Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 inspiration for "Jaws"—may be the lesser known bull shark." Biologists George A. Llano and Richard Ellis suggest that a bull shark could have been responsible for the fatal Jersey Shore attacks. Bull sharks swim from the ocean into freshwater rivers and streams and have attacked people around the world. In his book "Sharks: Attacks on Man" (1975), Llano writes, Ellis points out that the great white "is an oceanic species, and Schleisser's shark was caught in the ocean. To find it swimming in a tidal creek is, to say the least, unusual, and may even be impossible. The bull shark,
Jaws (film) directed his first theatrical film, "The Sugarland Express", for Zanuck and Brown. At the end of a meeting in their office, Spielberg noticed their copy of the still-unpublished Benchley novel, and after reading it was immediately captivated. He later observed that it was similar to his 1971 television film "Duel" in that both deal with "these leviathans targeting everymen". After Richards's departure, the producers signed Spielberg to direct in June 1973, before the release of "The Sugarland Express". Before production began, however, Spielberg grew reluctant to continue with "Jaws", in fear of becoming typecast as the "truck and shark director".