What Could Have Been / Jaws

Jaws

• The original introduction for Quint had him in the local movie theater watching Moby-Dick starring Gregory Peck. Quint was to be sitting at the back of the theater, laughing so loudly at the absurd special effects of the whale that he drove the other viewers to exit the theater. Eventually, Quint would be discovered sitting by himself. Spielberg says that the only thing that stopped him from doing that scene was Peck, who held part of the rights to that movie. When Spielberg approached him for permission to use the footage, Peck turned him down, not because he thought it was a bad idea to use the film that way, but because Peck did not like his performance in the film and did not want the film seen again.^note In a bit of ironic prescience, 1991's Cape Fear, which was a remake of a Gregory Peck movie and had him in a minor role, had such a scene with Max Cady laughing out loud in a theater and displeasing everyone else.
• Spielberg considered Charlton Heston for Brody, before deciding that if Heston would have been cast, it signifies to the audience that the shark has virtually no chance against the hero. Heston never forgave Spielberg when he found out and later made disparaging comments about Spielberg and vowed never to work with him, turning down Spielberg's offer of the role of General Stilwell in 1941 (1979).
• The role of Brody was also offered to Robert Duvall, but he declined, as he was worried the film might make him "too famous". Gene Hackman was also considered.
• Spielberg's first choice to play Quint was Lee Marvin, who thanked him but replied that he would rather go fishing. Spielberg then wanted Sterling Hayden, but he was in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid tax. Robert Mitchum and Oliver Reed also turned it down.
• Jeff Bridges, Joel Grey, Charles Grodin, Jan-Michael Vincent and Jon Voight were considered for the role of Hooper. Kevin Kline was offered the role and told Spielberg that he knew someone who was an oceanographer and thought he could play one. Spielberg then told him "I don't want someone who knows someone who is an oceanographer, I want someone who is an oceanographer".
• Michael Winner, fresh from his success with Death Wish, was considered to direct. John Sturges and The Culpepper Cattle Co. director Dick Richards were also approached.
  • Spielberg thought of an alternate ending where after the shark is blown up, Brody would look up to see several shark fins.
• The attack on Alex Kintner was originally going to be even more gruesome and terrifying. Originally, it was planned that the shark would rise from the depths and gobble up Alex in plain sight. It was scrapped for being too graphic, and the film went with a Nothing Is Scarier approach where the attack isn't clearly shown. However, the scene was filmed at some point, and there's a truly creepy picture showing what it would have looked like.

Jaws 2

• Had Spielberg returned to direct, the movie would have been a prequel focusing on Quint's time on the USS Indianapolis.
• Matt Hooper was supposed to appear in the film, but Richard Dreyfuss was occupied.
• John Frankenheimer and Otto Preminger were considered to direct.
• The original plot involved the sons of Quint and Brody hunting a new shark.
• John Hancock was brought on as the director for the first few months of filming with a script by Dorothy Tristan. Their version had originally a different tone and premise than what would eventually be seen in the final film. The two had envisioned Amity as a sort of ghost-town when the film opened with several businesses shuttered and the island's overall economy in ruins due to the events seen in the first film. The new resort and condos built on the island by developer Len Peterson were to help celebrate its rebirth giving the island's economy a much needed boost. Tristan had borrowed a subplot from the original Jaws novel and from a discarded early draft of the first film, in which Amity officials were in debt to the Mafia. Both Mayor Vaughn and Len Peterson were anxious for the new island resort to be a success not only to revive Amity but to pay back loans from the Mob that helped build it, thus leading to Vaughn's and Peterson's ignoring of Brody's warning. Tristan and Hancock felt this treatment would lead to more character development that would make the overall story that much more believable.
  • This darker take is strongly reflected in Hank Searls' novelisation. Searls chose to combine the Mafia elements from the Hancock version with the teenage sailing party from the Szwarc version (along with a subplot in which Sean Brody cares for an injured seal) to create what is billed on the cover as "A Completely New Novel". Although it's titled "Jaws 2" and uses the famous theatrical poster art of the waterskier for its front cover, it is indeed its own story rather than a direct novelisation of the released movie.
• In the "final" draft screenplay, the helicopter pilot and Marge (the girl who rescues Sean) both survive. The pilot is able to breathe thanks to an air bubble in the 'copter's cockpit and Marge avoids the shark by diving underwater. The pilot spots Marge swimming underwater, goes after her, then guides her back inside the cockpit so they can share the air.

