In a case of life imitating art, the teenage cast of Jaws 2 found themselves stalked by an actual hammerhead shark while filming the 1978 sequel.
While filming Jaws 2, the cast was actually stalked by a real shark. Sequels used to be considered a dirty word in Hollywood, with major stars often refusing to reprise their roles even if a film was a major hit. Charlton Heston reluctantly agreed to a cameo in 1970’s Beneath The Planet Of The Apes after being begged by the studio, and only did so on the condition the sequel ended with the planet being blown up to prevent further entries. However, the enormous success of Jaws in 1975 made a sequel all but inevitable, since it was guaranteed to make Universal a LOT of money.
The production of Jaws 2 proved nearly as stressful as the original. Spielberg refused to return, while his replacement director John D. Hancock was fired after a month of filming following clashes with producers and executives. Roy Scheider (who rejected Jaws 3 and 4) only returned after he quit The Deer Hunter following disagreements over its ending, and Universal agreed that if the actor made Jaws 2, it would count as two movies in his three-movie contract with the studio. By all accounts, he was miserable making the film, but it proved to be another blockbuster upon release in 1978 and is easily the best sequel in the Jaws franchise.
Jaws 2 is also, oddly, something of an early teen slasher. The second half of the film sees a group of teenagers stranded on the water as the great white shark stalks them, trying to pick them off one at a time. The sidelining of Scheider’s Chief Brody and the interchangeable nature of the teen characters makes this section a little dull at times, but it still features famous scenes like the helicopter attack. While being interviewed for the documentary The Shark is Still Working, Jaws 2 co-star Marc Gilpin recounted a wild story about the cast being stalked by an actual hammerhead shark during filming.
According to Gilpin’s account, the crew was setting up a long shot of the teen cast in their wrecked boats, waiting for Brody to come to the rescue. With the director and crew far in the distance getting ready to film the shot, the cast noticed a fin breaking the surface, with a hammerhead shark circling their boats. Naturally, they started to panic and waved to the Jaws 2 – where Richard Dreyfuss nearly returned – crew for help, but since they were so far away, the filmmakers just assumed they were warming up for the sequence and didn’t realize they were actually calling for help.
Gilpin estimates the hammerhead that circled their rickety boats was around “15 feet” long. In reality, hammerhead sharks are considered largely harmless to humans, as only a few attacks have ever been recorded, none of which proved fatal. That said, the young cast of Jaws 2 likely didn’t realize this, and this moment no doubt aided their performances while filming attack scenes by the sequel’s ravenous great white.
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