MEMORIES OF JAWS

Roy Scheider stated in an interview that in the scene where Lee Fierro (Mrs. Kintner) smacks him in the face in "Jaws" (1975), she was actually hitting him. Apparently, the actress could not fake a slap and so the seventeen takes were some of the "most painful" of his acting career. Also, Fierro stated in several interviews that in one of the takes when she slapped Roy Scheider, his glasses fell off.

The role of Brody was offered to Robert Duvall, but the actor was interested only in portraying Quint. Charlton Heston expressed a desire for the role, but Spielberg felt that Heston would bring a screen persona too grand for the part of a police chief of a modest community. Scheider became interested in the project after overhearing Spielberg at a party talk with a screenwriter about having the shark jump up onto a boat. Spielberg was initially apprehensive about hiring Scheider, fearing he would portray a "tough guy", similar to his role in "The French Connection" (1971).

When Scheider was trapped in the sinking Orca, it took 75 takes to get the shot right. Scheider did not trust the special effects team to rescue him in case of an emergency so he hid axes and hatchets around the cabin just in case.

Scheider's ad-libbed line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was voted 35th on the American Film Institute's list of best movie quotes.