When Natalie Portman cracked open the script for \”Black Swan,\” the saga of an ambitious ballerina\’s mind-blowing nervous breakdown, she instantly understood where her character was coming from.
The Museum of Tolerance kicked off its first International Film Festival with a nostalgic tribute to legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood on Nov. 14. The event honoring one of Hollywood’s most prolific stars — his film resumé includes about 65 features — drew some of his staunchest admirers, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Eli Wallach and actress Bryce Dallas Howard. The event was held in the museum’s lush Peltz Theatre and emceed by comedian George Lopez; it was largely a secular affair, highlighting the festival’s focus on universal human rights issues. There, Eastwood was regarded not only as movie star, but also as a consciousness-raising artist.
In 1944, future screenwriter David Seidler snooped through his father’s chest of drawers and discovered a hidden stash of Life magazine clippings. “They were early pictures that had come out of the concentration camps,” said Seidler, whose British family had fled the Blitz in London for the United States. “And then my father came into the room, ashen-faced, profoundly upset, and told me never to look at those pictures again. Later, I learned that his [own] parents had died in the camps.”\n
Two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey lifts his fork from his plate of lox and eggs and jabs it in the air. He’s tucked away in a back booth at Art’s Deli in Studio City, recounting his monologue from the opening scene of the black comedy “Casino Jack,” which opens Dec. 17. The film is inspired by the true story of the disgraced right-wing former super-lobbyist and Orthodox Jew Jack Abramoff, whom Spacey portrays. In that scene, Abramoff wields not a fork, but a toothbrush, as he informs a bathroom mirror that, as a result of “a s—load of reading and studying and praying,” he’s come to some conclusions he’d like to share — ostensibly with the reporters and FBI agents circling him: “You’re either a big leaguer or you’re a slave clawing your way onto the C-train,” is one of them. “You say I’m selfish — f— you,” is another. “I give back, plenty. … I’m humbly grateful for the wonderful gifts that I’ve received here in America, the greatest country on the planet! I’m Jack Abramoff, and, oh yeah, I work out every day.”
The holiday season is prime movie-going time, with many new films slated to open. Outstanding performances by stellar actors abound, and some hold the promise of Oscar worthiness. Among the notable productions are two films based on real-life events full of excitement and intrigue. We offer a look at a handful of new releases coming soon to a theater near you. “Casino Jack,” which will be in theaters Dec. 17, chronicles the exploits of notorious Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff (starring Kevin Spacey — see interview with Spacey on Page 6), who was sentenced to federal prison on charges including fraud, the corrupting of public officeholders and conspiracy. Earlier this year, he was transferred from federal prison in western Maryland to a halfway house somewhere in the mid-Atlantic area and is scheduled for release Dec. 4.
A trailer for an anti-Israel Turkish movie filmed in part aboard the Marmara has been released. \”Valley of the Wolves-Palestine,\” which will be released in Turkish theaters on Jan. 28, presents the Turkish version of the Israeli interception of a Turkish ship that was part of a flotilla trying to break Israel\’s naval blockade of Gaza. Nine Turkish nationals were killed during the May 31 operation.
An Israeli movie took the grand prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
“I’m not a temple Jew, I’m not a ritual Jew, I don’t follow the holidays, but I am a Jew from the tip of my toes to the top of what remains of my hair,” actor Richard Dreyfuss announced at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton, where the Gala Awards Dinner, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Israel Film Festival (IFF), took place Oct. 20. “I have a pride that I am a member of a group of people who have astonished the world in such a consistent way and who have given more gifts to mankind than anyone else.”
Director Doug Liman’s Manhattan home is adorned with more than a dozen photographs and even a painting of his late father, the legendary Jewish attorney Arthur Liman.
Two films of particular Jewish interest open in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, one a pleasant surprise from an unexpected source, the other an odd take on one of history’s biggest mass murderers.
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