Bigger Boat Line from Jaws

Let’s call today Trivia Tuesday since I read something interesting I wanted to share with you.

I remember reading an obituary for Roy Scheider when he passed a few years ao. The obit said he’d be remembered for saying: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

As a writer, I wondered who wrote those words since the screenplay was adapted from Peter Benchley‘s book of the same name.

When I was bored with being sick a couple of days ago, I looked it up. (The Internet is the instant answer giver, isn’t it?)

The Backstory of Those Famous Words

Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb adapted the Jaws screenplay with Peter Benchley.

The 1975 film was plagued with problems from the mechanical shark to the size of the boat towing the barge containing all the equipment, i.e., lighting, cameras, and even craft services. The cast and crew named the barge the S.S. Garage Sale.

The barge in turn was attached to a boat that everyone saw was too small to steady the barge. So everyone was constantly saying, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Yet, the producers ignored the complaint. Soon the phrase was extended to every problem that came up. Lunch was late? “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” The shark malfunctioned? “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Everyone said it frequently.

When the scene of Scheider seeing the size of the shark was being filmed, the actor ad libbed the line as a way to stick it to the producers, David Brown and Richard Zanuck. And the sentence, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” became part of movie history.

Takeaway Truth

In a few days, it’s Halloween. The perfect time to watch the scary shark again. Here’s a YouTube clip with the famous line.