Lifelong JAWS and Robert Shaw fan’s odyssey sees him board The Shark Is Broken
When Jeff Kushner, 58, originally from Long Island, was aged nine in 1974 he read JAWS and seeing it writ large on the big screen a year later – he admits – was a momentous life-changing moment.
It wasn’t just about the film, its production and the shark, but he also formed a fascination with Quint actor Robert Shaw, a fascination that has led to The Shark Is Broken, starring and co-written by Ian Shaw, the son of Robert Shaw.
Ian Shaw dressed as Quint from JAWS, but playing his dad Robert Shaw
Jeff said: “My dad bought me The Jaws Log and The Making of the Movie Jaws from a bookstore, and I began to learn about movies, art and the people who made it happen. According to friends and family my whole life since has been about JAWS.
Jeff’s battered copy of The Jaws Log (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
“Its history in my life is far reaching, touching upon relatives and old friends (some long gone), entire phases of my childhood and adulthood… And many decisions in my life were influenced by the effect this movie by Steven Spielberg had on my life.”
Back then, you had to get to the theater very early and stand on a shockingly long line outside for four hours or more because the film was totally sold out for the next two showings.
There was no way to buy in advance back then, you had to wait until you got to the box office. If you made it to the box office at all.
Jeff said: “I saw it in the theater three times in 1975 and then had to wait two years for the re-release in order to see it again. The vinyl soundtrack was the only way to relive the experience. Anyone who knows me associates it with me. And vice versa.”
Jeff in 1975 (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
“When Jaws first premiered on Network television (edited for TV but with extra scenes, like Quint buying piano wire) I had a little cassette recorder, the kind where you have to push the ‘play’ and ‘record’ button at the same time, and I set the recorder in front of the tv speaker and recorded the movie off the tv. Had to flip or change the tape every 30 minutes. Took two tapes and a half cassettes. A lot of work for little Jeff, but it was so important to me. Then for years I would listen to the movie in the back seat of the car on long trips. Or any trip for that matter. Drove the family nuts.”
And now almost 50 years later The Shark Is Broken – the new Broadway play at the Golden Theater about the behind-the-scenes making of JAWS - is going to be meaningful to Jeff for many reasons.
The Shark Is Beckoning (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
In 1975 he became obsessed with Robert Shaw, and he remains one of his favorite actors, ever. He even dressed as Quint for Halloween, 1975.
He said: “Back in the mid-seventies he was my very favorite, I wanted to know everything about him. There was no cable or home video or internet back then, so I scoured the TV guide for any of the movies he was in. I researched him in the library, in periodicals and on microfilm.
“In the years following JAWS I saw everything new he was in as it came out. I BEGGED my mother to take me to Black Sunday. It was rated R. I read his novel ‘The Man in the Glass Booth’ and saw the movie when it came out (by myself), surprised his name was not in the credits and later learned why.”
At the end of August 1978, Robert Shaw died, aged only 51. He suffered a heart attack while driving from Castlebar, County Mayo, to his home of the previous few years in Tourmakeady, Ireland.
Feeling ill, he stopped the car, stepped out, and then collapsed and sadly died on the roadside. His ashes were scattered near his home.
Jeff said: “When he died, I was in the 7th grade, and I was DEVASTATED. My first encounter with the death of a person who had affected my life on a personal level. I scotch taped his obituary to the inside of my school notebook.
“I couldn’t get my head around it. It’s been a lifelong ride with this movie, and not just with Shaw but with every other actor, writer, crew member and contributor to that film.”
Robert Shaw’s legacy continued to influence Jeff, spurring his interest in acting, and theater was where it most impressed him. And that journey led him to study in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - the same school Robert Shaw attended - but years later he eventually moved from acting towards filmmaking and has had a decent career as an editor and sound designer. Something which is now on hold due to the strikes.
The range of projects he’s worked on are not a bad record for this vicinity and include everything from Sling Blade, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, Law & Order SVU, Mystery Men, Strangeland and Behind Enemy Lines. You can see his full IMDB listing and the range of shows and films he has worked on here.
