Entertainment

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Hollywood's from page 43

professor. His real-life mother, like the
mother in the film,
is a respected writer.
(She is Protestant in
real life.)
Baumbach told
the L.A. Jewish
Journal he has self-
identified as Jewish
since childhood. In
2005, Baumbach
married Jewish
Heslov
actress Jennifer Jason
Leigh.

friends with Clooney, also a struggling
actor. Now, Heslov is the head of the com-
pany that makes Clooney's movies as well
as those by director Steven Soderbergh.
In 1998, Heslov directed, wrote and
starred in the acclaimed short movie
Waiting for Woody,
about a Jewish actor,
played by Heslov,
waiting to audition
for his idol, Woody
Allen. Ironically, now
they go head-to-head
for Oscar.

GRANT HESLOV

Heslov, 37, is a double Oscar nominee and
could pick up two statuettes, as a producer
of Good Night and Good Luck, nominated
for Best Picture, and as a co-writer, with
George Clooney, of the film for Best
Original Screenplay. The film, about CBS
newsman Edward R. Murrow during the
1950s' McCarthy era, picked up five Oscar
nominations in total.
The versatile Heslov also acted in Good
Luck, as Don Hewitt, the real-life CBS
Jewish news producer who went on to cre-
ate 60 Minutes.
Heslov grew up in Southern California.
Both his parents are Jewish, and his moth-
er mentioned in an interview that she vol-
unteers for a Jewish senior citizens home.
Grant Heslov has acted in small to mid-
size TV and movie roles for 20 years. Not
long after he started acting, he became

Schamus

JAMES
SCHAMUS

The gay cowboy film
Brokeback Mountain has become a huge
hit in all markets. James Schamus, as the
film's producer, wins the Oscar if
Brokeback wins for Best Picture, as many
expect.
A producer and screenwriter, Schamus
has long worked with Brokeback director
Ang Lee. He received an Oscar nomination
for co-writing Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon with Lee. Schamus said this about
writing the script for Lee's film The
Wedding Banquet
"Lee complained that the psychology of
the characters wasn't Chinese enough. [I
then made them] as Jewish as possible,
upon which Lee said, `Ah ha, very
Chinese."
Schamus was one of the celebrity spon-

Placing Paradise Now

Palestinian film's designation at Oscars
remains under debate.

I
I

Tom Tugend

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

vv

hen the controversial film
Paradise Now is introduced at
the Oscar ceremony on March
5, the live and television audiences
may wonder not just whether it will
win, but exactly where it came from.
In the listing by countries of the five
nominees for foreign language film
honors, the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences gives Paradise
Now's origin as "Palestine." In various
academy news releases, the designa-
tion has been "Palestinian Authority."

44

March 2 2006

The final word isn't in yet, but acad-
emy decision-makers are "leaning
toward" the term "Palestinian
Territories," said John Pavlik, the
academy's director of communications.
The alternatives reflect the geopoliti-
cal uncertainties and sensitivities of
the Middle East as well as the flexibili-
ty of academy rules.
As in the Olympic Games, only inter-
nationally recognized countries are eli-
gible to enter the foreign language
film competition, but this year's list of
58 entries includes such entities as
Hong Kong, Puerto Rico and Taiwan,
none of which have universal accept-

sors of the 2005 Los
Angeles Israeli film
festival.

Crafty

Lubezki

Nominees

EMMANUEL LUBEZKI

Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki,
40, is a Mexican Jew, born and raised in
Mexico City. He received an Oscar nom-
.ination for Best Cinematography this
year for The New Land, Terrence
Malick's film about the first English
colony at
Jamestown, Va.
Lubezki began in
Mexican films
(including the hit
Like Water for
Chocolate) and was
Oscar-nominated
twice in the 1990s
for work on
American films.
Berger
The cinematogra-
pher's father, Muni Lubezki, was an
actor in a rare Mexican movie about

Mexican Jews, Like a Bride.

HOWARD BERGER

Berger, 42, is nominated for Best
Achievement in Makeup for The
Chronicles of Narnia. One of the most
respected makeup artists in Hollywood,
Berger grew up there, the son of a sound
editor. He says he was &tricken with the
film bug when he was a child and saw
the great makeup work in the original
Planet of the Apes.

Documentaries

DANA ADAM SHAPIRO and
HENRY ALEX RUBIN

Rubin and Shapiro

Murderball, a film about wheelchair-
bound rugby players, earned an Oscar
nomination for Best Documentary

ante.
On the basis
of such inclu-
siveness, the
academy two
years ago
accepted the
film Divine
Intervention as
the entry of
"Palestine."

Globe Winner

American Jewish
organizations,
with few excep-
tions, have
stayed away
from the contro-
A scene from Paradise Now
versy. One reason
may be that few
persons, Jewish or otherwise, have
considered to be of high gdality, has
actually seen the film. Furthermore —
received excellent reviews and was
politics aside — the film is generally
crowned with a Golden Globe as Best

