Released in 1975, Jaws is an American thriller based on the novel by Peter Benchley, which was released one year prior. The movie, which grossed $477.9 million worldwide on a budget of just $9 million, follows a New England summer resort town’s mission to hunt down a local man-eating great white shark after it begins to attack several beachgoers.

The prototypical blockbuster redefined popular culture as we know it, inspiring countless references, as well as a slew of Jaws movies, becoming a watershed moment in movie history. In fact, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, marking its significance. However, not everything went to plan with the film, as a real-life shark attack actually changed Jaws’ script.

Matt Hooper Was Supposed To Die In The Shark Cage

1975’s Jaws Movie Had A More Hopeful Ending

Many book-to-movie adaptations typically change things from their source material and Jaws is certainly no exception. For example, in the book, Ellen Brody had an affair, Mayor Vaughn was threatened by the mob, and Quint was purely in it for the money. However, one of the biggest differences between Jaws’ movie and Peter Benchley’s book is Matt Hooper’s death.

At the end of the movie, Hooper climbs inside a shark cage, hoping to finally take a sH๏τ at the shark. However, when the shark manages to get inside the cage, Hooper ends up having to escape, swimming to take cover by some rocks further underwater. After Brody explodes the shark by shooting a scuba tank, Hooper resurfaces unharmed.

Yet, the book actually counted Matt Hooper among the characters who died in Jaws. When the shark got into the cage, Hooper was killed, leaving Brody as the only remaining survivor of the attack by the end of the book. This drastic change created a more hopeful ending to the daunting film, leaving many wondering why Hooper’s fate was changed.

Steven Spielberg Changed Jaws’ Script After A Real Shark Attack

“It Was Better Than Anything They Had In The Script!”

The reason why Jaws saw Matt Hooper live, unlike his book counterpart, was because of a dramatic incident with Hooper’s stuntman during filming. In an interview with Radio Times, underwater filmmaker and conservationist Valerie Taylor, who filmed scenes for Jaws with her husband Ron, described an attack on Carl Rizzo, Hooper’s stunt diver. Check out the full story below:

The idea was for Carl to go down about 30 feet in the cage, standing in for Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper. Ron was in the water filming, and he looked up and thought, “Why isn’t Carl getting in the cage?” Suddenly, a shark went over the top of the cage, broke the steel bridle and was thrashing around. The winch broke off and everything came tumbling down. If Carl had been in the cage, he’d have been killed — his reluctance saved his life.

Taylor goes on to say, “The scene of the shark breaking up the cage was written into the film — it was better than anything they had in the script!” As a result, instead of Matt Hooper getting eaten in Jaws, he managed to escape the shark, and it was all because of Rizzo’s quick thinking during a real attack.

Source: Radio Times