Steven Spielberg’s 1975 shark attack flick received wide critical acclaim upon its release, winning praise for its storytelling, visual effects and the actors’ performances.
And while things looked great on the screen, behind the scenes, the lead actors were trapped in an infamous feud – the subject of a new West End play.
Image: Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss on the set of Jaws in 1975. Pic: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
For the uninitiated, Jaws is set in the beach town of Amity Island, and kicks off when a young woman heads out for a swim in the ocean.
But chaos ensues when she is brutally attacked and her remains are dumped on the shore.
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After lengthy discussions (and another death in plain view of the beach), the blame is placed at the fins of a huge shark, and a bounty is placed on it.
An amateur shark hunt ensues, with fisherman Quint (played by Robert Shaw) offering his services to police chief Brody (Roy Scheider) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) who band together to try and kill the blood-thirsty shark.
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It was on this boat, The Orca, that the actors, who weren’t exactly the best of friends, were forced into close quarters during a pause in shooting due to the lousy weather out at sea and a mechanical, toothy co-star that refused to play ball.
Image: Like father like son – Robert Shaw is being played by his son, Ian. Pics: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock & Helen Maybanks
It’s also where play The Shark Is Broken begins.
“It’s kind of gone into legend really, because the difficulties they had with the mechanical shark were extensive,” Ian Shaw told Sky News – the show’s co-writer who also stars as his father, Robert.
“These three actors, with very distinctive personalities and at different stages in their careers, were kind of stuck together.
“We all know what it’s like to be in confined spaces, you know? And with different personalities, there can be quite a clash, and there certainly was between Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw.
“My father was an established actor, had seen it all and was also a distinguished writer – I think that him and Richard just didn’t get on, but Richard does say that on occasion, in private, that they did.
“So then it’s interesting as to whether my father was doing it partly to get a better performance out of Richard.”
The warring on set is almost as famous as the film itself, and added to the production’s woes – it was had gone way over budget and filming took three times longer than scheduled.
Image: Liam Murray Scott (Richard Dreyfuss) and Ian Shaw (Robert Shaw) will play out the actors’ spat on stage. Pic: Helen Maybanks
“I think there was a little bit of edge in real life between Robert and Richard, and that does show on the screen,” Shaw added.
So what is it like having a combination of your father, a block-busting classic film, and a legendary actors’ feud as source material?
“I didn’t want to do it initially,” Shaw admitted.
“When I first mooted the idea, which I thought was possibly a good idea, I thought ‘I’m studiously trying to avoid association with my father in the first place’, and then to write something about my dad, which might not show him in his greatest light was a concern.
“I felt very reluctant to to engage upon it. But I do think it’s a good story.
Image: Shooting was stalled in the film thanks to some problems with a mechanical co-star… Pic: Helen Maybanks
“I think that as we (Shaw, with fellow writer Joseph Nixon) were going through the process, we found that it became a bit more universal. One of the themes is fathers and sons, which they all talk about in in the play, and then it stopped being about me and my dad, and it started to become more of a conversation about fathers and sons in general – so that put me at ease.”
In The Shark Is Broken, The Orca is just as much as part of the story as the feuding thespians, with the challenge to bring the vessel to stage given to Duncan Henderson.
The boat (of “you’re gonna need a bigger boat” fame) features heavily in the latter part of Jaws, but thanks to some creative license, in the play it is the only location – and where the stars began to bare their teeth, fuelled by booze and ambition.
It’s an impressive structure sat on the stage of London’s Ambassadors Theatre, with a small cabin, a table and a collection of seafaring trash that the group would have ended up with on their travels.
Image: The Orca becomes the setting for the London play. Pic: Helen Maybanks
“We wanted the boat, we wanted more than just the cabin and we wanted to get it as rich as possible,” Henderson explained to Sky News.
“We stuff the forward cabin full of detritus from the film… they’re all questioning their self-worth in their various ways, their value to the world and their value to the film industry specifically, so if we are packing them to the gunnels with all this detritus, it’s more likely to increase this sense of claustrophobia.”
It’s important to say The Orca in the stage play, is different to The Orca in the film – which underlines a point the creative team wants to make: this isn’t Jaws on stage.
