44 September 5 • 2019
jn
MOVIE NEWS
THE SPY
The Spy, a six-episode Netflix original
series, premieres Friday,
Sept. 6. It is about Eli Cohen
(1924-1965), a real-life
Israeli spy. If you are unfa-
miliar with Cohen’
s life, you
could, of course, read an
online biography. However,
you may want to discover
most of his life history via
the Netflix series, so I won’
t
disclose his most important
espionage assignment.
Just a little background:
Cohen was born and raised
in Egypt. His father was
a Syrian Jew who moved
to Egypt in 1914. Eli was,
of course, fluent in Arabic
as virtually all Egyptian
Jews were. His family was
strongly Zionist and Cohen
secretly aided Israel while
still in Egypt. He long barely
escaped arrest and when his
position became untenable,
he escaped to Israel in 1956.
The Spy was created,
written and directed by
Gideon Raff, 47, an Israeli
producer and writer who is
most famous for creating
the Israeli series Prisoners
of War, which was remade
(with some changes) as
the hit American series
Homeland.
British actor/comedian
Sasha Baron-Cohen, 47,
plays Eli Cohen. The actor’
s
mother is an Israeli, and he
is fluent in Hebrew, which
probably helped him give a
more authentic performance.
American actor Noah
Emmerich, 54, co-stars as
Dan Peleg. Netflix’
s website
describes Peleg this way:
“Dan is a charming, rumpled
and brilliant Mossad trainer.
He is wise, wary and stub-
born, and has a tendency to
blur the boundaries between the person-
al and professional. He has conflicted
feelings about Eli and is tormented by
a mistake he made in the past.” You
probably will recognize Emmerich.
He co-starred in the FX series The
Americans, as FBI agent Stan Beeman.
I always remember him as Jim Carrey’
s
faux best friend in The Truman Show
(1998).
STREAMING CATCH-UP
The Righteous Gemstones
is an original HBO series
that began Aug. 18, with
a two-episode premiere
(the first season is eight
episodes). The series is
described as a comedy, but
it is really a drama with
some comedy. HBO says
about the show: “[It’
s about]
the world-famous Gemstone
televangelist family, which
has a long tradition of devi-
ance, greed and charitable
work, all in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ.”
John Goodman stars
as Dr. Eli Gemstone, the
family’
s head. Skyler
Gisondo, 24, plays Gideon,
the youngest of Eli’
s three
children. Without spoiling
things, the Gideon character
has a big moment and “hid-
den agenda reveal” in the
second episode.
On Becoming a God
in Central Florida is a
Showtime dark comedy that
premiered Aug. 25. The
first season is 10 episodes,
and new episodes air on
Sunday. Set in the early
’
80s, the series stars Kirsten
Dunst as a young woman
in Orlando who schemes
her way up the corporate
ladder of a cultish, pyramid
scheme company that, in
years past, financially ruined
her family. Ted Levine, 62,
co-stars as Obie, an import-
ant and creepy member
of the family that runs the
company. Reviews say he’
s
excellent and that’
s not a
surprise — Levine was
amazingly creepy in The
Silence of the Lambs as
serial killer “Buffalo Bill” (the guy who
says to his captive: “It rubs the lotion on
its skin.”). ■
NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST
Sasha Baron-Cohen
Noah Emmerich
Skyler Gisondo
Ted Levine
celebrity jews
arts&life
JOELLA MARANO, WIKIPEDIA
GEORGES BIARD, WIKIPEDIA
IMDB
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