34 | AUGUST 6 • 2020
Arts&Life
celebrity jews
A VERY JEWISH MOVIE; A
MODERN HUCK FINN; AND A NICE
COVID STORY
The big-budget Jewish film of the
summer is An American Pickle.
Seth Rogen, 38, plays the film’
s
two major parts. He plays Herschel
Greenbaum, a poor Jewish immi-
grant who comes to America and
becomes a pickle maker. One day,
Greenbaum falls into a vat of pickle
brine. Amazingly, he is revived in the
present day and hasn’
t aged at all.
He finds out his only descendant is
his great-grandson Ben Greenbaum
(also Rogen). Ben is a mild com-
puter programmer who doesn’
t
seem to have much in common
with Herschel. The film was written
by Simon Rich, 36, a former SNL
writer who is the son of well-known
columnist and essayist Frank Rich,
71. (Pickle begins streaming on
HBO Max on Aug. 6.)
I’
d call Rogen the “most Jewish”
popular actor under 40. This isn’
t
surprising — he grew up in a very
Jewish milieu: His parents met on a
kibbutz; his father was an associate
director of the Vancouver, Canada
Workmen’
s Circle; Seth went to a
Jewish elementary school; his wife,
actress/writer Lauren Miller, 38, is
Jewish; and he’
s frequently played
Jewish characters (Knocked Up, The
Night Before and Long Shot).
Rogen is usually jovial. But he’
s
prepared to defend his people
with a cutting remark. Last June,
Winona Ryder, 48, told the UK
Sunday Times that Mel Gibson
once called her an “oven dodger”
at a party. Rogen tweeted: “I’
m
only surprised by Mel Gibson’
s
‘
oven dodger’
comment because it
acknowledges the Holocaust.”
The Peanut Butter Falcon
begins streaming on Hulu on Aug.
6. It was the highest grossing
indie film of 2019. This critically
acclaimed movie is a re-working
of the Huckleberry Finn story. Shia
LaBeouf, 34, plays Tyler, a shady
guy who is being pursued by two
other shady guys. He meets up
with Zak, a young adult with Down
syndrome, and they have many
adventures. Zac, too, is on the run.
He “fled” an assisted living facil-
ity to become a pro wrestler. Zac
Gottsagen, who really has Down
syndrome, plays Zac.
Don Black, 81, a British Jew, has
penned the lyrics of many famous
tunes, including the theme songs for
five James Bond flicks. In 1967, he
co-won the Oscar for “Born Free,”
the theme song for the film Born
Free. The song was a huge popular
hit. In May, he went into the hospital
with COVID-19. He recently told the
BBC that a kind nurse
asked what
he did and he said, “A songwriter.
Google me.” Aided by a caring staff,
he pulled through after nine harrow-
ing days in the hospital. Staff mem-
bers, he said, learned the lyrics of
“Born Free” and serenaded him as
he was being discharged. The song,
about a lion being released to the
wild, sort of fits a COVID survivor.
Here’
s one very apt line: “Born free
and life is worth living.”
NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST
HOPPER STONE/WARNERMEDIA
Seth Rogen lives
with himself in An
American Pickle
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