The “stingy” producers that gave ‘Jaws’ its iconic line
Troubled productions can often yield the best results. Regarding the obstacles faced during filming relative to the impact made by the final product, there are few better examples in Hollywood history than Jaws.
Steven Spielberg’s breakthrough feature was beset by countless rewrites and a contentious casting process before cameras had even started rolling, and the issues would only exacerbate on set. Going vastly over budget and more than 100 days over schedule, Spielberg was also plagued by a faulty mechanical shark that barely passed muster at the best of times. To make things more complicated for him, John Williams submitted a two-note motif as the film’s signature theme, which he initially thought was a joke.
Of course, the minefields that were navigated during production proved to be worth it and then some when Jaws was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in the summer of 1975. It not only became the highest-grossing release of all time but completely revolutionised the entirety of cinema.
By scaring an entire generation out of the water, Spielberg managed to lure them into their local multiplex instead, where his shark attack thriller would destroy all existing box office records and usher in the blockbuster era. Heavily-marketed high-concept movies arrived on thousands of screens at once to maximise opening weekend profits. It’s standard practice these days and has been for decades, but at the time, Jaws was a revolutionary.
Some of the classic’s finest moments were born directly from the beleaguered experience of actually making the thing, with the director famously spending $3,000 of his own money to fund Jaws‘ unforgettable jump scare of a dead body emerging from a sunken boat. Universal refused to stump up the cash to shoot yet more footage for what had become an already nightmarish expense in the studio’s eyes.
The single most iconic line of dialogue has similar origins, too, with “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” originating as an inside joke. As writer Carl Gottlieb told The Hollywood Reporter, the soundbite had been repeatedly uttered on set anytime things went awry during the shoot, which was often.
He explained: “Richard Zanuck and David Brown were very stingy producers, so everyone kept telling them ‘you’re gonna need a bigger boat.'”
Continuing, he added that it had become a byword for misfortune: “It became a catchphrase for any time anything went wrong,” he said, “If lunch was late or the swells were rocking the camera, someone would say ‘you’re gonna need a bigger boat.'”
Star Roy Scheider had tried to work it into his performance at several points throughout the story, but it ended up making the cut at the perfect moment. “It was so appropriate and so real,” admitted Gottleib, who also credited editor Verna Field for ensuring it perfectly matched the rhythm of witnessing the great white in all of its glory for the first time.
