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.