But as fate would have it his work would bring closer to JAWS in ways he never dreamt were possible. Jeff explained: “I worked for Universal for several years in the Sound department and one day I was working in the Foley studio with a recording engineer, and he told me to place my hand on a piece of wood that was on the floor. I placed my hand on this dirty piece of wood. He said ‘You now have your hand on the deck of the Orca.’ I said ‘Really?’ He said ‘Every footstep that you hear on the boat was created on that plank.’ “
“I almost fainted. Talk about meeting a celebrity. I stroked the dirty wood plank with admiration. None of the actors actually walked on that piece of wood. But the sound that you hear when you see them on the screen was performed on it by a Foley artist. Trippy.”
A younger Jeff (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
Jeff also has a profound love of theater. He said: “I grew up seeing live theatre in New York, but I moved to LA in 1998 and worked out there until 2021, returning to NYC where my theater passion has been rebooted.
Roy Scheider autograph (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
“Looking back though to 1979, I saw Roy Scheider on Broadway in Betrayal (with Raul Julia and Blythe Danner), spoke to him after and got a signature. In 1992 I saw Richard Dreyfuss on Broadway in Death and the Maiden (with Gene Hackman and Glenn Close), spoke to him after and got a signature.
“Though Robert Shaw did perform on Broadway I missed that time period. I was too young or not born yet, and he never did any New York theater in the years after JAWS. But, as if to fill in that gap, Ian Shaw is providing me with the closest thing. I don’t usually try to talk to the actors anymore. Stage door isn’t really my scene. Fans are a bit overzealous. But this may be an exception.
Richard Dreyfuss autograph (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see how I feel on the way out. But to honor the 10-year-old part of me, I may hang around and see what’s what. I wish I could share thoughts and questions with Ian Shaw, but the stage door is not the time or place. So, if that opportunity doesn’t come up, I’m ok with that.”
After nearly flying all the way to London to see it, with its Broadway debut just 15 minutes from his apartment, it was clearly meant to be.
And he’s not just got his first visit to the show planned out but is planning multiple visits to The Shark Is Broken.
Prior to his first visit Jeff said: "I got my ticket for July 26th. Second preview. 3rd row center…I want to be up close and personal the first time I see it. I see a lot of plays, and I feel this one will be fun to be up close for. I also want to go on the very first week and celebrate its arrivaI. I don’t want to wait.
“I’ll probably give it a few weeks and go again after the show officially opens. “Then later in the run, I’ll see it a third time, maybe in October or November as it nears its end of run. For the first time seeing the play I’m going alone. It’s sacred. I want to be in my own bubble.
“Second time, I’m going front row. Third time is with friends who will totally GET it. It's safe to say this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm planning on overdosing on it.”
And as JAWS has been a part of his life for almost all his life, when he bids this world farewell and adieu, JAWS is going to be an active part of that as well.
Jeff said: “At my memorial (someday) the family will play “JAWS End Title” by John Williams as the mourners exit. I am known infamously among my friends, family and students to know every line from JAWS, verbatim, with accents, pauses, stutters and beats in perfect synchronicity with the film. It’s not a gift. It’s an obsession.”
Not that he didn’t memorize it on purpose, it comes from repetition, with Jeff having seen it some 700 times. And that’s not a bad record for this vicinity.
Speaking again after now having seen The Shark Is Broken, Jeff said: “The play dealt with fatherhood as one of the themes, which made it particularly resonate with me. The Taking of Pelham 123 was one of my dad’s favorite movies, bringing Shaw to my attention again, with From Russia With Love also being a favourite, he even brought it up the day we watched JAWS. Dads figure into the Shaw play in multiple ways.
“I decided not to wait by the stage door. I wanted to keep the play with me for a while, not break the illusion that the actors had created and give myself time to process the show on my own. I walked around Times Square for a while, took the subway, continued to observe how the play resonated with me.”
