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Feb 2024
59m 53s

Deep Blue Sea (1999) and 1984 (1984)

Simon Brew
About this episode

In this latest episode of Film Stories, we start with sharks. Very big sharks. A story imagined by a young screenwriter's memory of a childhood incident, that he eventually turned into a script. Then that script would go on to become Deep Blue Sea.


There were challenges, though: should the tone be Jaws-like? Or Jurassic Park? Or Alien? And then the very late need for more footage to be shot too.


In the case of 1984, adapted from George Orwell's novel of the same name, time was a luxury they didn't have. And, for six weeks of shooting, a co-star for John Hurt was missing too. Sean Connery turned the film down, Rod Steiger was rejected. But could they trust Richard Burton?


Stories of both films are told in this episode...


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