"Jaws" turns 40: Surprising facts about the first blockbuster

When "Jaws" sank its teeth into theaters in the summer of 1975, it changed the makeup of summer movies forever.

"Summers used to be associated with fun movies -- teens dancing on the beach -- but 'Jaws' brought terror and dread to the summer," says Ron Simon, Curator of Television and Radio at the Paley Center for Media in New York City.

"Now people want to be terrorized. Ever since 'Jaws,' blockbusters have been associated more with apocalypse than fun. Anxiety has become as important as a sun tan in American summers."

Jaws turns 40

The iconic Spielberg film, "Jaws," was based on an extremely popular book of the same name by Peter Benchley. And Benchley reportedly went through a long list of potential titles, before settling on the chilling one-syllable word that's solidified its place in pop culture history.

So, "Jaws" could have been called: "The Grinning Fish," "Why?," "The Scourge of Amity," "Phosphorescence," "A Dreadful Silence," "Ripple," "Pisces Redux," or "Squam."

While there's really no way to know for sure, it's likely a thriller, named "Squam," would have had a much more difficult time attracting so many theatergoers to the movies.

Jaws turns 40

When composer John Williams first played Steven Spielberg the simple two-note (E-F-E-F) bass line he wrote to musicalize the insistent, unstoppable nature of the film's shark, Spielberg laughed.

And not in a good way. In fact, Spielberg reportedly took some convincing on the music front.

Little did he know that the theme to "Jaws" would go on to become one of the most memorable scores in movie history.

Jaws turns 40

On set, the cast and crew called the movie's 25-foot mechanical shark, "Bruce."

They derived this nickname from the name of Spielberg's lawyer.

You're gonna need a bigger script

The movie's most famous line -- "You're gonna need a bigger boat" -- was not originally part of the script.

It was actually improvised during production by actor Roy Scheider.

Jaws turns 40

When "Jaws" was filmed, the sorts of CGI and special effects used today weren't around yet. So, the filmmakers had to occasionally use real sharks to get the real look they wanted.

For this, Australian shark experts Ron and Valerie Taylor were brought in to work with a group of 14-foot sharks.

However, since these real sharks were significantly smaller than "Bruce," Spielberg had to hire a very short actor to film scenes with them, in place of a standard dummy. When filmed from far away, the proportions then looked more correct and it was more believable that the real sharks swimming in the water were the same gigantic killer shark terrorizing the boat.

Jaws turns 40

Steven Spielberg cast his own dog -- a spaniel, named Elmer -- in the film as Chief Brody's dog.

Jaws turns 40

Before "Jaws," movie distributors didn't believe that you could market a film to the whole country at once. Movies would initially be released in big cities, then move to suburban arenas afterward.

"'Jaws' was the first movie that combined both audiences," says Ron Simon, Curator of Television and Radio at the Paley Center for Media, of the fact that Universal released "Jaws" to an unprecedented 465 theaters on June 20, 1975.

"Everyone could experience the same terror at the same time. It transformed the whole pattern of distribution. It was groundbreaking, almost like TV in that way."

Jaws turns 40

"Jaws" is considered the very first summer blockbuster.

"The year before 'Jaws,' there were several disaster films, but they were all released in December," says Ron Simon. "The idea that you could release a disaster film in June was absent from the Hollywood consciousness. 'Jaws' changed the whole perception of what summer is, both cinematically and psychologically. It's almost like a perfect bookend with 'Jurassic World.'"

And the "Jaws" legacy extends even further than that.

"It created the entire event summer," says Ron Simon. "The idea that there can be a movie, or a few movies, that become the tent-pole for the entire summer; that enrapture everyone."

Jaws turns 40

Peter Benchley, the man who penned the book upon which "Jaws" was based, later became an ocean conservationist and regretted the perception of sharks he popularized as cold-blooded killers.

In 2002, he told National Geographic, "The theory that sharks target humans, that they are man-eaters. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every time you see on TV people surrounded by sharks, the chances are 99 percent that [the sharks] have been baited, and it gives a false impression because, by nature, sharks will stay away from people."

Jaws turns 40

The mechanical shark constructed to play the title character in "Jaws," was not properly field tested and turned out to be a complete disaster; famously sinking to the bottom of the Nantucket Sound on its first day of work.

As it turned out, though, the shark malfunctioning may have been the best thing that could have ever happened to the film. It forced Spielberg to get more creative and come up with new strategies for suspense, like filming a number of scenes from the shark's perspective.

"I had no choice but to figure out how to tell the story without the shark," Spielberg commented on the experience. "So I just went back to Alfred Hitchcock: 'What would Hitchcock do in a situation like this?' ... It's what we don't see which is truly frightening."

Jaws turns 40

Special effects artist Robert A. Mattey, the man who designed the 25-foot mechanical great white shark in "Jaws," also famously designed the giant squid in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Spielberg reportedly drew Mattey out of retirement to take on the project, when other special effects companies scoffed at the possibility of building a mechanical shark that could both leap out of the ocean and chomp down on human prey.

Jaws turns 40

The Amity Island beach scenes in "Jaws" were all filmed in Martha's Vineyard.

And local residents were actually paid to run around in the background screaming.

Jaws turns 40

The three principal actors in "Jaws" were not all that well known at the time.

"They were on the second tier of Hollywood stars," says Ron Simon, Curator of Television and Radio at the Paley Center for Media.

"It was the concept that fueled the film, more than anything else. It was the unseen. It was the terror, more than creating a film that relied on star power."

Jaws turns 40

By all accounts, "Jaws" shouldn't have been the success that it was.

Spielberg -- a newby to big budget films -- blew through both his $4 million budget and his 55-day shooting schedule, with seemingly no end to filming in sight. He would end up spending a whopping $9 million and going 100 days over schedule to complete the film. What's more, firsthand accounts have it that much was up in the air, when production began.

"We started the film without a script, without a cast and without a shark," Richard Dreyfuss told James Lipton years later, during a taping of "Inside the Actor's Studio."

Jaws turns 40

Prior to "Jaws," movies were almost never filmed in the ocean; Hollywood studios opting instead to simply film water scenes in a tank with moving projections in the background.

The young Spielberg, however, wanted realism and it cost him. Most days, by the time the crew anchored down all of the necessary rigging, they were left with only about two hours of light with which to shoot.

Good thing his gamble paid off, or "Jaws" might have marked the end of his career.

Jaws turns 40

"Jaws" was only the second feature film that Steven Spielberg directed.

And the young director (then 27) had only completed his debut film, "The Sugarland Express," the year before.

So, his name is notably not in the original trailer... an omission that would be unthinkable today.

Jaws turns 40

Jaws was also groundbreaking in the way that it captivated American audiences for a prolonged length of time.

"Before 'Jaws,' if distributors were thinking of summer, they were thinking of drive-ins. Movies were more hit and run back then, but Jaws dominated the box office for 14 weeks," says Ron Simon of the Paley Center for Media.

"The idea that you could create a summer film that could build by word of mouth was totally counter to the traditional thinking that you would do a crazy exploitational concept, and then the film would just move on. Hollywood executives didn't recognize the power of how much audiences had changed. Suburban malls had become a gathering place for teenagers. So, talking to friends was now part of the cinematic experience, and 'Jaws' played into that.

"Now with Thursday midnight screenings, it's intensified; but the idea begins with 'Jaws.' It created a template, both aesthetically and commercially, that is really part and parcel of how we now think of the summer blockbuster film."