Jeff today ( (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
Jeff’s thoughts on JAWS and The Shark Is Broken
My relationship with JAWS has continually evolved as I have become older and so does what it means to me. I recognize underlying truths that are familiar and personal to me and which I believe exist in all of us. I believe that’s why this movie that, on the surface, is about a shark terrorizing an island community, becomes elevated above the “man vs. nature” thriller into something that holds more profound insights and meaning to generations of moviegoers who still think of this movie every time they go to the beach or go into the ocean, or even when they swim in a pool.
For me it is a film about three people seeking to control the uncontrollable, and to understand the un-understandable: one character through the arm of the law, one through the laws of intellectual science and one through the laws of nature; the fatalistic drive for dominion over life’s unpredictable design or seeming lack thereof.
A film that touches on the great mysteries of the universe, and yes even the unfolding of the cosmos. That shooting star suggests to me that somewhere in the universe something even more consequential is going on. A cosmic event is taking place. Somewhere else.
For me, the film suggests that the same type of thing is taking place on earth, in Amity, and on the Orca, though on a smaller scale. And in the same way, it’s happening to all of us and all of our lives. What are the things that force us (or push us or compel us or support us) to come face-to-face with those very things that make one feel powerlessness in the face of calamity, but still holding tightly to the slim reed of possibility that allows us to face the next challenge, to persevere, to endure, to engage with life, and live it fully, and to ultimately have the opportunity to live a full life. A better life.
This film stands the test of time because it touches on the ways we all think and the ways we live our lives. It gets at the very essence of who we are as spiritual beings; people who seek truth, who yearn for meaning and purpose, people in search of some ability to exercise control over it all. People trapped by their past, and people inspired enough to leave their comfort zones and face a future unknown.
And amusingly, that for me is also the underlying theme of The Shark is Broken, but in this case it occurs in the process of making the film, extended wider to the process of creating art, extended even wider to the choices that we make, and how we choose to live our lives, extended beyond all that to: what is the meaning and point to it all. What was it all for? Absolute perfection.
Some people in the foreground to give the Orca on stage some scale (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
It’s a moving meaningful play that deals with all aspects of life: purpose, meaning, art, ego, judgment, self-judgement, family lineage and influence, the innate need to control the uncontrollable, what it means to have a father, what it means to be a father, what it means to be the child of a father, what is it all for? Can lofty goals be fulfilled? Are they worth it? How much does the work matter compared to living life? Particularly now, while we still have it to live! What are we waiting around for? The impact of stories and storytelling and story tellers. What we fear might be working or not working below the surface. It touches on all that, literally and metaphorically.
Deeply moving, humanly hilarious and insightfully profound. I did not want to wait by the stage door. I didn’t want to break the spell. I’ll be seeing the show at least once a month, so I’ll consider trying to make contact in the future.
The cast was perfect. Alex Brightman (who I saw brilliantly play Beetlejuice on Broadway) nailed Dreyfuss to the extreme level of excellence. Colin Donnell captured the essence of Scheider. And Shaw channelled his father with compassion and finely-observed detail.
While the play is filled with references that only people familiar with the film will know, it’s also filled with references that only people who are familiar with how the film was made would know. References to Mike (presumably Camera Operator Michael Chapman) and James (presumably Unit Production Manager James Fargo) as well as Richard, Carl, Murray and Steven.
And while I’ll assume many of these references went over the audience’s head, there was no doubt that the audience was completely taken in by the play. Swept into the triangular relationship of the three characters, the dilemmas and issues they faced. The possibilities for their future, for the film’s future, for the director’s future, for the future of art itself.
Behind the scenes images of filming JAWS surround the Orca (Image credit: Jeff Kushner)
The audience really seemed to enjoy the play and really seem to be affected by it. It was a wide range of people and ages; local New Yorkers and tourists from all over, so they probably experienced the play in different ways, but the audience reactions throughout were in perfect alignment with the show and what it was really about. A very successful second preview. I’m looking forward to seeing it at least once a month. It seems like an unmissable, once in a lifetime opportunity.
You can buy tickets for The Shark Is Broken here. And who knows, you may even end up sat next to Jeff.
Words and insights by Jeff Kushner, edited by Dean Newman.
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