 Steven Spielberg (I) (qv) wanted Sterling Hayden (qv) for the  role of Quint. Hayden, however, was in trouble with the Internal  Revenue Service for unpaid tax. All Haydens income from acting was  subject to a levy by the IRS, so there was an attempt to circumvent  that: Hayden was also a writer, so one idea was to pay him union  scale for his acting, and buy a story from him (his literary income  wasnt subject to levy) for a large sum. It was concluded that the  IRS would see through this scheme, so Robert Shaw (I) (qv) was  cast instead.