40 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About 'Jaws'

Time to feel old, everybody: "Jaws" turns 40 this year. To celebrate the milestone, here are 40 things you should know about Steven Spielberg's classic anti-swimming ever ad.

1. On set, the shark was nicknamed "Bruce," after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer. The great white in "Finding Nemo" is named Bruce as well, in homage.

2. The iconic opening sequence (left) took three full days to shoot.

3. Original scheduled number of shooting days for the film: 55.

4. Number of actual shooting days: 159.

5. The shark's first full appearance in the two-hour film occurs at the 1:21 mark.

6. Lee Marvin was originally considered for the role of Quint, but the actor passed.

7. After Robert Shaw secured the role of Quint, he is rumored to have modeled his performance after real-life fisherman, Craig Kingsbury –- a native of Martha's Vineyard at the time.

8. Originally, Spielberg scripted the first introduction to Quint to take place in a movie theater, where the grizzled fisherman would be watching (and laughing) at the movie, "Moby Dick." The star of that film, Gregory Peck, deep-six'd the idea as he owned the distribution rights to that film and disliked his performance so much in it that he didn't want it to be seen.

9. Quint's shack, the one with boiling pots full of shark jaws, was the only set built for the movie.

10. The film's most often quoted line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," was completely improvised by Roy Scheider.

11. For the role of Hooper, George Lucas recommended that Spielberg look at Richard Dreyfus. Spielberg was already a fan of the actor, after having seen his work in "American Graffiti".

12. However, Dreyfus was not the first choice for Hooper -- he was fourth, after Jon Voight, Jeff Bridges (pictured), and Timothy Bottoms.

13. One of the biggest changes from the book to the movie is the character of Hooper. In the book, he and Mrs. Brody have an affair.

14. In early versions of the script, this love triangle was incorporated but (thankfully) excised from the final draft.

15. Also, in the book, Hooper does not survive his encounter with the shark.

16. Why the change of heart over Hooper's fate? In the movie, it was originally scripted to kill him during his shark cage encounter. But during that scene, which required a real great white to attack the cage, the creature got caught between the bars. Spielberg liked the footage so much he used it in the film and tweaked the ending as a result.

17. Roy Scheider was cast in the film when, while attending a party, he overheard Steven Spielberg pitch the scene where the shark crashes onto Quint's boat. He was so impressed with that story beat that he reportedly asked the director on the spot to cast him.

18. Despite being depicted in the film as 25 feet long ("3 tons of 'im"), footage of real-life, 14-foot sharks had to be used for scenes showing the beast swimming underwater.

19. Peter Benchley struggled over what to title his novel, reportedly settling on "Jaws" 20 minutes before heading to the presses.

20. What were some of the alternate titles Benchley considered? "Jaws of Leviathan," "Leviathan Rising," "The Stillness in the Water," The Jaws of Death," and "The Silence of the Deep."

21. Originally, Benchley and his editor had really low expectations for the book's prospects. But after a book club and "Reader's Digest" made it one of their top recommendations, Bantam bought "Jaws" and then Universal soon picked up the movie rights for $150,000.

22. Before becoming a successful author, Benchley (above right) was a reporter for the Washington Post.

23. The memorable scene involving the Amity Island billboard that gets vandalized with a shark fin? It had to be built, filmed and taken down -- all in one day.

24. The two notes that comprise John Williams' (pictured, right) iconic theme? E and F.

25. Shaw and Dreyfus did not get along well during production.

26. Despite the animosity between the two actors, Dreyfus is on record stating that "one of the most riveting things he'd ever seen or heard" was Shaw delivering the iconic "Indianapolis" speech.

27. At the end of the film, when the shark (SPOILER!) goes all explode-y, Spielberg was not on set to shoot the climatic sequence. The second unit completed the scene, as Spielberg was in L.A. at the time.

28. To help him get a better handle on what the movie needed to be, Spielberg wrote a draft of the script -- but only a few scenes from it remain in the final film.

29. Spielberg's first reaction to hearing the now-iconic theme for the first time? He LOL'd, thinking it would be "too simple" at the time.

30. With a budget of $7 million (some say $9 million) and a box office take of more than $470 million worldwide, "Jaws" remains one of the most profitable movies ever. (Oh, and that's more than $1 billion when adjusted for inflation.)

31. Before settling on Martha's Vineyard as the shooting location, the filmmakers considered Jamaica, due to how clear its waters are.

32. Many fans know that the mechanical shark rig sank when first deployed in the waters of Martha's Vineyard. But few know that Quint's boat, The Orca, also sank during the shooting of a scene.

33. One of the film's biggest fans? Fidel Castro.

34. Spielberg was not the first choice for the director's chair. Rumor has it that the original director was fired because he didn't know the difference between a shark and a whale.

35. Why was Benchley at one point banned from set? Because he strongly voiced his dislike for the film's ending.

36. Number of victims killed by the shark: Five. Well, six, if you include the dog on the beach ("Pippen?" "PIPPEN?!")

37. The hand of the first victim, Chrissie, that is found sticking up through the sand was, in fact, that of a crew member. They originally used a dummy hand, but Spielberg thought it looked too fake.

38. The film originally had a budget of $3.5 million, but production overages (thanks, mechanical shark!) caused it to swell to a reported $9 million.

39. Brody's dog in the film was played by Spielberg's dog, Elmer.

40. The production needed an explosives expert with a permit before filming the finale. Enter Richard "Dick" Edwards, pictured here slipping inside the mouth of the shark with some dynamite between his teeth.