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Five decades after Steven Spielberg's animal horror, Jaws, changed Hollywood's landscape forever, a documentary detailing the behind-the-scenes called Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story premiered on July 11, 2025. The National Geographic piece explores the ups and downs of making the movie, and how it almost didn't come to fruition.
From budget conflicts to successfully improvised scenes, the documentary shines a light on one of the most commercially successful moments in Spielberg's career. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, the documentary features interviews with him and several members of the crew. Since the movie is based on the novel by the late Peter Benchley, it also contains testimonials from his family.
Jaws @ 50 explored the movie's impact on cinema and pop culture.
Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong to the writer.
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6 interesting reveals from the Jaws @ 50 documentary
1) Director Steven Spielberg thought it would be his last movie
From the beginning, Jaws was plagued with production issues. First, the movie's budget exceeded their projections. To add to that, there were multiple issues with the mechanical shark used for filming, and the bad weather conditions didn't help. The lead actor, Robert Shaw, also struggled with alcoholism. This delayed schedule by over 3 months raised several eyebrows at Universal Pictures.
Spielberg recalls having a panic attack while making the movie and waking up having nightmares for years afterwards, but clarifies he was only afraid of being fired, and never wanted to quit. He says:
“There were times making that movie when I thought ‘Jaws’ would probably be the last thing I ever made before people would stop hiring me."
Sidney Sheinberg, the then-head of Universal Pictures, visited the set and expressed concern for the movie's completion. Spielberg convinced the higher-up that he would do it, and the director made it into the cult classic it is today.
2) A lot of scenes were improvised
Spontaneity played a big part in creating some of the most iconic moments in Jaws. As most fans already know, Brody's line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was ad-libbed by the actor, Rob Schneider. But the impact of the line landed because of the action that came afterwards. The actor stepped away and into the cabin while keeping his shocked eyes on where the shark had been to drive his point home.
Most of Richard Dreyfuss's scenes with Robert Shaw as Quint and Hooper were also improvised based on the natural back-and-forth between the actors. Their bickering and banter off-screen translated to funny moments on-screen, especially the drinking battle between the duo. Hooper's iconic Styrofoam cup crushing moment was entirely improvised.
“There was a lot of Richard challenging Robert and Robert challenging Richard,” Spielberg recalled. “They were kind of sparring partners — but it really turned out in hindsight to be a playful banter that was unique to their personal relationships.”- Stven Spielberg in Jaws @ 50.
3) One of the scariest moments was filmed last minute
Production issues and improvised scenes continued to go hand-in-hand on the set of Jaws till the last moment. When Universal Pictures declined to finance the scene where Hooper discovers Ben's body in the ocean, Spielberg had to figure out a workaround. The scene was one of the final ones to be filmed.
The director borrowed editor Verna Fields' private swimming pool at her home and added milk to the water to recreate the ocean's translucence. He also financed the scene with his own money. Without this bit of trickery, the movie might have missed out on one of its scariest jump scares.
4) Spielberg's Oscars disappointment
While Jaws was nominated for four Oscars for best editing, sound mixing, original score, and picture, Steven Spielberg wasn't nominated in the Best Director category. This came as a shock, which the director expresses in the Jaws @ 50 documentary. He explains that he assumed he was being nominated.
“So when I wasn’t, I was surprised. And I was disappointed, because I was believing the noise, and you have to not believe that stuff.”
However, as the documentary portrays, Spielberg's success with the movie went way beyond the Academy Awards and redefined cinema. The director concedes that he would vote for One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. So it might just be water under the bridge.
5) The movie's first cut was way more violent
Spielberg explains in Jaws @ 50 that he wanted to replicate the authenticity of a shark attack. This meant explicitly grotesque scenes that went all out on the blood and guts. It was only during the editing process that Spielberg realized he wanted to cut out much of the violence and horror. This made the movie more commercially appealing.
The director explains that he came to his senses during editing, which helped him secure a PG-13 rating from the MPAA instead of an A. This ensured that a wider audience could watch the movie and make it the pop culture phenomenon it is today.
6) Robert Mattey was brought out of retirement for the movie
Academy Award-nominated Robert Mattey was one of the most skilled special effects artists, with movies like The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Mary Poppins (1964). But when Jaws was pitched, the artist had retired from films and was at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he was creating animatronic characters for Disneyland, like the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Art director Joe Alves designed the sharks, and Mattey was brought out of retirement to design the animatronic sharks used in the film. He and his team assembled three sharks--one that went straight, and the other two that went left to right and vice versa--that functioned with pneumatic hoses and compressed gas.
However, once the machines hit the ocean's rough waves, they constantly malfunctioned, leading to repairs and production delays.
Catch more facts about the movie on Jaws @ 50, streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
