v,ONG H u4
Shawn Levy directs Ben
Stiller on set in Vancouver.
"It was a really special
FINE CHINESE DINING
Invites You To
set," says Levy. "People
were overwhelmed by the
scale of it."
and the voice of Brad Garrett as an
Easter Island statue.
"We went after our first choices and
got them all," reports Levy, who happily
let the comics go for it in multiple takes,
even though it meant more work in the
editing room, such as splicing together
separately shot sequences of Stiller with
a 3-inch-high Wilson and Coogan.
"My favorite scenes are almost entire-
ly improvised',' says Levy, citing one in
which Stiller's "Jewish side psychoana-
lyzes Attila the Hun. A non-therapized
gentile would not start playing shrink to
Attila the Hun',' he laughs.
Levy 38, has fond memories of visit-
ing museums on visits to New York and
in his native Montreal, where he grew
up in a Conservative Jewish household.
He owes a lot of his Jewish identity to a
trip to Israel and Jewish historical sites
in Europe with his grandfather and
cousins, and intends to take his daugh-
ters on a similar pilgrimage.
As he drives his eldest, Sophie, to
Hebrew school in Los Angeles, he tells
her that she'll appreciate having gone
when she's older: "It's the seed of an
identity that she will appreciate for her
whole life"
Levy found his directorial niche
and on Broadway. The original stage
cast appears in the movie, which is
about an upper-class British boys
school. One of the main student char-
acters is Jewish.
Boys is directed by Nicholas
Hytner, a British Jew who is head of
the National Theatre in London and
is now ranked among the greatest
stage directors in history. He won a
Tony Award as best director for the
New York stage production of The
History Boys.
Also opening Friday, Dec. 22, is The
Good German, a film adapted from an
acclaimed mystery-thriller novel. It
stars George Clooney as a CBS jour-
nalist who, previously spending time
in pre-World War II Berlin, returns not
long after war's end to uncover a trail
of intrigue that includes the recruit-
ment of Nazi scientists to make
weapons for the West. The German
responsibility for the Holocaust is a
subtext of the film.
Cate Blanchett and Tobey MacGuire
co-star, and Jewish actress Robin
Weigert, best known for playing
Calamity Jane in HBO's Deadwood,
has a supporting role as a German
stripper with Nazi sympathies. (Don't
confuse this movie with The Good
Shepherd, a Robert DeNiro-directed
at Yale, though he followed
through on his original
intention to be an actor and
amassed on-camera TV
and film credits before getting his big
directing break. Directing episodes for
Nickelodeon and Disney Channel led to
helming Big Fat Liar, with Yale pal Paul
Giamatti.
Levy never planned to specialize in
comedy but says it comes naturally to
him. He has several projects in develop-
ment for both film and TV.
Museum is "the new level for me in
my career as a director," he says, noting
an increase in the "volume and breadth"
of offers he's received.
Museum sequel aside, Levy's wish
list includes a dramedy in the Jerry
Maguire vein and working with Vince
Vaughn and Will Smith. "I like to
multitask',' he says, outlining plans to
promote Museum, shoot a TV pilot in
early '07 and direct a film in April after
his wife gives birth in March to their
third daughter, whose name he won't
reveal.
"My wife would kill me,' he explains.
"And like a good Jewish husband, I have
an appropriate amount of fear of my
wife E
Night at the Museum, rated PG,
opens Dec. 22 at area theaters.
movie opening the same day that
deals with the beginnings of the CIA.)
If you feel like staying home and
ordering in, consider these new DVD
releases:
The very Jewish comedy-drama
Checking Out stars Peter Falk as an
elderly Jewish bon vivant. Playing
Falk's adult children are Jewish actor
David Paymer and the not-Jewish-in-
real-life Judge Reinhold and Laura
San Giacamo.
Little Miss Sunshine was one of
the best-reviewed comedies of the
year. It follows a very quirky family
as they take a road trip to a beauty
pageant for young girls. Playing the
family's grandfather is veteran Jewish
actor Alan Arkin. While the family
is not supposed to be Jewish, Arkin
plays his role that way. There is seri-
ous talk that Arkin will get a best
supporting actor Oscar nomination
for his performance.
Also newly out on DVD is the
fashion industry flick The Devil
Wears Prada, starring Meryl
Streep. While the film version of
the novel by Jewish author Lauren
Weisberger took out the explicitly
Jewish nature of the main charac-
ters, the movie retains a certain
Jewish sensibility.
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51