Steven Spielberg explains how the opening scene of ‘Jaws’ was actually shot
Befitting its reputation as a cursed production that ended up shattering records and changing the face of cinema forever despite the difficulties it faced every step of the way, not even the opening scene of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was immune from trouble. However, it triumphed over the trials and tribulations that beset the film on its way to greatness.
In practice, it’s relatively simple stuff. Susan Backlinie’s Amity Island resident Chrissie goes for a late-night swim during a party on the beach, only to be dragged to the depths by an unseen predator. The actor is entirely committed as she thrashes around while trying desperately to keep her head above water but capturing the footage was far from straightforward.
While Backlinie was informed that she would be strapped into a harness and thrown around by a shark, Spielberg wasn’t forthcoming with every piece of relevant information. In fact, she was told the bare minimum, sharing how she fittingly “kind of felt like shark bait” during shooting.
Spielberg explained the process in greater detail in an excerpt from Spielberg: The First Ten Years shared with Vanity Fair. It was a lot more labour-intensive than Backlinie’s description of how “they put a pair of cut-off jeans on me and hooked cables up to the side”.
“There were two eye rings in it and wires that led to two stakes in the beach. Five crew were on one side, and five crew on the other, and they basically pulled Susan,” Spielberg shared. “There was a ribbon hanging from the wire, and when it got to one of the stakes, they had to stop pulling, and the other team took over and pulled the other way.”
The filmmaker noted that “what you didn’t want to have happen was for both teams to pull at the same time,” which would have been extremely dangerous in regards to the performer’s physical well-being. Although Backlinie “had the ability to quick-release the wire if something went wrong,” the scene necessitated that “it had to be perfectly choreographed to give the impression the shark was pulling her violently to the right and then immediately violently to the left”.
Despite the safety precautions in place, Backlinie revealed that she was never informed of the exact moment Chrissie would be submerged under the water, never to be seen again. Spielberg opted not to tell her in the name of realism and authenticity.
The brief moment of panic that sets in right before she disappears forever didn’t require much acting at all, then, because the performer was caught completely unaware on each take which moment would be her last. It can’t have been the most pleasant experience on set, but it works wonders for the immediacy and unpredictability of the threat posed by Jaws‘ great white.
