The Curious Case of ‘Hollywood Jew’

I owe it all to Brett Ratner. He was my first. We met one luscious summer night, he invited me to his home and, four hours later, sent me out into the world of Hollywood journalism armed with a juicy first story: an under-40, billion-dollar director with impeccable taste and a playboy reputation. Slightly naïve at the time, I didn’t escape unscathed (let’s just say that sitting on the board of the Simon Wiesenthal Museum isn’t the only thing that gets him excited), but I did walk away with a searching question:

What exactly does it mean to be Jewish in today’s Hollywood?

There was a time when a men’s club of Jews founded and controlled Hollywood — the Warner brothers, Louis B. Mayer, Carl Laemmle, Adolph Zukor and William Fox, each of whom helped launch the studio system in the 1930s — and who were united not only in their Eastern European roots, but also in their desire to assimilate.

“Above all things, they wanted to be regarded as Americans, not Jews; they wanted to reinvent themselves here as new men,” historian Neal Gabler wrote in his 1988 book, “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.” But, as with almost everything else in Jewish history, that wasn’t easy. For decades, Hollywood was accused of being “run by Jews,” who were, so the story went, using movies to undermine American values.

The unremitting notion that Jews run Hollywood has changed distinctly since those early studio days. For starters, media conglomerates have absorbed the studios once owned by Jewish individuals. And while before Hollywood Jews may have had a deep, almost psychic sense of ethnicity, today’s Hollywood Jews are more secular, retreating from the cultural identity bequeathed by their entertainment ancestry (though perhaps not from their cutthroat business instincts).

Jewish identity in today’s Hollywood, like American Jewry in general, is not monolithic. Just a week ago, a producer at Sony told me Jewish identity has gone into hiding as a result of foul play on Wall Street and tribal shame over the Bernard Madoff mess. Jeff Silver, producer of the upcoming “Terminator Salvation,” told me nonchalantly that the idea of Jewish Hollywood “means nothing” to him.

“There is a subtle way in which Judaism has infused my ethical life, which is significant; but it’s not Judaism per se that is a cognizant part of my day-to-day life,” Silver said, even though he has also said that he relates “very strongly” to being Jewish.

Then again, Jewish identity surfaces in Hollywood in mysterious ways. For example, Academy voters seem to have a penchant for Holocaust narratives, which may explain why “The Reader” trumped “Revolutionary Road” for Oscar nods. Could the reason be as cliché as guilt? As egocentric as tribalism? Or is there something altogether deeper? (See Hollywood Jew blog post “And The Academy Would Like to Thank … The Holocaust” at jewishjournal.com.) And I haven’t yet figured out why on earth Abe Foxman endorsed “The Reader,” a film that unapologetically asks us to sympathize with a Nazi war criminal because she’s —horror of horrors — illiterate. Furthermore, what will become of Ari Folman’s Israeli war documentary, “Waltz With Bashir,” on Oscar night? Sure, it won the praise of critics, as well as a Golden Globe, but it remains a mystery as to whether Jewish academy voters will see it as a pro-Israel or anti-Israel film — or even which sentiment they’d prefer. 

Then, of course, there’s the curious case of Mel Gibson. His relationship with Jewish Hollywood, although fraught, has been telling: First, he makes a pointed and polemical film, “The Passion of the Christ,” which unleashes a wave of anti-Semitic, pre-Vatican II accusations; soon after that, he embarks on an anti-Semitic tirade when pulled over for drunk driving. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why we haven’t heard much from him since, but the fallout was awfully quiet. The majority of Hollywood Jews remained conspicuously silent in the face of Gibson’s slander; only Amy Pascal, co-chair of Sony Pictures and Endeavor agent Ari Emanuel publicly condemned his visceral Jew-bashing.

So it would seem that no matter how the equation of Jewish power plays out in Tinseltown, there are still times when being Jewish hurts and it pays to stay silent.

And yet, there will always be an abundance of stories to tell:

Like, how Jeffrey Katzenberg and Lionsgate president Jon Feltheimer have a religious devotion to the Lakers; or why SAG president Alan Rosenberg dined alone last Saturday night; or how Kat Dennings, the rising starlet of “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” is handling the emergence of an onscreen sexuality at the tender age of 22; or why when I met Oliver Stone, my plans to talk Judaism were foiled, because, though his father was Jewish, he was raised Episcopalian, and he’s now Buddhist. Come to think of it, that’s a very Jewish story too.

So thanks to Brett Ratner, I’m on a brand-new mission — getting to the heart of this “Hollywood Jew” business. I’ll be profiling the exciting ones, reporting the scandals and the news, analyzing the culture and ethics — the whole lot — and I’m not stopping until I get to Spielberg.