Were Steven Spielberg's Infamous Mechanical Shark Woes on Jaws Caused by Pesky Local Kids?

While Steven Spielberg is now considered one of the greatest storytellers of the last century — cinematic or otherwise — the celebrated filmmaker's career nearly ended before it began. Why? A mechanical sharked lovingly nicknamed "Bruce" refused to smile for the camera.

It's common knowledge among cinema lovers that the faux great white man-eater, famously designed by Joe Alves, regularly broke down during the production of Jaws (now streaming on Peacock alongside its increasingly wild sequels), causing both the shoot and budget to balloon out of control, while placing a 26-year-old Spielberg in the sights of disgruntled studio executives at Universal Pictures. Everything worked itself out once the box office dollars began stacking up in the summer of 1975, but the grueling experience of getting the darn thing made left a bad taste in Spielberg's mouth for a long time afterwards. It's probably one of the main reasons he decided not to get involved with any of the subsequent Jaws projects — none of which managed to capture the blockbuster magic of the original.

According to The Daily Jaws, Bruce's catastrophic mechanical failures were the result of shooting in saltwater. The shark had only been tested in freshwater tanks in Los Angeles and could not handle the briny waves off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, where principal photography took place. However, the weathering maritime backdrop may have only played a supporting role in Spielberg's shark-related woes. In the words of every Scooby-Doo! villain who ever lived, the problem may have come down to a group of "meddling kids."

For More on Jaws:
Model Who Posed As Ill-Fated Swimmer for Iconic Jaws Poster Preaches Shark Protection
How Steven Spielberg's First Theatrical Movie (and Box Office Bomb) Led to Jaws
Steven Spielberg Recalls How a Man Puked on the Theater Floor During an Early Screening of Jaws

Did the Shark on Jaws Constantly Break Down Because of Some Meddling Kids?

American director Steven Spielberg, camera operator Michael Chapman, and cinematographer Bill Butler on the set of Jaws (1975) in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Recently speaking with SYFY WIRE over Zoom, Jaws cast member Jeffrey Voorhees (who played young shark victim Alex Kintner), revealed that he and other local kids from the island would often sneak into the warehouse where Bruce was kept. "Back in the ‘70s, there were no alarms and security cameras," he told us. "It’s like, ‘Okay, I found a window that’s open!’ A bunch of kids go through the window with flashlights and climb all over Bruce ... We used to wiggle the teeth, climb on the tail. Maybe that’s why it broke down a lot."

In addition to his never-ending set of animatronic problems, Spielberg also incurred the ire of island citizens who couldn't stand the stench of the rotting tiger shark accused of noshing on the unfortunate Kintner boy. "They drove that thing all the way up from Florida in the back of a pick-up truck and it stunk so bad," Voorhees recalls, going on to add that after a few weeks, a group of local fishermen finally decided to take their revenge against the up-and-coming director. "After they were done filleting fish, a bunch of fishermen would go over to the place he was renting over on South Water Street, this nice house, and they were throwing all the carcasses up on his front yard to make that stink."

Why It Took Five Days to Film The Death of Alex Kintner in Jaws

American director Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws (1975). Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Voorhees landed a part in the legendary film at the age of 12, shortly after he and his family relocated to Martha's Vineyard, whose residents made up a large bulk of background players. "They needed a lot of extras," he explained. "They said, ‘We’ll pay you $40 a day to be an extra in it.’ So we all said, ‘Okay, let’s go sign up!’ You go down, sign up, and they called a few people back. I’m sitting there, a couple people are sitting around — I think Spielberg was sitting there, too — and he was only 26 at that time. It’s like, ‘This is the director? It looks like some college kid!’ They said, ‘Read a couple lines.’ [I read the lines] and they go, ‘You get a speaking part. Instead of $40 a day, you get $140.’"

