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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