In 1973, Peter Sellers persuaded his friend Peter Medak to direct a pirate comedy that he had developed with fellow comic genius Spike Milligan – only to then sabotage the production.
When Sellers was around, Medak’s film notes record daily frustrations: “Peter is indisposed, Peter is three hours late, Peter refused to work.”
Medak says he is “really fortunate” to have worked on the film: “There were genius moments when [Sellers] was 200% on completely …
On a later occasion, filming was abandoned when Sellers appeared to suffer a heart attack and was rushed to hospital.