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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