arts&life
a w a rd s
Jews
Winning
Awards
The tribe goes
to the Oscars,
2017 edition.
NATE BLOOM
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
he 89th Academy Awards
will be presented on
Sunday, Feb. 26, on ABC
starting at 8:30 p.m., hosted by
Jimmy Kimmel.
This year, again, the Honorary
Academy Awards were pre-
sented in a separate ceremony
— but will be noted at the tele-
vised ceremony. Documentary
filmmaker Frederick Wiseman,
87, received an Honorary Oscar.
A former law professor, he
became a full-time filmmaker in
1967 and his so-called observa-
tional films are usually studies
of institutions (schools, prisons,
hospitals), presented without
narration. A partial exception is
his latest film, In Jackson Heights
(2015), which showed a diverse
New York City neighborhood
via local meetings (at a mosque,
synagogue, etc.).
The following are confirmed
Jewish nominees in all but the
technical categories.
BEST PICTURE
Here are the Best Picture nomi-
nees with a confirmed Jewish
producer: Arrival (Shawn Levy,
48, and David Linde, 56). Levy’s
best known as the director of
the Night at the Museum films.
Linde’s paternal grandfather, a
36
February 23 • 2017
jn
Frederick Wiseman
Andrew Garfield
lawyer, fled Nazi Germany. His
father, Hans Linde, 92, became
nationally influential while
serving as an Oregon Supreme
Court Justice; Fences (Scott
Rudin, 58); Hacksaw Ridge
(David Permut, 62); Hell or High
Water (Julie Yorn, 50); La La
Land (Marc Platt, 58, father of
actor Ben Platt, 23; and Gary
Gilbert, 52, a Michigan native,
co-owner of the NBA Cleveland
Cavaliers and Dan Gilbert’s
brother; see “La La Lovely”
in this issue); and Moonlight
(Jeremy Kleiners, 41).
ACTING CATEGORIES
Lead Actor: Andrew Garfield,
33, Hacksaw Ridge. As noted in
a previous edition of “Celebrity
Jews,” Garfield’s father is Jewish
and his mother isn’t. Twice, in
the context of defending Ridge
director Mel Gibson, Garfield
has said he’s Jewish. Other
times, he edges off that self-
description. Like many celebs,
he calls himself “spiritual,” but
isn’t a member of an organized
religion. A possible Jewish
upside to working with Gibson:
It probably forced Garfield to
think seriously about what
being Jewish means — and
maybe that’ll lead to something
Shawn Levy
Natalie Portman
of benefit to the Jewish com-
munity. In any event, in 2016,
Garfield firmly established him-
self as an A-list dramatic actor
(Hacksaw and the Scorsese film
Silence). Lead Actress: Natalie
Portman, 35, Jackie. It’s unlikely
Portman, who won the Lead
Actress Oscar in 2011 (Black
Swan) will win this year. Voters
figure she’s already won one;
she’s youngish; and there’s no
tidal momentum for Jackie now.
Still, I think Portman and the
script captured Jackie Kennedy’s
sense of vulnerability about her
place in the world.
The odds favor a win in this
category for French actress
Isabelle Huppert (Elle), who, like
Portman, was in every scene in
her film. Unlike Portman, she
has never won an Oscar and
she’s 63. Voters likely figure it’s
high time to honor this uni-
versally acclaimed actress. As
noted in my column, Huppert
has a Jewish father and a
Jewish husband, but was raised
Catholic and is loathe to talk
about her father’s background.
MUSICAL CATEGORIES
The Best Original Score nomi-
nees: Nicholas Britell, 36,
Moonlight; Mica Levi, 30ish,
Jackie, and Justin Hurwitz,
32, La La Land. Britell, 36, is a
Julliard graduate, whose first
film work was an original com-
position for Natalie Portman’s
first directorial effort, the short
film Eve (2008). Since then,
he contributed considerable
original music to 12 Years a
Slave, scored Portman’s first
full-length film (the Israel-set
Tales of Love and Darkness);
scored The Big Short and pro-
duced the short and long film
versions of Whiplash. Ironically,
Whiplash (2014) made director/
writer Damien Chazelle a star
who could then get financing
for La La Land — a film that
will almost certainly rule the
musical categories. Brit Mica
Levi scored Under My Skin
(2014), a sci-fi film starring
Scarlett Johansson and won
the European Bafta awards.
Levi’s father, Erik Levi, is a
music scholar who specializes
in the history of music in Nazi
Germany. I couldn’t confirm
that he was Jewish and my
educated guess is that Mica’s
mother isn’t Jewish.
Hurwitz met Damien Chazelle
while both attended Harvard
and there they helped form
Chester French, a successful