Henderson says: “Our experience at the Edinburgh Festival (where the play first ran) was that some of the people in the audience are there because they just love the film and they really want to see what we’ve done, but there are also people there that love human beings, and they want to see the nature of that playing out and everything in between.
“Film fans generally love seeing a little bit of behind the scenes of the friction between [the actors], so it caters for everyone, this particular thing and it’s not exact.”
Image: Demetri Goritsas (Roy Scheider) and Ian Shaw (Robert Shaw) in The Shark is Broken. Pic: Helen Maybanks
Shaw adds: “It doesn’t require a watching of Jaws.
“It’s a comedy, first and foremost… I think it’s on occasion moving, but predominantly it is a comedy – so I think audiences will hopefully laugh and be entertained and stimulated.”
The Shark Is Broken runs until January at the Ambassadors Theatre in London, with tickets available now.
Salt Path author Raynor Winn has said claims she lied about her story are “highly misleading” and called suggestions her husband made up his illness “utterly vile”.
A report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the hit book, billed as an “inspiring and life-affirming true story” about a couple’s coastal trek.
Winn released a lengthy statement denying the paper’s claims and shared medical letters apparently sent to her husband, Moth, that appear to support a diagnosis for a rare neurological condition, Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
One letter mentions his prior “CBS [Corticobasal Syndrome] diagnosis”, while another concludes he has “an atypical form” of CBD.
The author said accusations he lied about having CBD/CBS are false and have “emotionally devastated” him.
Image: Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of his story, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, ended their relationship with the family following The Observer’s claims.
Winn said she had never suggested walking was “some sort of miracle cure” and that there can be “symptoms for many years before they finally reach a diagnosis”.
“Even then, many sufferers’ symptoms present in an atypical way,” she wrote.
“They might not present with the same symptoms, occurring in the same order, or with the same severity.”
Image: The memoir was turned into a film, released. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Winn also posted the letters on Instagram and said they are grateful Moth’s condition is slow-progressing.
She clarified it is now commonly referred to by specialists as CBS, “which describes the symptoms observed during life”.
The bestselling book was also recently released as a film, starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson, charting the couple’s 630-mile trek along the Cornish, Devon, and Dorset coast – a journey sparked by the devastation of losing their house.
The Observer claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, rather they lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer, Martin Hemming, and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with Mr Hemmings wasn’t the reason they lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
Winn added: “I reached a settlement with Martin Hemmings because I did not have the evidence required to support what happened. The terms of the settlement were willingly agreed by both parties.”
The author reiterated the book’s version of events: that the loss of their home in Wales stemmed from an investment in a friend’s property portfolio that went sour.
Her statement goes into legal detail about how it transpired and admits – as The Observer suggested – that the couple at one point tried to raffle the house.
However, the author said they “quickly realised it was a mistake as it clearly wasn’t going to work. We cancelled it and refunded the few participants.”
The 63-year-old also denied having any outstanding debts and said it was “blatantly untrue” the couple were hiding behind pseudonyms after The Observer quoted people who said they knew them by the surname Walker.
“Winn is my maiden name and like most women who have married I’ve used both my maiden name, Winn, and married name, Walker,” said the statement.
She also explained she preferred the first name Raynor, rather than her birth name Sally Ann, so took that as her pen name; while Moth is an abbreviation of her husband’s name, Timothy.
“The legal names we use on our bank records, our utility bills etc. Our friends and neighbours use Sal and Tim interchangeably with Ray and Moth – there is nothing hiding in our names,” she said.
Sky News has contacted The Observer for a response to Winn’s statement.
Raynor Winn had been scheduled to make numerous appearances over the summer, performing with Saltlines, her collaboration with Gigspanner Big Band.
However, the band has since announced on social media that she will no longer be taking part in the tour.
She was also scheduled to take part in various Q&As, conversations, writing courses and festivals.
Actor Michael Madsen, who starred in Reservoir Dogs and Thelma & Louise, died from heart failure, his cardiologist has said.
The 67-year-old was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, last Thursday and pronounced dead.
His doctor said heart disease and alcoholism will be listed as factors which contributed to the star’s death, reported NBC Los Angeles.
With no suspicious circumstances and the death listed as being from natural causes, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department considers the case closed.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Madsen’s film credits include Free Willy, Donnie Brasco and Sin City.
