Swimmer circumnavigates Martha's Vineyard ahead of 'Jaws' 50th anniversary
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The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
‘You're gonna need a bigger bank account': how a Jaws child actor turned a fleeting appearance into a fortune
Name: Jeffrey Voorhees. Age: 62. Appearance: Just the one. Occupation: Child actor. Pretty old for a child actor. He's a former child actor. Has he been in anything I would have seen? Jaws. Wow. Anything else? No, not really. Oh. Well, Jaws is pretty good. I've seen it dozens of times. Jeffrey Voorhees will be pleased to hear that. Why? Because, despite his very small role as shark victim Alex Kintner when he was 12, Voorhees is still being paid residuals – royalties – 50 years later. Every time Jaws is on TV, he earns money. Nice work if you can get it. 'It pays to die,' is how he put it in a recent interview with Syfy. Even so, he can't be pulling in that much after all this time. It's not just residuals. After hiding from fame for years, Voorhees – who still lives on Martha's Vineyard, where Jaws was filmed – has found ways to embrace the full earning capacity of his brief turn as victim number two. How? By attending fan conventions for '£10,000 a time', selling autographed merch online and making personalised videos on Cameo. People pay him for that? It helps that Jaws fans are a little obsessive. One woman brought Voorhees an inflatable yellow raft identical to the one on which Alex Kintner met his demise. 'She was in tears and I signed the raft for her,' he said. That sounds more than a little obsessive. He's even been presented with his old discarded royalty statements – bought by fans on eBay for thousands – to sign. 'I don't throw them away any more,' he said. Are there any other child actors still raking it in after all these years? Yes, if not to the same extent. Jason Weaver, who provided the singing voice for young Simba in the original animated version of The Lion King, reportedly received, and still receives, far more than the $2m (£1.5m) upfront Disney originally offered him before his mother insisted on a reduced fee plus royalties from soundtrack sales. Well done, Jason's mum. Are there any more actors with cameos as brief as Voorhees'? Casey Margolis, who fleetingly played a young version of Jonah Hill's character in the 2007 film Superbad, recently revealed he's still getting cheques. The kid who draws penises on everything? That's him. While the amounts vary from $10,000 to 12 cents, he reckons he's collected about $100k (£74,000) in total. What a racket! How can I get my kid killed in something huge? Actually, that ship has probably sailed. Streaming services don't tend to pay residuals in the same way, as their content is always available to watch – and young actors have reported receiving minuscule amounts for their work. Do say: 'These eye-watering sums are a symptom of how out of control fan culture has become.' Don't say: 'You're gonna need a bigger bank account.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
‘You're gonna need a bigger bank account': how a Jaws child actor turned a fleeting appearance into a fortune
Name: Jeffrey Voorhees. Age: 62. Appearance: Just the one. Occupation: Child actor. Pretty old for a child actor. He's a former child actor. Has he been in anything I would have seen? Jaws. Wow. Anything else? No, not really. Oh. Well, Jaws is pretty good. I've seen it dozens of times. Jeffrey Voorhees will be pleased to hear that. Why? Because, despite his very small role as shark victim Alex Kintner when he was 12, Voorhees is still being paid residuals – royalties – 50 years later. Every time Jaws is on TV, he earns money. Nice work if you can get it. 'It pays to die,' is how he put it in a recent interview with Syfy. Even so, he can't be pulling in that much after all this time. It's not just residuals. After hiding from fame for years, Voorhees – who still lives on Martha's Vineyard, where Jaws was filmed – has found ways to embrace the full earning capacity of his brief turn as victim number two. How? By attending fan conventions for '£10,000 a time', selling autographed merch online and making personalised videos on Cameo. People pay him for that? It helps that Jaws fans are a little obsessive. One woman brought Voorhees an inflatable yellow raft identical to the one on which Alex Kintner met his demise. 'She was in tears and I signed the raft for her,' he said. That sounds more than a little obsessive. He's even been presented with his old discarded royalty statements – bought by fans on eBay for thousands – to sign. 'I don't throw them away any more,' he said. Are there any other child actors still raking it in after all these years? Yes, if not to the same extent. Jason Weaver, who provided the singing voice for young Simba in the original animated version of The Lion King, reportedly received, and still receives, far more than the $2m (£1.5m) upfront Disney originally offered him before his mother insisted on a reduced fee plus royalties from soundtrack sales. Well done, Jason's mum. Are there any more actors with cameos as brief as Voorhees'? Casey Margolis, who fleetingly played a young version of Jonah Hill's character in the 2007 film Superbad, recently revealed he's still getting cheques. The kid who draws penises on everything? That's him. While the amounts vary from $10,000 to 12 cents, he reckons he's collected about $100k (£74,000) in total. What a racket! How can I get my kid killed in something huge? Actually, that ship has probably sailed. Streaming services don't tend to pay residuals in the same way, as their content is always available to watch – and young actors have reported receiving minuscule amounts for their work. Do say: 'These eye-watering sums are a symptom of how out of control fan culture has become.' Don't say: 'You're gonna need a bigger bank account.'
