and the forthcoming film. The studio and publisher Bantam agreed on a title logo that would appear on both the paperback and in all of the advertising for the film. The centerpieces of the joint marketing strategy were John Williams's theme and the poster image featuring the shark approaching a lone female swimmer. The poster was based on the paperback's cover and had the same artist Bantam employee Roger Kastel. The Seiniger Advertising agency spent six months designing the poster before deciding you had to actually go underneath the shark so you could see his teeth. More merchandise was created to take advantage of the film's release including T-shirts plastic tumblers beach towels blankets shark costumes toy sharks hobby kits iron-on transfers games posters shark's tooth necklaces sleepwear water pistols and more. Universal president Sid Sheinberg reasoned that nationwide marketing costs would be amortized at a more favorable rate per print relative to a slow scaled release.
Jaws opened in 409 theaters with a record $7 million weekend and grossed a record $21,116,354 in its first 10 days recouping its production costs. It grossed $100 million in its first 59 days from 954 playdates. In just 78 days it overtook The Godfather as the highest-grossing film at the North American box office sailing past that picture's earnings of $86 million. It became the first film to earn $100 million in US theatrical rentals and spent 14 consecutive weeks as the number-one film in the United States. Its initial release ultimately brought in $123.1 million in rentals while theatrical re-releases in 1976 and the summer of 1979 brought total rentals to $133.4 million. On the 11th of January 1976 Jaws became the highest-grossing film worldwide with rentals of $132 million surpassing the $131 million earned by The Godfather. By the time of the third film in 1983 Variety reported that it had earned worldwide rentals of $270 million. All told Jaws grossed $260 million in United States and Canada and $470 million worldwide across its various releases in the 1970s. As of 2014 Jaws had sold 128 million tickets in the United States and Canada making it the seventh-highest-grossing movie of all time adjusted for ticket price inflation. Similar to how Psycho made showers a new source of anxiety Jaws led many viewers to fear going into the ocean. Some even questioned whether sharks could be in Lake Michigan. Reduced beach attendance in 1975 was attributed to it as well as more reported shark sightings. It is still seen as responsible for perpetuating negative stereotypes about sharks and their behavior and for producing the so-called Jaws effect which allegedly inspired legions of fishermen who piled into boats and killed thousands of the ocean predators in shark-fishing tournaments.
Jaws received mostly positive reviews upon release with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times giving the film four stars calling it a sensationally effective action picture. Variety's A. D. Murphy praised Spielberg's directorial skills and called Robert Shaw's performance absolutely magnificent. Pauline Kael of The New Yorker described it as the most cheerfully perverse scare movie ever made with more zest than an early Woody Allen picture. For New Times magazine Frank Rich wrote that Spielberg is blessed with a talent that is absurdly absent from most American filmmakers these days. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that not once do we feel particular sympathy for any of the shark's victims. Los Angeles Times critic Charles Champlin disagreed with the film's PG rating saying Jaws is too gruesome for children and likely to turn the stomach of the impressionable at any age. Halliwell's Film Guide stated that despite genuinely suspenseful and frightening sequences it is a slackly narrated and sometimes flatly handled thriller with an over-abundance of dialogue and when it finally appears a pretty unconvincing monster. Jaws won three Academy Awards those being for Best Film Editing Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Sound. It was also nominated for Best Picture losing to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Spielberg greatly resented the fact that he was not nominated for Best Director. Along with the Academy Award John Williams and his score won the Grammy Award the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music and the Golden Globe Award.
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Common questions
When did principal photography for Jaws begin and end?
Principal photography for Jaws began on the 2nd of May 1974 and wrapped finally on the 6th of October 1974. The production schedule stretched from a planned 55 days to 159 days due to mechanical failures with the life-sized sharks.
Who wrote the screenplay for Jaws and how was it developed?
Peter Benchley wrote the first three drafts before handing control to other writers including Howard Sackler and Carl Gottlieb. Carl Gottlieb rewrote nearly the entire script during principal photography while dialogue often originated from actors' improvisations during meals.
Which actors were cast in the main roles of Jaws?
Roy Scheider played Brody, Robert Shaw portrayed Quint, and Richard Dreyfuss appeared as Hooper. Lorraine Gary starred as Ellen Brody and Murray Hamilton played the mayor of Amity Island.
How much money did Universal spend marketing Jaws?
Universal spent $1.8 million marketing Jaws including an unprecedented $700,000 on national television spot advertising. The media blitz included about two dozen 30-second advertisements airing each night between the 18th of June 1975 and the film's opening.
What box office records did Jaws achieve upon release?
Jaws opened in 409 theaters with a record $7 million weekend and grossed $260 million in United States and Canada across its various releases in the 1970s. It became the highest-grossing film worldwide by the 11th of January 1976 with rentals of $132 million.
Did Jaws win any Academy Awards for Best Picture or Director?
Jaws won three Academy Awards for Best Film Editing Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Sound but lost Best Picture to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Steven Spielberg was not nominated for Best Director despite his role as director.