10 episodes

From the creators of Inside Psycho and Inside the Exorcist comes a new story about a classic movie and its inspirations. A tale of a modest thriller that became an ordeal and then a disaster and then a phenomenon and then a classic. A story of one man, a fresh-faced, inexperienced director who nearly wrecked his promising career and became the most important filmmaker of our era. This is Inside JAWS.

You can binge all episodes of Inside Jaws exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

Inside Jaws Wondery

    • TV & Film
    • 4.5 • 1.6K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

From the creators of Inside Psycho and Inside the Exorcist comes a new story about a classic movie and its inspirations. A tale of a modest thriller that became an ordeal and then a disaster and then a phenomenon and then a classic. A story of one man, a fresh-faced, inexperienced director who nearly wrecked his promising career and became the most important filmmaker of our era. This is Inside JAWS.

You can binge all episodes of Inside Jaws exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Becoming Spielberg

    Becoming Spielberg

    In 1916 a killer shark terrorized the New Jersey shore in one of the inspirations for the movie JAWS. Cut to: Phoenix, AZ in the 1960’s, where a young Steven Spielberg is an outsider struggling to fit in. He’s ashamed of his heritage, bad at school, bad at sports, bad at everything. And then he discovers the magic of moving images on an oversized screen. It turns out he’s good at something after all.




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    • 19 min
    Breaking In

    Breaking In

    1916: Another vicious shark attack at the Jersey Shore. Cut to: Hollywood, 1965: Steven Spielberg hides out at Universal Studios in a toilet stall. He watches his idol, Alfred Hitchcock, at work. He fast-talks the guard at the studio gate day after day. He has an unpleasant encounter with a naked Marlon Brando – and all this while he’s still in high school. He lays it all on the line and heads west to Cal State Long Beach, where he makes a dirt-cheap, but impressive student film called Amblin that leads to a studio deal and an encounter with Joan Crawford.




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    Duel

    Duel

    1916: Matawan Creek, New Jersey. This time, the shark’s victim is a child and the entire town is up in arms. Cut to: 1963: The Kennedy Assassination precipitates a frightening encounter on a dusty California mountain road – an encounter that leads to the thrilling Man vs. Big Rig fable Duel. This is Spielberg’s ticket to fame and fortune. Even if the truck doesn’t explode into a network-satisfying fireball, and even if Universal plucks choice scenes for an episode of The Incredible Hulk. The stage is set for Spielberg’s next project, based on a book by Peter Benchley and called JAWS.




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    The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Thing

    The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Thing

    1916: A bounty is offered to whoever can kill the “Man-eater of Matawan.” Cut to: 1973. Peter Benchley sells the rights to JAWS to a pair of legendary Hollywood producers, Richard Zanuck and David Brown. Sensing a winner, Spielberg steals the galleys off Zanuck’s desk before insisting that this be his next project. Meanwhile, Zanuck and Brown toss away a would-be director who can’t distinguish between a whale and a shark, legendary director Henry Hathaway offers Spielberg some advice, and casting begins. Two very important executives want their wives to play the Chief’s wife. In Spielberg’s words, “Oy vey.”




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    The Shark Isn’t Working

    The Shark Isn’t Working

    1968: A retired Navy Captain commits suicide. Many years earlier, his vessel suffered the worst naval disaster at sea in U.S. History. It was the U.S.S. Indianapolis, and hundreds of its crew were eaten by sharks. Cut to: 1974. Spielberg enlists writer Carl Gottlieb to “eviscerate” the script for JAWS. Spielberg’s friend George Lucas visits the mechanical shark in a workroom and gets his head stuck in it. Second unit footage is shot using real sharks and real shark cages, but the stuntman barely survives and locks himself in the toilet. Every day, more stress, more delays, more production troubles, more nightmares and – perpetually – the shark is not working. Will this nightmare ever end?




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    Get the Actors Off the Boat!

    Get the Actors Off the Boat!

    1945: The saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis – no ships, no planes, no rescue. Just…sharks. Cut to: The emotional center of JAWS: Sometimes drunk, sometimes sober - Robert Shaw’s indelible tale of the Indianapolis receives an ovation from cast and crew. The ORCA starts to sink – with all hands still on deck. The journey of a rotting shark carcass from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard. The on-set rivalry between Richard Dreyfus and Robert Shaw. A post-production panic attack for Steven Spielberg. And an unsolved murder nearby the JAWS shoot – more than 40 years later, was the mystery solved by writer Joe Hill?




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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
1.6K Ratings

1.6K Ratings

EpicEdit ,

Great but needed more Jaws

As a huge fan of the film Jaws I was very excited for this podcast. It was well done and I enjoyed the format. The only criticism I have is that it seemed to focus more on Steven Spielberg and his career rather than the film Jaws. I love that as well but I feel like Spielberg’s career should be an entire podcast of itself, one I would gladly like to hear. It took a couple of episodes until we really got to the filming of Jaws. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great listen and I really enjoyed it but it could have been more focused on the film itself.

Bijtop ,

Great format

And storytelling!

DinaJacobson ,

Disappointing

I love behind the scenes stories. I consider Jaws a masterpiece & of course am familiar with the on set difficulties so was eagerly looking forward to a deeper discussion ve. Unfortunately there was very little about Jaws. Most of this was padding leading up to Jaws. When we finally get to it there was very little I hadn’t read before. No first person accounts by production staff. Very little about day by day accounts. Just “the production ran over because the shark didn’t work. “ The podcast did get me interested in the movie again & watched several scenes on YouTube. Outstanding. The movie wouldn’t have been nearly as good with a green screen and CGI shark. It’s still a masterpiece. Unfortunately this podcast isn’t.

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