PHOTO BY KATA VERMES/TNT
arts&life
tv
“I don’t feel
compelled
to only play
Jewish
characters,
but there’s
something
very rewarding
about it.”
G etting Connected
— MATTHEW SHEAR
GERRI MILLER JEWISH JOURNAL OF GREATER L.A.
T
Actor Matthew
Shear’s Jewish
roots help him
relate to his role in
PHOTO BY KATA VERMES/TNT
The Alienist.
Matthew Shear
TOP: Douglas Smith (left) and
Matthew Shear as Jewish fraternal
twins on The Alienist.
details
The Alienist premiered Jan. 22
across TNT platforms and can be
viewed on On-Demand.
he 10-part miniseries
The Alienist is TNT’s
adaptation of Caleb Carr’s
1994 novel set in 1896 amidst
the vast wealth, extreme poverty
and technological innovation of
New York City during the Gilded
Age. A criminal psychologist,
a newspaper illustrator and a
police department secretary
investigate the grisly serial mur-
ders of young boys.
Joining them are 20-some-
thing Jewish fraternal twins
Lucius (Matthew Shear) and
Marcus Isaacson (Douglas
Smith), criminal science and
forensics experts serving as
detective sergeants under the
new police commissioner, Teddy
Roosevelt, later to become the
26th president of the United
States.
“I felt very connected to the
story of Jewish brothers mak-
ing their way in New York City,”
said Shear, who is Jewish and a
New York native. His mother, a
first-generation American, “had
to negotiate what it means to
be Jewish and the daughter of
immigrant parents who were
fleeing the Holocaust,” he said.
“She became a scientist, which
was not expected of her.”
Shear said the miniseries fol-
lows the narrative of the book
but also expands on some of
the storylines, including scenes
involving the Isaacsons. The
show brings viewers into their
home, where they live with their
mother and light candles on
Shabbat.
Shear described Lucius as
a mama’s boy who speaks
Yiddish and is more traditional
and religious than the more
assimilated, modern Marcus.
When Marcus begins a sexual
relationship with a young Jewish
woman, conflict arises because
Lucius thinks he should marry
her, while Marcus has more pro-
gressive views.
“Marcus is trying to find
his own Jewish identity as an
American,” Shear said.
As Jews in a predominantly
gentile police force that
Roosevelt is trying to modern-
ize and rid of corruption, the
Isaacsons are sometimes the
butt of jokes and anti-Semitic
comments from fellow officers.
“There’s a scene toward the
end of the season where we
interrogate an Irish police offi-
cer suspected of a crime,” Shear
said. “As we try to get informa-
tion from him, he is defiant and
throws a lot of hateful language
at us and says we’re unfit to
do police work because we’re
Jewish.”
As the brothers help to solve
crimes, “they bicker, but work in
tandem,” Shear said. “They have
a dynamic that you don’t see
with the other characters.”
The actor emphasized that the
close relationship the brothers
have with each other and their
mother stands in contrast to the
troubled and lonely souls that
populate much of The Alienist.
As research for his role, Shear
relished delving into forensics
history, preparing for scenes by
studying how then-new methods
like fingerprinting and crime
scene photography were used in
1896. He and Smith “were trained
in the use of an original box cam-
era from the period,” he said.
“The premise of the show fas-
cinated me because I’m pretty
interested in psychology and the
mystery of the mind,” Shear said.
During the six-month shoot in
Budapest, Hungary, Shear made
time to visit Jewish heritage sites,
including the Grand Dohany
Street Synagogue and the adja-
cent Tree of Life Holocaust
Memorial several times. When
his parents came to visit, his
Yiddish tutor, also a tour guide
and an amateur cantor, took
them through the Old Jewish
Quarter. “I really enjoyed living
in Budapest, though it has a very
dark history for Jews,” he said.
Raised in Manhattan and
in Larchmont, N.Y., Shear, 33,
grew up in a Reform Jewish
home, attended Hebrew school,
celebrated Jewish holidays and
became a bar mitzvah.
“My dad’s grandparents emi-
grated from Russia in the 1890s
and my mom’s parents were able
to flee Belgium during World
War II. They got Bolivian visas
and went to Cuba,” he said, not-
ing that he feels very connected
jn
to his Jewish identity and culture.
He now belongs to a Reform
synagogue on New York ‘s Upper
West Side and celebrates the
major holidays with his family.
Exposed to movies and theater
as a child, Shear followed his
older brother into school plays
and became hooked. Taking
Woodstock (2009) was his first
film, and he’s been in three mov-
ies directed by Noah Baumbach:
While We’re Young, Mistress
America and The Meyerowitz
Stories (New and Selected).
Lucius Isaacson is his third
Jewish character in a row, after
roles in Meyerowitz and the
forthcoming The Boy Downstairs,
in which he plays the title role of
Ben, whose ex-girlfriend is played
by Zosia Mamet. “I don’t feel
compelled to only play Jewish
characters, but there’s something
very rewarding about it,” he said,
adding that he’s not concerned
about typecasting.
“I’ve played non-Jewish
characters. I played an Italian-
American in Mistress America,
my first substantial break,” he
said. “I hope to play a range of
characters. [And] ‘Jewish’ is not
a restrictive category. There are
so many kinds of Jewish people.
If I end up playing more Jewish
characters, I’d be happy to.”
Now, Shear said, he is ready
for his next adventure, wherever
it takes him: “I’m in a nice place
where I’m open to trying some-
thing new.” •
February 8 • 2018
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