8. Real Sharks
Photo: twitter
Even though there was a massive mechanical shark used for the great majority of the shark scenes in the film, the producers wanted footage of real sharks as well. And even though Spielberg was hesitant to do so, he ended up using a small amount here and there. One of the main scenes was when Hooper was attacked while in the shark cage. To pull this off, Spielberg once again had to get creative. He ended up hiring well-known shark experts Ron and Valerie Taylor to capture footage of some 14-foot sharks off the coast of Australia. But in order to paint the picture of Jaws being this bigger than life, he also hired a little person actor by the name of Carl Rizzo and had a mini shark cage built. That way, Rizzo playing the part of Hooper created the illusion that the shark was much larger than it actually was.
7. Quint Was Real!
Photo: historyvshollywood
Robert Shaw did such a fantastic job playing the role of “Quint,” to the point that it’s one of the most memorable characters in the film, aside from “Bruce” the shark of course. And it turns out that Shaw had some help in creating the character, which he got from a local Martha’s Vineyard fisherman. The fisherman’s name was Craig Kingsbury, and he helped Shaw develop the proper accent used in the film. Kingsbury also told Shaw old stories of the sea that was later incorporated into some of Shaw’s improvised dialogue.