The film is based on a novel by New Jersey-based writer Peter Benchley. For many years, it's been said that Benchley was inspired by a series of shark attacks that occurred in 1916 along the Jersey Shore, killing four people and injuring one.
Though it premiered back in 1975, Jaws has instilled multiple generations with galeophobia (the irrational fear of sharks), leaving viewers with one simple question that they hope will ease their distress: Jaws is not based on a true story…
These incidents, known collectively as the New Jersey Shark Attacks of 1916, not only set off a nationwide panic but would eventually serve as the inspiration for one of the most successful and iconic horror films in cinematic history – “Jaws.”
However, as it turns out, many facts surrounding the sinking of the USS Indianapolis were grossly exaggerated to feed the shark's menacing but largely undeserved reputation.
“The average bather knew or cared little about sharks,” writes historian Beryl Francis. Any terrifying tales about the creatures were “accepted as simply sailors' lore and legend.” The Navy sponsored a secret program to develop a chemical repellent called “Shark Chaser.”
In California, the film led to vendetta killings, great white shark tournaments, a commercial fishery that along with bycatch in a gillnet fishery, almost completely wiped out the population of white sharks along the west coast of North America.
The Orca II was a special-effects version of the fishing boat used in the movie. Now, fans come from all over to visit places on the Vineyard where Jaws was filmed, but neither of the Orcas are still in existence. Enter David Bigelow.
Between July 1 and 12, 1916, five people were attacked along the coast of New Jersey by sharks; only one of the victims survived. The first major attack occurred on Saturday, July 1 at Beach Haven, a resort town established on Long Beach Island off the southern coast of New Jersey.
The debate over the shooting stars in Jaws continues, with some claiming they were real and others asserting they were CGI effects. Evidence suggests that the shooting stars were likely created through CGI, with visual effects artists analyzing the motion blur and lack of distortion.
"So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men came out, the sharks took the rest. . ." Captain Quint is a fictional character, but the story he recounted includes enough basic fact to make it seem like the whole story.
Was the underwater shark footage in Jaws real true false?
Steven Spielberg astride the villain of Jaws. Courtesy of Universal Pictures & Insight Editions. You hired the famous shark experts and documentary filmmakers Ron and Valerie Taylor to film real-life shark footage back in Australia.
Because of these characteristics, many experts consider bull sharks to be the most dangerous sharks in the world. Historically, they are joined by their more famous cousins, great whites and tiger sharks, as the three species most likely to attack humans.
Common sense says that the villain of Jaws is Bruce. He's a giant, man-eating shark that terrorizes peaceful beachgoers in a small New England island community. But really, he just represents an act of nature, something that a society traditionally rallies against and mitigates the damage from.
Still, the producers hoped they could lure him back to the franchise with the promise that Chief Brody would be killed by the shark in the opening attack. This didn't sway Scheider though, and so the scene was changed to have Chief Brody's grown-up son, Sean (now a police deputy) be the unfortunate victim.
(WFLA) – The first “victim” to fall to the shark in Steven Spielberg's iconic “Jaws” film was once a Weeki Wachee mermaid. Susan Backlinie portrays Chrissie Watkins, the shark's first victim in the 1975 film. Backlinie was a Weeki Wachee mermaid in the 1960s.
The proverbial other shoe dropped in December of 2011, when Universal announced that Jaws and the entire Amity area would be closing to to be replaced by 'an exciting, NEW, experience” which was soon revealed to be the Diagon Alley expansion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
In the film's final 20-minutes, we begin to understand that Quint is, indeed, a man on a mission. His attempt to draw the shark into shallow waters is foiled by his pride as, rather than listen to Hooper, he destroys the engine of the ORCA.
What was the reward for killing the shark in Jaws?
She advertises a reward of $3,000 for anyone who can kill the shark. Dun dun. A fisherman named Quint offers to kill the shark for $10,000, and Brody asks the oceanographic institute on the mainland to send one of their shark experts.
So, when Peter Benchley wrote his blockbuster novel, Jaws, he didn't need to stretch reality that much to make his monster. The shark in the novel comes in at about 20 feet from tip to tail, and Steven Spielberg added another five just for flare, when he made the movie.
There were actually three fake sharks. Two were mounted on an arm like a crane, which ran along submerged steel rails allowing a run of more than 50ft in a straight line. One could be filmed from the left, the other from the right.
