44 | MARCH 3 • 2022 

CATWOMAN 
IS JEWISH, 
THE ’80S LAKERS, 
THERANOS MESS 
The Batman opens in the-
aters on March 4. There 
is a long backstory on the 
production of this new entry 
in the Batman odyssey. 
Suffice it to say that it pretty 
much is a “new start” for 
the Batman series. So many 
“new starts” probably would 
have surprised Bob Kane 
(1915-1998), who created the 
Batman comic character.
The Caped Crusader is 
played by Robert Pattinson 
(Twilight Saga films). As 
the film opens, billionaire 
Bruce Wayne has already 
“become” Batman, but is 
not yet a seasoned crime 
fighter. Here’s the basic 
plot: Batman pursues the 
Riddler, a major “baddie.” 
The Riddler (Paul Dano) is a 
serial killer who targets the 
elites of Gotham City. While 
hunting the Riddler, Batman 
uncovers corruption that 
implicates his own family. He 
is forced to make new allies 
to catch the Riddler and 
clean up the corruption.
Zoe Kravitz, 33, plays 
the Catwoman, a character 
“with criminal baggage” 
who, nonetheless, has often 
helped Batman. Her “real 
identity” is Selina Kyle, and 
in this film, Kyle is a night-
club worker who moon-
lights as a cat burglar. She 
chances to meet Batman 
and her desire to help vul-
nerable people leads her to 
ally with Batman. Advance 
reports say that this film will 
emphasize the Selina part 
of Catwoman’s life — what 
“real-life” emotions lead 
Selina to help Batman.
Kravitz says she is “a 
secular Jew.” Her father, 
musician Lenny Kravitz, 
had a Jewish father and 
an African American, not 
Jewish mother. (Lenny iden-

tifies as a Christian). Zoe’s 
mother, actress Lisa Bonet, 
54, had a Jewish mother 
and a non-Jewish, African 
American father.
Kravitz is the first Jewish 
woman to play Catwoman. 
However, I will note that 
African American actress/
singer Eartha Kitt, who 
played Catwoman on the 
1960s Batman TV show, 
was a huge Israel supporter 
and recorded some Yiddish 
songs. Her only child, Kit 
Shapiro, is married to a 
Jewish man and I think (but 
haven’t confirmed) that she 
converted to Judaism.

1980S LAKERS 
The eight-episode HBO 
series Winning Time: 
The Rise of the Lakers 
Dynasty premieres on 
March 6. It’s about the 
“wild ride” of the NBA 
team during the ’80s. The 
Lakers had the great Magic 
Johnson, a very colorful 
owner and the first “hot 
dancing” cheerleaders.

Jason Segal, 42, 
plays Lakers coach Paul 
Westhead. He led the 
Lakers to a championship 
in 1980 and was fired two 
years later after clashing 
with Magic. Adrien Brody, 
48, plays Coach Pat Riley, 
who replaced Westhead. 
He led the Lakers to three 
championships in the ’80s. 
(Actresses Molly Gordon 
and Lola Kirke appear in 
much smaller roles.)
By the way, Segal (6’4”) 
and Brody (6’1”) are quite tall 
guys. Their casting makes 
sense because they are 
playing “real life” tall guys. 
If the series had been made 
in the ’90s, Bob Saget (6’4”) 
and Brad Garrett (6’10”) 
would have been good 
(Jewish) choices.
The Dropout is a six-ep-
isode mini-series that will 
premiere on Hulu March 
3. The first three episodes 
will air then, with the last 
three shown on succes-
sive weeks. It tells the 
story of the rise and fall 
of Elizabeth Holmes, the 

now infamous head of the 
medical company Theranos 
(which falsely claimed it 
had a way to test for many 
conditions with a single 
drop of blood).
Amanda Seyfried stars as 
Holmes. The large support-
ing cast includes Stephen 
Fry, 64, Hart Bochner, 64, 
and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, 
44. 
Fry plays Ian Gibbons, 
a British bio-chemist who 
worked for Theranos. 
Gibbons committed suicide 
(2013) shortly before he 
was supposed to testify in 
a lawsuit about the compa-
ny’s blood-testing technol-
ogy. Bochner plays Larry 
Ellison, 77, the billionaire 
founder of Oracle, the 
famous software company. 
Ellison was an early inves-
tor in Theranos and his 
backing helped persuade 
others to invest in the com-
pany.
Moss-Bachrach (Girls) 
has the best role of his 
career. He plays John 
Carreyou, the dogged 
Wall Street Journal report-
er whose stories about 
Theranos were critical to 
exposing the company’s 
rampant fraud. 
By the way, while 
Elizabeth Holmes is not 
Jewish, she is a remote 
descendant of Charles 
Fleischmann (1833-1897), 
the founder of the famous 
Fleischmann yeast compa-
ny. His yeast consistently 
makes bread rise. All 
Holmes did was deflate 
investors’ hopes. 

ERRATA 
In my Feb. 17 column, I said 
that Joanna Merlin, 90, was 
the last living credited actor 
in The Ten Commandments 
(1956). I was wrong. There 
are three others, including 
Riselle Babette Bain, 75. 
She played “Young Miriam.” 
She is now a synagogue 
cantor. She has a very inter-
esting life story, which I will 
share just before Pesach. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

Zoe Kravitz

GAGE SKIDMORE

