As a film brat, Spielberg was as reverent about the medium as he was savvy. He knew young directors could quickly get pigeonholed as genre specialists, and, given his success with the killer truck flick “Duel,” worried that “Jaws” would turn him into the “truck and shark director.” At the time, 20th Century Fox was prepping “Lucky Lady,” a pricey period comedy with a highly touted screenplay from the up-and-coming screenwriting duo of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck (according to Katz, the script was “the most commercial thing we could think up”).

Brown wasn’t having it. “Jaws” hit bookstores in February 1974, and was a runaway bestseller. The producers didn’t have time to root around Hollywood for another director. Spielberg was their man whether he liked it or not. Brown could’ve taken a hardline with his filmmaker, but instead appealed to his ambition, telling him “After [‘Jaws’], you can make all the films you want.” Spielberg sat tight, and “Jaws” commenced principal photography as scheduled on May 2, 1974. The film was set to wrap fifty-five days later on June 26, but wound up shooting until October 6 for a total of 159 days. That is a different, much longer story.