We're Going to Need a Bigger Blog: Celebrating 44 Years of Jaws

In the summer of 1975 audiences swarmed in all over the world excited to see this surprisingly PG-rated film Jaws. This classic cost roughly $7 million to make, but went on to gross more than $470 million worldwide, launching the career of Steven Spielberg and is still easily one of the most recognized movies in history. We're celebrating the release date of Jaws with these epic tattoos and a few behind the scenes facts. 

Robert Shaw was not the first choice for Quint (or the second choice). Originally they expected the role would go to Lee Marvin and after he turned it down they offered it to Sterling Hayden. Hayden turned down the role as well and producers then recommended British actor, Robert Shaw, who as we all know portrayed the part perfectly. 

Tattoo by: Dominick Cali

The movie was based roughly on the novel, but of course didn't do everything according to that. The novel called for Hooper to be killed when the shark bites through the cage underwater, but the Australia crew had captured footage of a great white attacking an empty shark cage, so Spielberg wanted to use that instead, hence Hooper escapes, sparing Dreyfuss' character. Could you imagine seeing the film without Hooper surviving? Comment below!

Tattoo by: Jay Joree

George Lucas came to visit Spielberg on set, he jokingly put his head in the shark's mouth and Spielberg attempted to prank him by closing the shark's mouth; unfortunately, this led to the stubborn mechanical shark trapping Lucas's head and the crew had to pry the shark's mouth open. 

Tattoo by: Juan Reyes

Quint's boat, named the Orca, sank unexpectedly during filming which soaked cameras and nearly ruined the day's completed footage. The waterlogged film was flown to a lab in New York, where technicians were able to save it!

Tattoo by: Barry Carolan

You might be wondering why the shark in Jaws doesn't show up until roughly 20 minutes into the film, well it was due to all the mechanical issues with the shark. Spielberg had to create clever ways to shoot around the non-functional "Bruce."Bruce was designed and built by the production designer, Joe Alves, and weighed 1.2 tons! 

Tattoo by: Russell Kelley

Which fact surprised you the most? Comment below!