Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

Fifty years of Jaws. The documentary starts with the production itself: the mechanical shark that kept failing, the schedule stretching out on Martha's Vineyard, the budget multiplying, and how close a young director came to losing the job. Laurent Bouzereau directed. He has made the behind-the-scenes films for Spielberg productions for years; this is the only authorised documentary for the fiftieth anniversary. The weight of the material comes from the archive. Never-before-seen footage from Spielberg's own store was used, and the director sat for a new interview. Among those talking are George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele and Guillermo del Toro. Its most interesting section is not about cinema: it takes up how the film distorted the public view of sharks and how it also created funding and attention for shark science. It aired on National Geographic on 10 July 2025 and reached streaming the next day. Who it is for: viewers who like production stories and film history. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a critical view; the film stays inside the limits of an authorised account.