The casting of Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody in Jaws has become a legendary tale in Hollywood. It all began with a chance encounter at a party where Scheider met Spielberg.

“I was sitting there and somebody walked over to me and introduced themselves to me and said, ‘You’re sitting here all alone. Are you OK?'” Spielberg recalled in Jaws: The Inside Story. “And it was Roy scheider.”

Spielberg confided in Scheider, who had already made a name for himself in The French Connection, about his difficulty in finding the right actor for Chief Brody.

“I told him the whole story-I even told him the five or six actors I had talked to that I decided that I didn’t want to go with,” the Oscar winner continued. “Roy looked at me and he said, ‘What about me? I’m an actor. I’d love to be in Jaws.'”

Charlton Heston‘s Near Miss

“I thought for Charlton Heston to play that part would be a little bit not fair for the shark.”

While Scheider ultimately secured the role,charlton Heston was also a strong contender. However, Spielberg had reservations, fearing that Heston, known for his roles in epics like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and The Agony and the Ecstasy, was too much of a star to be relatable as Chief Brody.

“I thought for Charlton Heston to play that part would be a little bit not fair for the shark,” he added in Jaws: The Inside Story“as the shark wouldn’t last through the first act.”

The Improvised Line That Became Iconic

One of the most memorable lines in the movie, “We gotta get a bigger boat,” was actually unscripted.

“One of the oft-quoted lines in the movie is Roy Scheider saying, ‘We gotta get a bigger boat,’ which he improvised on the set,” Gottlieb said in 1995’s The Making of Jaws. “I acknowledge that as a writer. I’m pleased that he said that.”