Ar ts n e ainment At The Movies Filming Trida' Jewish-Mexican wife of DIA muralist Diego Rivera painted with a shocking touch. Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), her tor- rid affairs and excruciating spine sur- geries. Frida spent time in Detroit when Rivera painted the murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1932-1933 (see accompanying story). NAOMI PFEFFERMAN Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles ears before she directed her new film Frida, about the • Jewish-Mexican Surrealist artist Frida Kahlo, Julie Taymor saw Kahlo's self-portraits at an exhibit in Oaxaca, Mexico. "I was shocked, drawn in and repulsed," Taymor said of the paint- ings, which included visceral images of menstruation and miscarriage. was frankly put off by her work." A surprising revelation from Taymor, a wunderkind designer-direc- tor — known for her stunning stag- ing of the Broadway musical The Lion King — who is prone to theatri- • cal grotesquerie. At the climax of her production of the Stravinsky opera, Oedipus, red cloth streamed from the hero's gauged-out eyes. Shadow-puppet locusts splattered to depict one of the 10 Plagues in her 1980 pageant, The Haggadah. Hacked-out tongues and severed heads rolled in her 2000 fea- ture film debut, Titus, based on the early Shakespeare tragedy. But Frida's gory artwork was unap- pealing to Taymor until she met actress Salma Hayek, who'd struggled for years to make a Kahlo bio movie Macabre Images , Salvia Hayek in Julie Taymor "Frida. against all odds and rivals (including Madonna and Jennifer Lopez). "Salma walked into my Manhattan apartment and she just takes your breath away, even if you're a nice het- erosexual woman," the willowy Jewish director said during an inter- view. "We sat on my couch and for two hours she passionately described Frida's bawdiness, her brilliance, her raunchiness, her foul mouth, her drinking habits, her cigarette smok- ing, her bisexuality. It was a true seduction." By the end of the meeting, Taymor had agreed to direct the movie, which is already generating Oscar buzz. The bold, lushly photographed film chron- icles Kahlo's life from her crippling childhood bus accident through her rocky marriage to womanizing artist Frida In Detroit Fighting anti-Semitism across the street from the DIA SUZANNE CHESSLER Special to the Jewish News bile Mexican muralist Diego Rivera was living in Detroit to paint the walls that would come to define the major court at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), his surrealist artist wife, Frida Kahlo, was with him and had some life-defining experiences in the city. Kahlo, now coming to attention through film and books, was married twice to Rivera and was an artist in her own right. She was a jarring conversationalist — mixing with the local society crowd. Also while in Detroit, she suffered a miscarriage. Mill To-wv 4 r . 10/25 2002 90 Kahlo, an outspoken communist who could trace Jewish heritage through her atheist father, German- born photographer Guillermo Kahlo, presented a local force in opposition to anti-Semitism, begin- ning at the exclusiVe residential hotel where the cou- ple were housed. "The two were staying at the Wardell, which became the Park Shelton [Apartments]," says Wendy Evans, adjunct professor of art history at Wayne State University and a DIA docent who speaks about the Rivera murals. "The Wardell [across the street from the DIA] boasted that it was 'the best home address in Detroit,' which meant it didn't allow Jews. When Rivera learned of the restriction, he announced that Along the way — this being a Julie Taymor film — Kahlo's autobio- graphical paintings spring to life via special effects. One of the most dis- turbing is The Broken Column, in which the artist's naked torso, punc- tured by tacks, rips open to reveal a cracked marble spine. "Frida's artwork was an exorcism," said Taymor, who at 49 is two years older than Kahlo was at her death in 1954. "She survived by transforming her emo- tional and physical pain into art." Nevertheless, Taymor — speaking in strong, precise tones — insisted her film isn't another suffering- painter bio movie. "Frida wasn't just this poor, aban- doned woman who lived a life of tor- ture in a bed," she said with Kahlo- like cheek. "She had more than her share of suffering, but she also had more than her share of pleasure and sex. Her life was a combination of extremes. both he and his wife had Jewish blood and threat- ened to leave unless the policy changed. He was told that would happen. Kahlo, who was given work space at the nearby art school now called the College for Creative Studies, used to join her husband at the museum for lunch every day, says Evans, who has researched both artists. The two would sit close to his project while they ate and once were photographed sharing a ten- der moment. The photo is shown in the book Diego Rivera: The Detroit Industry Murals by Linda Bank Downs, head of education at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and former curator of education at the DIA. Downs' book includes other photos of the famous couple — one relaxing on Belle Isle and another with Jewish architect Albert Kahn. "Frida loved to taunt the society people who invited her to dinners and tea parties," Evans says. "When Henry Ford I hosted the artists at his home, she asked the auto magnate, known for his anti-Semitic writ- ings, whether he was Jewish. She used off-color 1)