 OCTOBER 22 • 2020 | 35

UNDOING, BOOGALOO 
AND CHLOE FINEMAN
The Undoing is a six-episode 
HBO mini-series that begins 
on Sunday, Oct. 25. It is 
based on You Should Have 
Known, a 2014 novel by Jean 
Hanff Korelitz, 59. Basic 
plot: The main character in 
the series is Grace Reinhardt 
Fraser (Nicole Kidman), a 
successful therapist. Just 
before her first book is to be 
published, a series of very 
bad things happen to her. 
Hugh Grant plays Dr. 
Jonathan Fraser, Grace’s 
husband. Donald Sutherland 
co-stars as Grace’s father, 
Franklin Reinhardt. All six 
episodes were directed by 
Susanne Bier, 60, a Danish 
Jew. Her career has soared 

in the last decade, with an 
Oscar for best foreign lan-
guage film (In A Better World, 
2011) and an Emmy for The 
Night Manager (2019), a limit-
ed series. 
In the novel, Grace is 
described as the secular 
child of secular Jewish par-
ents. Grace’s husband in 
the novel is Dr. Jonathan 
Sachs, who is supposed 
to be Jewish, too. Without 
spoiling things much, just let 
me say that Dr. Jonathan is 
not a good guy. So, giving 
him the last name “Fraser” 
in the movie may have been 
intended as a “good thing” 
for the Jewish community. 
The Boogaloo Boys 
are making headlines in 
Michigan and nationwide. 
The group sort of took 
its name from the 1984 
film Breakin’ 2: Electric 
Boogaloo. The film’s 
Israeli-born director, Sam 
Firstenberg, 70, spoke to the 

Hollywood Reporter in June 
about his shock that his film’s 
title had morphed into the 
name of a hate group. 
 According to the Reporter, 
until recently, “Electric 
Boogaloo” was a lightheart-
ed meme that came to mean 
“sequel.” Firstenberg said 
he loved the trend, which 
repopularized his movie. 
But now that two people 
have been killed by the 
movement’s followers, the 
phrase is no longer fun. “It’s 
impossible to wrap my mind 

around,” Firstenberg says. (A 
Boogaloo member murdered 
a federal officer in California 
in May and a California depu-
ty sheriff in June.)
Chloe Fineman, 32, joined 
the cast of Saturday Night 
Live last year and emerged 
as a break-out star. She has 
done great impressions of 
Timothee Chalamet, 24, 
Drew Barrymore and Reese 
Witherspoon. I long knew 
she attended a Jewish day 
camp, but she also referred 
to herself as “half-WASP” 
(referencing her mother). So, 
what’s the story? Well, here’s 
what she recently told the 
Washington Post: “I have 
a really funny Jewish fam-
ily. My dad is hilarious and 
extremely unfiltered.” Trust 
me, in time, we’ll get even 
more details. It’s possible 
that Fineman’s mother is a 
Jew-by-choice (like the moth-
ers of Amy Schumer and 
Pamela Adlon). 

ARTS&LIFE
CELEBRITY JEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

HBO

Nicole 

Kidman 

in The 

Undoing