Metro
3 days ago
- Metro
Jaws child star reveals staggering amount he earns 50 years after hit film
Believe it or not, it's been 50 years since the film we all blame for our fear of sharks was released—Jaws, of course. But still to this day, one of its child stars is making a pretty penny off his role, having been just 12 years old at the time of its cinematic release. Now aged 62, Jeffrey Voorhees played Alex Kintner in the 1975 Steven Spielberg-directed adventure thriller. Like many of the characters, though, poor Alex didn't have much screentime, as he was brutally attacked and killed by a shark while floating on his raft. Naturally, things got rather bloody. However, we're sure Jeffrey isn't too fussed about only playing a small part now, as he's forged a living off the film thanks to fan interest standing the test of time. These days, he travels far and wide to meet people. He also sells personalised memorabilia and even hosts guided tours on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, where the movie was shot. 'It pays to die,' the actor previously said. 'I was a 12-year-old kid who was in the movie for, like, a minute, but there are some real Jaws fanatics out there. 'One guy in England just bought 125 photos. I do signings. They fly me all over the world and pay me in cash at those things—around £10,000 a time. 'There are Jaws tours and people pay double if I'm on them, and next month I'm appearing at three Meet, Greet and Mingle Parties.' And that's not all, as Jeffrey is still paid each time Jaws airs on TV, anywhere in the world. 'My brother lives in Portugal, and I'll get texts from him going, 'Good news, you just died on TV over here. You'll get another cheque',' he joked. Furthermore, he's earned a killing with videos for fans on Cameo, with one family even paying for him to send a message after their loved one died while watching the film from his sofa. 'I said, 'Hey, your father and I had a little something in common. He died watching me die. This is the dead Alex Kintner, Jeff Voorhees, here on Martha's Vineyard—Amity Island. Just want to say—have a Jawesome funeral',' Jeffrey revealed. 'I thought they'd be annoyed, but they gave me a five-star review.' The former actor has learned not to be ashamed of his movie past, and, well, with the coin he's making off the back of it five decades later, we reckon that's wise. 'At first, I used to hide from the fact that I'd been in Jaws, and then finally I realised I could make some good money and make people happy.' Jaws has become one of cinema's most successful franchises, not only expanding into three sequels but also a theme park ride, video games, and various other crazy merchandise, all thanks to the 1974 novel of the same name. While characters come and go throughout the film series, the Brody family is featured in every one as the primary antithesis to the great white shark attacking people in the US and the Bahamas. The original Jaws movie was one of the first 'high-concept' films ever made, complete with that iconic, suspenseful theme tune, which, quite rightly, won an Oscar. In total, the four Jaws movies have grossed over $800million (£590m) worldwide, even if commercial reception did wane with every new addition. What's more, author Peter Benchley has publicly expressed regret over ever writing the original book, since it encouraged a widespread fear of sharks. His interest in the creatures began when he spent summers in Nantucket. 'What I now know, which wasn't known when I wrote Jaws, is that there is no such thing as a rogue shark which develops a taste for human flesh,' Benchley told the Animal Attack Files in 2000. 'No one appreciates how vulnerable they are to destruction.'' More Trending Consequently, he spent much of his life until he died in 2006 as an ocean activist and wrote books advocating shark conservation. Even filmmaker Spielberg himself has admitted that Jaws became 'a living nightmare' due to the 'worst' filming conditions imaginable at the time. He told Vanity Fair previously that while it's now a fun movie for audiences to watch, life on set was very different. 'It was made under the worst of conditions. People versus the eternal sea. The sea won the battle, but where we won was with audiences in every country.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Film hailed as 'greatest movie of all time' makes streaming comeback MORE: BBC iPlayer now streaming 'mind-blowing' Christopher Nolan film MORE: 'Lots of unexpected twists and turns': Your favourite British TV thrillers
