AT THE MOVIES
What, Meryl? from page 51
Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Woody
Allen — then perhaps Prime is
Younger's way of sending a mes-
sage in a bottle to the Jewish
community.
Consider this heart-to-heart
conversation between the charac-
ters David and his mother Lisa
(Streep, at this point, is wearing a
khaki-ish floral shirt and a thick
rope of bead strands secured by
olive stones).
Lisa: "So you're still planning
on marrying someone Jewish!'
Uma, Shiksa Goddess
Amy Klein
Jewish Journal of Greater
Los Angeles
S
andra Bullock was all set
to take the role of Rafi in
the movie Prime, playing
the 37-year-old woman who falls
in love with a 23-year-old Jewish
artist. But two weeks before
shooting, Bullock pulled out The
actress told the trades the script
hadn't been revised to her satis-
faction, although writer/director
Ben Younger insisted that he had
gone over all script changes with
Bullock. He also said he was per-
plexed by Bullock's sudden,
lurching departure.
Now, a year later, as the film is
being released to glowing
reviews, there's just one word for
the Bullock fiasco: Whatever.
That's because, shortly after
Bullock's resignation, Uma
Thurman signed on for the role.
In a role that seemed to be
calling for the ultimate shiksa —
the unattainably perfect tall,
blonde very not Jewish woman,
who could imagine anyone more
perfect than Ms. Kill Bill, Pulp
Fiction, Truth About Cats and
Dogs Thurman?
"She's a shiksa goddess,"
Younger said,
"She's someone who would be
irresistible to a nice Jewish
mamma's boy,' said the director,
who grew up Modern Orthodox
and went to yeshiva for elemen-
tary and high school.
Uma's character, Rafi, is for the
most part oblivious to the reli-
gious conflict raging between her
October 27 . 2005
David: "Ye-e-s. Sure. OK?"
Lisa: "But then I don't under-
stand why you need to go down
this road. You may end up getting
hurt for nothing, or worse —
hurting her. Don't you value your
culture and your history?"
David: "Mom, it's not one or
the other, Mom."
"You're a therapist, you would
never tell that to a patient."
Lisa: "Not true, not true, I
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- Detroit Free Press
What, Meryl? on page 72
boyfriend David Bloomberg
(played by Bryan Greenberg) and
his mother Lisa Metzger (Meryl
Streep).
"There's a huge theme between
the fact that she's sort of agnos-
tic, probably a WASP, non-reli-
gious, and he comes from a
strong Jewish background and
heritage — and that means a lot
to him and his family','Thurman
said. "And she's kind of outside.
In some way she's not welcome."
Thurman says her character is
"just a typical open person who's
not brought up with religion:'
But that doesn't mean she
won't fall for a Jewish boy. At one
point, Rafi says to her therapist
(Streep), before confessing she is
dating her son, "You were so right
about Jewish men. He's so atten-
tive. I mean, of course, you know,
you're married to one."
(Lisa, more to herself than her
client, says: "Yes, but he has
A.D.D.")
Younger says Rafi is just
expressing what's out on the
street: "Non-Jewish women talk
about it, how [Jewish men] are
not afraid of closeness and inti-
macy."
So what is it about the shiksa
goddess type that appeals so
much to Jewish men?
"I don't think it's the taboo
thing," Younger said. "I think it's
about getting as far away as pos-
sible to what you grew up with.
It's probably genetically healthy. I
think everyone wants something
different."
"Uma's the poster child for dif-
ferent as far as Jewish boys go','
Younger said. "You don't see Uma
at the Young Israel:'
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