This was not an interview accident with JAWS star Richard Dreyfuss

He may have got no spit when he was about to dive in the shark cage in JAWS, but 50 years after the release of the Steven Spielberg shark classic, Oscar-winning Matt Hooper actor Richard Dreyfuss has plenty to say.

So much so that his exclusive The Daily Jaws interview, as part of a JAWS 50 series of talks with the world’s number one JAWS fan site hits the surface in two parts, which means duh duh-ble the excitement and insight for JAWS and film fans alike.

Talking with The Daily Jaws founder, Ross Williams, who himself was interviewed in the recent JAWS@50 documentary, the JAWS and Close Encounters of the Third Kind actor mused about how the re-release of the original summer blockbuster was still an apex predator at the box office and made “a bloody fortune.”

He was also enthused about the amazing reception he got returning to real life Amity Island, Martha’s Vineyard for the JAWS 50 celebrations was “an extraordinary experience” and that “the enthusiasm was deep and so great.”

Dreyfuss also laments the loss of Quint actor Robert Shaw, who passed away aged just 51 in 1978, recalling getting the news and driving up to Steven Spielberg’s house to discover how the director was dealing with the shocking news.

He also recalls how the film – and his character – could have ended up very different as Spielberg has originally got his eye on casting Robert Redford as the oceanographer. Dreyfuss said: “Spielberg had to cast the role in the realism of that character, which allowed all the fears of the animal to take centre stage and he's not a movie star.”

The Matt Hooper actor also revealed about the huge amount of research he did about sharks, saying: "I probably did more research about sharks than I did about any other character I played, ever, because I kept learning things...There was a real ancient fear.”

And that fear was of course very much realised when Dreyfuss saw the finished picture for the first time. He said: “I have to say, the first time I saw the film, I wasn't thinking at all, my mind had simply flipped and I had turned myself over to the instincts and rushes of emotion that were running through me."

The actor has always said – when initially turning the role in the film down – that is was a movie he wanted to see, but didn’t especially want to make. Viewing it for that first time pulled him back to being a viewer and as a member of the audience – enjoying the shock and the shark as much as we did.

You can view the first part of the exclusive Richard Dreyfuss interview with The Daily Jaws, presented by Bigger Boat Solutions, for all your online strategic needs.