Being one of the renowned filmmakers in Hollywood, Steven Spielberg has given some of the most popular franchises, including Jaws and Indiana Jones. While the latter has gained recognition for the adventures of the archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones, Jaws has been the first full-scale blockbuster of the director. The filmmaker is sharing some of the most interesting behind-the-scenes stories of the 1975 film in his upcoming book.
These behind-the-scenes stories range from the drowning of the Orca to their struggles with bad weather. One such story features one of the cast members of the film, Robert Shaw, who almost got the 1975 hit sued with his improvised acting.
Robert Shaw’s Improvised Dialogues Concerned Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie Jaws made the filmmaker a household name. Although the film has some iconic scenes and dialogues, one of the most quoted lines from the film was not even in the script. Roy Scheider’s iconic line in which he tells Robert Shaw (Quint), “You’ll need a bigger boat,” was never actually part of the script.
However, Scheider was not the only one improvising on the scene. The director shared that during filming one of the scenes, he asked Shaw to tease Lorraine Gary and Matt Hooper for wearing rubber boots and a rubber outfit. And while filming the scene, the actor recited a poem.
“This is the story of Mary McGee, who lived to the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years, she kept her virginity, not a bad record for this vicinity,” he recalled the poem. However, he was concerned regarding its rights and asked the same from the late actor.
He told him that if the excerpt was from a song, saying that they couldn’t use “it without paying for the rights.” However, The Sting star assured him that it was not from any song and that they would not be sued for using it as he “got it from a tombstone in Ireland!” However, that is not the only behind-the-scenes story surrounding the late English actor.
Robert Shaw Challenged Dick Zanuck to a Fistfight
In his upcoming book, Spielberg: The First Ten Years, Steven Spielberg also talks about how some of the things went horribly wrong while filming the 1975 thriller. He has shared that the malfunctioning in the mechanical Shark, Bruce, was one of the biggest issues.
And it was not the only problem for the filming. The Indiana Jones director recalled Robert Shaw’s words, saying, “I’ll never forget that one of the first things Robert Shaw said to me was, ‘I haven’t had a drink in two months!'”
However, the film’s producer, Dick Zanuck, warned him that he believed Shaw had been drinking and that it could cause a delay in the production. While he was not concerned initially, as the mechanical Shark was not working, he was seriously worried after the actor and producer almost got into a fistfight. “If Shaw had gotten a black eye, that would definitely have put us further behind schedule!” Spielberg shared.
Jaws is available on Peacock TV.
Spielberg: The First Ten Years is expected to be released on 24 October 2023.
Source: Vanity Fair
