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hate Christmastime. There are always
all these Christmas decorations and a
pathetic little menorah tucked away
in a corner."
Kesselman's USC Hebrew Hammer
short went on to the semifinals at the
2000 Austin Film Festival and inter-
ested producers at Universal. "But
they wanted to turn it into a black-
Jewish buddy film — they were think-
ing Chris Rock and Ben Stiller —
which was going to ruin it," he said.
Ignoring the advice of his career
advisers (and his mother), Kesselman
passed on the deal. He was rewarded
when ContentFilm offered to finance
the movie with himself as the director
in October 2001.
"Jon's script was hysterical and
unlike anything we'd ever seen," said
Sofia Sondervan, Content's head of
East Coast production. "It makes fun
of everyone without being offensive."
Nevertheless, the filmmakers wor-
ried that angry observant Jews might
shut down the production when the
Brooklyn shoot began in spring 2002.
Sondervan recalled how Chasidim had
crashed the Boro Park set of the
Began As A Joke
provocative Chasidic saga A Price
Above -Rubies while she was working at
"Although the notion of a
Miramax in 1997.
Jewsploitation film initially was a
"I warned everyone," she said. "But
joke, it dawned on me that a badass
that
didn't end up happening with
Chasidic Jew is the ultimate comedic
The
Hammer. Instead, all these
discrepancy," said Kesselman, who
Chasidic girls stood around asking
was accepted to USC in 1999.
"So I rented a whole bunch of blax- Adam Goldberg for his autograph."
Kesselman, for his part, was
ploitation films to figure out how the
relieved when his Orthodox relatives
genre worked. I learned that what I
loved the movie, including his
needed was some twist on the source
cousin, who lives in the West Bank.
of oppression.
"I asked myself, 'What as a Jew real- "The Hammer celebrates being
ly pisses me off?' It hit me when I was Jewish," he said. "It's a badass Jew
•
walking around a mall in December: I kicking ass for the tribe." ❑

although its director is more clean-cut
than in-your-face.
On this Friday morning, Kesselman
is dressed neatly in immaculate blue
jeans and a linen shirt. Polite, funny
and good-natured, he admits he does
share one unfortunate trait with the
Hammer: "I'm the most neurotic Jew
you'll ever meet," he said.
"I whined on the Hammer set. I've
whined incessantly to every girl I've
dated. It's not that I'm unhappy; it just
makes me feel better." He paused,
then said, "Can you mention [in the
article] that I'm single?"
Nevertheless, Kesselman, who grad-
uated magna cum laude from the
University of Colorado, had enough
chutzpah to quit his "soul-sucking"
computer job and apply to USC's film
school in 1998. When the rejection
letter came, he said he submitted the
exact same application again "out of
spite" and, as a catharsis, began writ-
ing a screenplay about "two idiot film
students, one of whom is making a
Jewsploitation movie."

Super Deal
on
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Offer good through Jan. 26

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Adam Goldberg's Hammer provides a positive role model in "The Hebrew Hammen"
The farce is a response to Hollywood's nebbishy and neurotic depiction °flews, says
filmmaker Jonathan Kesselman.

Two Hours Free Parking
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