10 Genius Ways Movies Fixed Their Own Mistakes

7. The Malfunctioning Shark Prop Was Ditched For The Sake Of Suspense - Jaws

Steven Spielberg's Jaws isn't just the quintessential Hollywood blockbuster, it's a tightly-wound suspense masterpiece that remains virtually unrivalled over 40 years later.

But things almost turned out very differently, and only due to a series of production setbacks did the film become what it is today.

Originally, the shark was supposed to have a far more pervasive presence throughout the film, but the time-consuming maintenance and routine malfunctioning of the three shark props prompted Spielberg to change tack mid-shooting.

With the sharks having to be drained of salt water and repainted every night, Spielberg had had enough. He later said, "I had no choice but to figure out how to tell the story without the shark. 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."

Spielberg opted instead to focus on both the human element and the art of implication, splicing together only scarce glimpses of the shark for most of the film, outside of the more outlandish set-piece moments.

And the film was clearly all the better for it, creating a blueprint that Hollywood has been following for almost half a century.

Furthermore, it confirmed how the fear of the unknown and the unseen is so much more effective than over-exposing the audience to fancy props.