Steven Spielberg “truly regrets” making ‘Jaws’ as he believes it drove a frenzy of shark killings.
Steven Spielberg ‘truly regrets’ making ‘Jaws’ as he believes it drove a frenzy of shark killings
The ‘Schindler’s List’ director, 76, who made his name with the 1975 fish horror about a bloodthirsty Great White terrorising a US resort added he hates the idea it painted sharks as man-eaters.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs he fears “sharks are somehow mad at me”, and said “I really truly regret that” about the spate of shark killings by fish hunters in aftermath of Jaws’ release.
He added the film was partly to blame for a “feeding frenzy” of “crazy fisherman which happened after 1975”, saying: “I truly, and to this day, regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film.”
‘Jaws’ was based on a 1974 book of the same name written by Peter Benchley, who went on to become a shark conservationist.
Experts say the novel and Steven’s film led to professional and amateur fishermen and game hunters swarming to target sharks as trophies.
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