Because of his speaking part, Voorhees was required to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), which came with some unforeseen benefits. While filming kicked off in late May around Memorial Day weekend, the water was still very cold. As Voorhees warns, "you don't want to swim ... until July" at the earliest. Even so, he and the other extras were splashing around in the frigid waves for hours on end, though the young member of SAG was able to take refuge in a portable dressing room on the beach in between takes. "I used to feel bad [because] my friends are all freezing, and then after Day 3, someone’s giving me a robe [and I go inside]. I’m kind of laughing at my friends, saying, ‘See you later! I’m going in where it’s warm.’"

The dressing room was an absolute godsend for Voorhees, who shot several different versions of his character's death over the course of a five-day period. Originally, the scene only required the actor to run to the shoreline without going in the water. From there, Spielberg intended to cut to the shark snacking on an Alex Kintner mannequin, though this proved to be way too graphic for mid-1970s sensibilities.

"They put the mannequin on a raft and all of the sudden, Bruce comes up and bites the mannequin," Voorhees said. "The little arms and legs and body parts of a 12-year-old kid are flying everywhere. They’re like, ‘This is too hardcore, we can’t do this.’ Back then, in the ‘70s, horror movies were King Kong and Godzilla. That’s why they changed it. I had to go in the water."

And so, Voorhees then had to swim out to a barrel full of fake blood and disappear beneath the waves as it exploded. Easier said than done because his limbs kept popping out of the water and into frame. The first time [we shot it], I finally come ashore to Spielberg and go, ‘Are we all set?’ I’m freezing cold.' He’s like, ‘No.’ It’s one of his first movies, so he wanted everything to be perfect. He said, ‘You’re arm came out of the water a little bit. We gotta do it again.’ And it would take seven or eight hours for all that blood to clear out. So, I screwed up and all my friends are freezing cold out there and they’re there for hours."

This went on for several days until a different approach was taken: "[On] Day 5, Spielberg finally goes, ‘Okay, this time, we’re gonna try something different.’ There’s two guys in wet suits and when that [barrel] explodes, each one’s gonna grab one of your legs, lift you in and out of the water a couple of times and then pull you under and give you air (they had an extra tank). We finally got it done in five days."

Kintner's brutal demise, of course, effectively death drives home just how right Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) was to try and close down the beaches, in spite of Amity Island's reliance on Fourth of July tourism. The subsequent scene where Alex's grieving mother (Lee Fiero) angrily slaps him across the face spurs the character to brave his mortal fear of the water by hunting the shark down alongside Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss). The upside to the whole fictional tragedy is that mother and son reunited decades later when Fiero — who passed away from COVID-related complications during the early months of the pandemic — serendipitously strolled into Voorhees' restaurant in downtown Edgartown, The Wharf, for lunch with a friend.

The full story of their reunion is as follows:

"I had not seen her in years. I told the waitress, ‘I got this table.’ I go down with the menus and go, ‘Okay, ladies, what can I get for you? But before we go any further, I’m gonna ask you an odd personal question. Tell me to go away if it’s too strange.’ Her friend looks at me like, ‘What the hell?’ I could tell Lee knew it was me. She’s like, ‘What?’ I go, ‘Do you believe in reincarnation because I think I died years ago and you look like my mother in my previous life.’ All the sudden, her eyes light up and she’s like, ‘Oh, my god! I had a son that died back in the ‘70s. How did you die?’ I go, ‘It was in the ocean.’ She goes, ‘Did you drown?’ I go, ‘No, I think I was killed.’ She goes, ‘By a boat? By a machine?’ I go, ‘No, I think it was an animal.’ She goes, ‘Oh my God, were you eaten?’ I go, ‘I think so. I was only 12, but I think I was eaten.’ She goes, ‘Oh my God, was it a shark?’ I go, ‘I believe it was.’ She gets up and hugs me. Her friend’s about to lose it and she’s like, ‘Hey, we were in that movie years ago together.’ And finally her friend realized we were just joking."

Watch Jaws, Jaws 2, Jaws 3, and Jaws: The Revenge, all streaming now on Peacock!