Matthew Rhys (Almost) Channels The Mayor In Jaws In Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay

In Ghostbusters — the 2016 Paul Feig version and not the Ivan Reitman original — there’s a scene in which Andy Garcia, as the mayor of New York City, snaps at Kristen Wiig’s paranormal specialist after she likens him to a certain someone for ignoring her warning of an impending supernatural cataclysm.

“Never compare me to the mayor in Jaws!” he shouts. “Never!”

Well, no one wants to be compared to the mayor in Jaws.

In Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Mayor Larry Vaughn of Amity Island (played by Murray Hamilton) is the secondary villain — after the Great White, of course — who, over the years, has become a cultural shorthand for inept officials all too willing to prioritise profit over public safety in the face of a mounting, all-too-visible danger. (Remember those memes during the Covid-19 pandemic?)

Mayor Larry’s spirit lives on — sorta, kinda — in Widow’s Bay, the new Apple TV series which premiered on Wednesday, which happens to be created by Ghostbusters 2.0 co-writer and Jaws superfan Katie Dippold.

In the series, Matthew Rhys (The Americans) stars as Tom Loftis, the beleaguered mayor trying to revive the struggling economy of his New England coastal town, only to confront a phantom menace tied to the town’s founders. So, yes, spotty Wi-Fi coverage is the least of his problems.

Speaking to 8days.sg and other journos in a Zoom call from New York, Rhys shares that he’s a Jaws superfan as well, so much so that he modelled his performance on Mayor Larry. Well, almost.

“I've been an enormous Jaws fan my entire life… it was hard for me not to say [mimicks Hamilton's voice], ‘24 hours, just 24 hours’,” he jokes, referencing a classic line from the film.

“I actually wanted [Larry’s] jacket with the little anchors on, but I was refused that,” adds Rhys.

But he’s quick to draw a line in the sand: “As much as there’s reference to Jaws, it’s a very unique kind of world that’s created for [our show].”

Also on the call: Stephen Root (Barry), who plays a longtime resident always at loggerheads with Tom, and British actress Kate O’Flynn, making her US debut as Patricia, Tom’s assistant.

By ‘unique’, Rhys — who’s also the executive producer — is referring to the show’s genre-hopping playfulness: it starts out quirky, then turns macabre (look out for a John Carpenter-esque slasher episode and an origin story directed by X’s Ti West) before diving straight into WTF territory.   

That delicate tonal balancing act is set early on by director Hiro Murai (Atlanta, Mr & Mrs Smith), who helms five of the season’s 10 episodes, bringing a visual style that keeps the show’s out-there elements grounded.

Horror, comedy — the actors are genre-blind. “We’re not really playing either one,” says Root. “We’re just playing the truth of the moment.”

Adds O’Flynn: “It’s not just horror and comedy… it’s quite moving at times, quite painful…it’s all of it, really. It didn’t feel like black and white.”

For all its genre playfulness, the production is physically and emotionally exhausting.

“Acting scared is quite hard… to scream… on repeat —that is actually really difficult,” O’Flynn admits. (Exhibit A: the abovementioned slasher episode, which really puts her through the wringer).

Rhys remembers the physical toll: “The light-headedness… of the hyperventilating all the time.”

And then there’s the old-school practical filmmaking — the kind that quietly nods back to Jaws in spirit if not in water.

One of the most challenging sequences didn’t involve open water at all.

“We were not in the water… we were 20 feet high in the air,” Root shares.

The boat was mounted on a gimbal, rocking like the real thing. “After kind of 12 hours on it, you'd come off and feel seasick… but we were very far from the sea.” Rhys says.

(Fun fact: Widow’s Bay production designer remodelled the boat’s interior to match Robert Shaw’s vessel, Orca, from Jaws.)

Exterior scenes were shot on location along Massachusetts’ North Shore, including Gloucester and Rockport, while interiors were built at New England Studios. Good luck trying to figure out where reality ends and make-believe begins.

Jaws isn’t the only influence on Widow’s Bay — there’s also The Birds, Twin Peaks, and pretty much every other Stephen King novel.  

“Other people would find references that others didn’t see… you can find them yourself, depending on what speaks to you,” says Rhys.

Root agrees: “How fun for an audience member to find the different things that they love.”

In that sense, the show isn’t just playing with genres — it’s also toying with perception itself.  In a town like Widow’s Bay, where isolation distorts perception, fear and anxiety are a religion.

As Rhys notes, the island's hysteria and fear-mongering are modern parallels that have been prevalent “since the mists of time”.

That also explains why Tom and Wyck don’t get along, at least in the start. Wyck’s disdain for authority stems from “the frustration of nobody believing what he’s saying [about the island being cursed],” Root chimes in.

Because if Jaws (there’s no escaping that movie) taught us anything, it’s this: the real danger isn’t just what’s circling beneath the surface — it’s what we choose not to see.

Widow’s Bay is now streaming on Apple TV.  New episodes drop every Wednesday through June 17, with a special two-episode release on May 27.

Photos: Apple TV, Marion Curtis / StarPix (premiere)