Jaws 3 D

• Jennifer Jason Leigh auditioned for Kelly Ann Bukowski.
• Peter Firth and David Warner were offered the role of Philip FitzRoyce.
• As noted on the trivia page, this was originally going to be a parody movie in the National Lampoon series, called National Lampoon's Jaws 3, People 0.
• The original script had several differences with the final product. For one, Calvin Bouchard was named Arnold Calvin and had a minor role, disappearing after having the shark moved to another exhibit which killed it. Philip FitzRoyce was named Philip Hutton, and was depicted as a Great White Hunter who moonlighted as a reporter and documentarian famous for battling and killing dangerous fish on camera. His death was also slightly different; rather than being crushed inside the shark’s mouth, he instead dies when it pulls his plug to the oxygen tank and causes him to drown before he can escape. Kelly also died when the shark attacked her, and it severely injured Sean in the process, which resulted in him being hospitalized. The shark’s attack on the control room caused several of the technicians to die. There was also a bigger connection to the first film (while the second film was reduced to Canon Discontinuity), with Michael suffering PTSD from his encounter with the shark and there were several references to Chief Brody and Amity, with Brody alive and well, still police chief in the island and apparently enjoying a peaceful, shark-free life.
• Universal wanted the shark to be the one that was supposedly electrocuted at the end of Jaws 2.
• Richard Matheson was also requested to write a role specifically for Mickey Rooney, saying that "when Mickey Rooney turned out not to be available, the whole part was pointless".

Jaws: The Revenge

• The studio considered making the film in 3D — which would have made this the first film franchise to have two 3D sequels — but worries about the cost of shipping the 3D film cameras to the Bahamas and keeping them working properly in the tropical climate nixed that idea.
• The infamous "Exploding Shark" ending was a hasty reaction to poor testings of the original ending, where the shark was impaled by the boat. Another bit hastily changed was the fate of Jake, who originally died during the ending. Test audiences were upset by this, and it was changed so that he lives (though the footage of him being mauled by the shark was left in anyway, making his survival quite the Ass Pull).
• Earlier drafts of the script (titled Jaws: The Return) re-used the "kill the shark via electrocution" ending of Jaws 2, which was likely changed due to the film-makers wanting something different, and the script depicting it in such a way that it would also have killed Ellen as well. Other drafts had the shark being the shark from the second film out for revenge and the offspring of the shark from the second film out for revenge.
• The original script featured a cameo for Matt Hooper. In Hooper's scene, he calls the Brodys and is greeted on the phone by Thea, who knows him as "Uncle Matt". Hooper is established as being close to Michael and Carla, who calls him "my second favorite marine biologist", and he gives them his condolences about Sean's death. Hooper and Michael discuss their careers, the late Martin Brody, and Hooper's once spending Christmas with the family, with Martin dressed as Santa Claus. The scene ends when Michael heads off to summon Ellen to the phone to talk to Hooper. This was scrapped when Richard Dreyfuss refused to return.
• Carla Brody was meant to be Kathryn Morgan from the previous film.
• Reportedly, Roy Scheider was approached about returning to do the film, but declined. There are conflicting stories as to his refusal. One is that he flatly refused, the other is that he told the creators he would only return if he was killed off in the beginning of the movie. In the final film, Sean Brody gets that fate.
• The film initially planned on using both miniature models (including some Stop Motion) and live sharks to supplement the effects of the full size mechanical prop. Both were subsequently dropped due to being a poor match for the, as model maker Ted Rae puts it, "concrete slab with teeth".