He was also known for his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino, including in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
The Chicago-born actor also linked up with Tarantino when he played Mr Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.
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Image: Madsen played numerous roles, including Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. Pic: THA/Shutterstock
His sister, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, paid tribute to her brother in a statement to Variety.
She wrote: “My brother Michael has left the stage.
“He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother – etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.”
Madsen was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts And Poems.
A statement by managers Susan Ferris and Smith, and publicist Liz Rodriguez, said the book by “one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors” was currently being edited.
Horse-drawn carriages, picturesque gardens and endless cups of tea are just some of the stereotypical tropes that have shaped America’s romanticised image of England before even stepping foot on the island.
Thanks to classical literature and a steady stream of period dramas, Lena Dunham was no exception.
“I had so many fantasies,” she tells Sky News about growing up slightly obsessed with British culture.
“I loved Jane Austen, I loved Charlotte Bronte, I love British film, I was one of those little Anglophile kids.”
The writer and director believed it would be that area of classically depicted England that would fill her time when she first moved to “jolly old London” as a teenager with her mother for a brief time.
Instead, her attention was taken by another, and possibly equally influential group of artists.
“There was a pop show about S Club 7 and all I did was just sit in the hotel and obsessively watch things relating to [the group],” she said.
“So, I didn’t go home with all this cultural British knowledge. I went home with a deep abiding love of S Club 7 and came back to school when everyone was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
“For me, I was literally like, ‘Guys, you got to hear this hot track right off the presses, it’s called Reach For The Stars’.”
Image: Pic: Netflix
It wasn’t until her 30s, when the actress moved again to the city, that reality took hold and she quickly learned the difference between the imagined London and the real city.
Some stereotypes hold true, like the universal love for Paddington. Still, TV tropes like renting a flat on a single income in the city does not necessarily mean you’ll be treated to lavish rooms and a picturesque garden.
She says it was social cues she found most challenging to adjust to, as well as the different dictionaries used when speaking, technically, the same language.
“You come to a new country and even though you speak the same language, you’re totally absent from those tools,” she says.
“And I found that really striking as an adult in my 30s, trying to make friends, trying to date. I found it confusing enough to be a person in my own city of origin, so this was extra confounding.”
Too Much, her new Netflixseries, is loosely inspired by her own London chapter and follows a workaholic New Yorker in her 30s who is sent across the Atlantic to work on a new project.
The 10-episode show is produced by Working Title – the company behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually – and stars Hacks breakout actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.
Image: Pic: Netflix
Dunham says she always wanted to write about her time in the UK, but it was a conversation with Irish actor Andrew Scott that got the ball rolling.
“Actually, he’s the reason that I came to know Meg as an actor because he loved her on Hacks and he loved her videos, and he said: ‘Have you watched this woman’s work? I feel like there’s a real connection between you two’, and I started watching because of him and built a show around her.”
In a full circle moment, Scott appears in the series briefly as an arrogantly odd man who crosses paths with Megan Stalter’s character Jessica.
Image: Pic: Netflix
The Ridley actor isn’t the only famous face joining the cast in a cameo role. Dunham put a call out to most of Hollywood, and luckily lots were on board.
To name just a few, guest stars include Jessica Alba, Stephen Fry, Adwoa Aboah, Kit Harington, Rita Wilson, Rita Ora, Richard E Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Jennifer Saunders.
“It was one of those situations where you just reach for the stars, literally, and then you can’t believe when they appear,” says Dunham.
“It was just a non-stop parade of people that I was fascinated by, wanted to be around, completely enamoured of.”
Image: A whole host of high-profile cameos feature in Lena Dunham’s Too Much
She adds: “I remember asking Naomi Watson, thinking, there’s absolutely no way that you’re going to want to come play this slightly demented woman. And she’s so playful and she’s so joyful and she just wanted to come and engage.
“Also, Jennifer Saunders has meant so much to me for so long, I had the AbFab box set as a kid, and I just think Patsy and Edina are the ultimate kind of messy women.
“She really showed me what comedy could be and… the space that women could occupy in comedy, and so having her come and join the show was really incredible.
“That was an episode that someone else was directing, Alicia McDonald, an amazing director, so I just got to sit and watch at the monitor like I was watching a movie, and it was very surreal for me.”