32 July 18 • 2019
jn
celebrity jews
arts&life
AT THE MOVIES
The Art of Self-Defense opens July 19
at several Metro Detroit theaters. I’
ve
never seen a better advance
Variety review. The following
review excerpt encapsulates
how good Variety thinks
it is: “Casey Davis [Jesse
Eisenberg, 35] may be the
least macho man you’
ve ever
met … mugged by thugs …
Casey hardly puts up a fight.
… Dark, sinister and disarm-
ingly hilarious, [the film] tells
the story of how someone
like Casey learns to stand up
for himself by signing up for
karate classes. But it’
s hardly
that simple: Once enrolled, he
starts to feel more confident
in his personal life, even
as he begins to realize that
something bizarre is going on
behind the scenes of the dojo
[school]: violent night classes
for select students, weird
mind games and broken
bones
… This singular black
comedy balances off-kilter
humor with an unexpectedly
thriller-esque undercurrent,
to the extent that audiences
will find it tough to anticipate
either the jokes or the dark,
Fight Club-like turn things
eventually take — all to strik-
ingly original effect.”
Jon Favreau, 52, is the
director of a new version
of The Lion King, the 1994
Disney animated classic.
Favreau had a big hit with
his 2016 remake of The
Jungle Book. In that film, he
used what’
s now called “live
action CGI.” In the new Lion
King, he uses a new tech-
nique called “photorealistic
computer animation.” Check
out the film’
s trailer to see
if you think it’
s better than
traditional animation. Seth
Rogen, 37, has a starring
role as the voice of Pumbaa,
a slow-witted warthog, and Billy Eichner,
40, voices Timon, a wisecracking meerkat.
The Oscar-winning score from the 1994
film, by Hans Zimmer, 61, is reused in this
remake. (Opens everywhere July 19).
A HAPPY NOTE AND A SAD ONE
I recently stumbled on a YouTube video
about Kirk Douglas,102, and it prompt-
ed me to look at an online bio of the
actor. I noticed something
not in many news outlets:
Kirk’
s wife, Anne Buydens,
turned 100 last April. Last
May, the couple celebrated
their 65th wedding anni-
versary. Buydens converted
to Judaism in 2004, when
the couple renewed their
wedding vows. I checked
and could not find another
famous person who was
alive and over 100 when
their spouse, too, turned 100.
Douglas and Buydens may be
unique. Statistically, marriag-
es between “centenarians”
are very rare, period. Imagine
the odds against one “100-
plus” spouse being famous.
Imagine the odds against
them both being Jewish.
Cameron Boyce, 20,
who died suddenly in his
sleep on July 6, wasn’
t a
household name, but most
young people knew the
actor from his co-starring
roles in The Descendants,
a Disney series. Boyce had
epilepsy and it appears that
epilepsy was a factor in his
death. Boyce was the son of
an African-American father
and a Jewish mother. He
frequently expressed pride
in both sides of his family. In
2017, he told Raw magazine:
“I like to say that I’
m bl-ew-
ish, I’
m black and I’
m Jewish
… me and DRAKE, we got
that in common.” Boyce
co-starred in Grown-Ups
2,”a 2013 Adam Sandler
movie. Sandler, 52, moved
by Boyce’
s death, tweeted:
“Too young. Too sweet. Too
funny. Just the nicest, most
talented and most decent kid
around. Loved that kid. Cared
so much about his family ...
All our hearts are broken. Thinking of your
amazing family and sending our deepest
condolences.” ■
NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST
Jesse Eisenberg
Billy Eichner
Kirk Douglas and Anne
Buydens
Cameron Boyce
VIA EISENBERG FACEBOOK
VIA MICHAEL DOUGLAS FACEBOOK
VIA EICHNER FACEBOOK
VIA BOYCE FACEBOOK
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