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Friday October 13, 2006

Celebrity Jews

by nate bloom

Queen Esther

A few years ago, an evangelical Christian film company made “One Night with the King,” a movie based on the story of Queen Esther. An almost unknown actress (Tiffany Dupont) played Esther, but the producers had enough cash to hire Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif for supporting parts.

The film sat in the can until Fox recently started up a company called “Fox Faith,” to appeal to the Christian film market. Fox Faith has arranged for the showing of “One Night” in over 800 theaters starting Friday, Oct. 13. Christian ministers are being implored to send their congregants and there’s been outreach to the Jewish media.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a supporter of conservative causes who is close to evangelicals, says there is nothing in the film to upset Jewish audiences. Lapin’s opinion was questioned by an ADL official who hadn’t see the film, but doubted that an evangelical filmmaker could present Esther’s story in the traditionally Jewish way.

The film is playing in several San Jose theaters, a Dublin

theater, and Emery Bay in Emeryville. Check the Web site: www.8x.com/onenight/main.html.

Peet weds

Amanda Peet, 34, the co-star of TV’s, “Studio 60,” married David Benioff, 36, on Saturday evening, Sept. 30. It was a first marriage for both.

Peet, who disclosed she was pregnant early in September, is the daughter of a Quaker father and a Jewish mother and she has described her upbringing as a “little bit Quaker and a little bit Jewish.”

Benioff, a successful novelist and screenwriter, seems to come from a religious family — noting he goes home for Passover on his Web site.

People magazine reports that the couple had a traditional Jewish wedding and stood under a beautiful embroidered white chuppah as they said their vows.

Stars for a good cause

Jon Stewart will host “Night of Too Many Stars,” a benefit for autism education. It will air live on Comedy Central on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. and will be simulcast on comedycentral.com, with some Internet extras.

Other Jewish performers on the special include Jack Black, David Cross, Paul Rudd, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Robert Smigel as the voice of the hand puppet Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

Other premieres

Opening on Friday, Oct. 13 is “Man of the Year,” starring Robin Williams as a comic talk-show host who runs for president on a lark and wins. The film is directed and written by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson. Jeff Goldblum has a supporting role.

Opening the same day is “The Grudge 2,” a sequel to a horror/mystery film that was a hit for Sarah Michelle Gellar, who has a cameo in the film. Her role as the mystery investigator is taken over by Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia”).

Personally, I have always had a grudge against Ms. Gellar. For some reason, Gellar has always acted as if somebody was torturing her when asked about her Jewish background. Oddly enough, both her parents are Jewish and her mother came from a religious family.

Meanwhile, Tamblyn, who isn’t Jewish, is a total “Semitophile” who says that she celebrates Chanukah and wants to marry a Jewish guy someday. One wishes that Tamblyn could sit Gellar down and share with her the good things that Tamblyn sees in being Jewish.

Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at middleoftheroad1@aol.com.

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