The Mighty Dragon podcast

Victoria Thomas

🎙️EXCLUSIVE interviews with filmmakers, actors, writers, directors and TV personalities uploaded every week! SUBSCRIBE NOW and THUMBS UP! 👍 🎙️ The Mighty Dragon conducts respectful interviews with actors and filmmakers from your favourite TV shows and films, offering insights into creative processes and behind the scenes. This is a focussed discussion on how actors prepare for characters, their research, how they bring their unqiue interpretation to the role. 🎙️ If you are interested in appearing on The Mighty Dragon, then please get in touch - themightydragonblog@gmail.com.

  1. ROBERT SHAW: Explosive Moments on the set of JAWS!

    07/17/2024

    ROBERT SHAW: Explosive Moments on the set of JAWS!

    Robert Shaw's Explosive Moments on the Set of Jaws: A Case Study What’s the perfect summer movie? JAWS, of course! In my opinion, JAWs is one of the greatest films of all time but it was born from a volatile environment, who was it who said - Chaos is the fuel that ignites the fire within, pushing us towards greatness. With never-changing script re-writes, cast fallouts and mechanical failures in the sea off Marthas Vineyard its a wonder this film was ever made. Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece led to a new style of suspense in film, which was quite by accident. Where the filmmakers had to come up with creative ways to solve Bruce the shark’s constant malfunctioning - this just shows that when you are faced with failure, greatness can emerge. I’ve been a JAWS fan all these years, I have always been fascinated with this film, it’s possibly one of the few movies that’s better than the book. I’ve come back to it time and time again, may be for me it take me back to my childhood in the 1970’s where it was a ‘treat’ to watch this masterpiece, my eyes would always be shielded when the two alpha sharks, Quint and Bruce would face off. My top 3 films were all made in the 1970’s - so is there a case for childhood films staying with you for the long term. So, let’s now go to Amity Island where a shark is terrorising the local population who are soon to be celebrating a bumper tourist season for July 4 and a ruthless Mayor who will do anything to make sure the celebrations go ahead until his own son is nearly taken by the shark itself. Our heroes of the story Brodie, Chief of Police - the classic, unwilling hero, a New Yorker getting used to trivial crime on an island, his fear of water which he needs to overcome to defeat the shark. Quint, the belligerent, old-school and difficult but skilled Captain. and Hooper, the rich, intelligent young marine biologist who brings with him modern gadgetry - the perfect antagonist to Quint. This set up is PURE DYNAMITE. All the actors in the film portrayed their part perfectly. But none more so, than British acting legend Robert Shaw. Born on August 9, 1927, in Lancashire, England he originally turned down the role of Quint - he famously said ‘JAWS was not a novel it was a story written by a committee, a piece of sh*t’. Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden could not step up to the role. Shaw was perfect for the part. Robert Shaw, known for his exceptional acting talent but also for causing significant problems on set. Here are some of the key issues he caused during the production of "Jaws":

    6 min
  2. Podcast with Mark Wingett #Quadrophenia

    03/20/2024

    Podcast with Mark Wingett #Quadrophenia

    Mark Wingett After my recent interview with Maria Austin, where we discussed Mercy, a film about life as a pig in a slaughterhouse. I decided to reach out to her co-star, Mark Wingett, who portrayed the slaughterman. Mark, a familiar face on our screens for over 20 years as The Bill’s Jim Carver, got his first break as Dave in the British cult classic movie, Quadrophenia. Dave was Jimmy’s best friend, the one with the cool hat who ultimately betrays Jimmy at his lowest point by stealing his girl. As a first job, this is quite an achievement. Mark was one of the youngest in the cast, he was just 17 and fresh out of the National Youth Theatre when he was cast. Now with a career spanning over 40 years, it was an honour to talk to this much accomplished actor about his career and dip into his personal life which involves scuba diving and biking with the Tokyo mods! Mark reminisces about his first day on set and how many egg sandwiches he had to eat! We talk about the success behind the movie, Pete Townshend’s genius musical score and the admirable vision of the director, Franc Roddam. A director who took chances when selecting the actors and stuck to his interpretation of the story. The bond between cast members is still as strong as ever, with Mark describing them as family. The cast have all had such illustrious careers including Phil Davis, one of my favourite actors. At the time of filming, Sting was launching his music career and Ray Winstone had made his third film in that year. Mark mentions that Ray Winstone was always destined for greatness, I can’t help think that happened to Mark too.

    35 min

About

🎙️EXCLUSIVE interviews with filmmakers, actors, writers, directors and TV personalities uploaded every week! SUBSCRIBE NOW and THUMBS UP! 👍 🎙️ The Mighty Dragon conducts respectful interviews with actors and filmmakers from your favourite TV shows and films, offering insights into creative processes and behind the scenes. This is a focussed discussion on how actors prepare for characters, their research, how they bring their unqiue interpretation to the role. 🎙️ If you are interested in appearing on The Mighty Dragon, then please get in touch - themightydragonblog@gmail.com.