7 Times Movie Studios And Directors Went To War
3. Jaws
Jaws is infamous for having one of the most difficult shoots in film history. The two leads were only cast nine days before filming. The three shark animatronics kept malfunctioning, which is why the beast rarely appears in the movie. As a result, the director, a young an inexperienced Steven Spielberg, struggled to find anything to film. Although the film was meant to be wrapped in 55 days, the shoot ballooned to 159 days. The producers said they would have never made the film if they knew how complicated the shoot was going to be.
Once the film wrapped, the producers ordered Spielberg to get it edited immediately. Spielberg felt unhappy with the scene where Hooper investigates Ben Gardner's boat as it lacked tension. He decided to insert a shot of Ben's corpse popping out of the wreckage, terrifying Hooper. This is considered to be one of the greatest jumps scares in movie history.
When Spielberg asked the studio for money to shoot the scene, they refused. Spielberg spent $3,000 of his own money to shoot this scene in a pool. Because normal water looks different to seawater, Spielberg put milk powder in the pool while shooting the scene so it looked like the ocean. He then put a tarp over the pool to limit the light in the scene.
When Spielberg observed the audience members watching the test screenings for Jaws, he noticed that this scene recieved the biggest scream from the whole film. When Spielberg saw this, he realised he made the right decision to reshoot it.
Despite the fact the producers refused to help Spielberg, Jaws became the most successful film of all time within 78 days. It also kickstarted Spielberg's career and the film became the first summer blockbuster.