 Although this delighted the author, who had very little money at the time, it was a comparatively low sum, as the agreement occurred before the book became a surprise bestseller.After securing the rights, Steven Spielberg, who was making his first theatrical film, "The Sugarland Express", for Zanuck, Brown and Universal, was hired as the director.To play the protagonists, the producers cast Robert Shaw as Quint, Roy Scheider as Brody and Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper.