48 | MARCH 24 • 2022 

ARTS&LIFE
FILM

BEST PICTURE
The best picture Oscar goes to the film’s 
principal producers. Ten films are nom-
inated for best film. All the other Oscar 
categories have five nominees. Three 
films have a Jewish producer:
 Emile Sherman is the (co-producer) 
of Power of the Dog, a Western set in the 
1920s. Sherman, 48, has long been one of 
the top Australian producers. He won an 
Oscar (2011) as a producer of The King’s 
Speech. He produces “tasteful” movies, 
which makes sense when you learn he has 
a masters’ degree in literature. Emile was 
5 when his family left South Africa for 
Australia. His father arrived with little but 
became a wealthy man over time and, at 
last report, was a major philanthropist in 
the Australian Jewish community.
 Patrick Wachsberger is the co-producer 
of Coda, a film about a family that is deaf, 
except for one teen daughter. (Marlee 
Matlin co-stars). Wachsberger, 70, has 
been associated with dozens of films 
since 1974, either as a producer or pro-
duction executive. His Jewish father, Nat 
Wachsberger (1916-1992), was a minor 
film producer who was born in Belgium 
and came to the States in the 1930s. Nat 
cajoled (c. 1971) Jerry Lewis to star in The 
Day the Clown Cried, a Holocaust film. Nat 
didn’t have the money to finish the film, 
but Lewis paid for the unpaid costs, him-
self. Clown turned out to be so bad that 
Lewis didn’t allow its release until 2013 — 
and critics hated it. Wachsberger’s moth-
er, a French actress, wasn’t Jewish.
 Steven Spielberg is one of the producers 
of West Side Story.

ACTORS
Andrew Garfield, 38, is nominated for 
playing composer Jonathan Larson (1960-
1966) in the quasi-bio-pic Tick,Tick … 
Boom!. It features many songs by Larson, 
who is best known as the composer of the 
musical Rent. 
Garfield was raised secular, in England, 
by a non-Jewish English mother and an 
American father. Garfield has talked sev-
eral times about his Jewish background, 

essentially always saying that he is proud 
of his “Jewish heritage,” but not labeling 
himself, unequivocally as Jewish (“I iden-
tify most as Jewish,” is the farthest he “has 
gone.”)
The Jewish Chronicle, the leading UK 
Jewish paper, recently interviewed 
Garfield about “all things Jewish” (Dec. 
30, 2021; free online). This Garfield 
reply, about Larson supporting LGBTQ 
people, caught my eye: “Jon didn’t have 
firsthand experience of being a homo-
sexual man, but maybe through his 
Jewishness he had this ability to know 
exactly what that feeling was through his 

ancestry, and that awareness of having to 
fight for one’s life.”
My response: Well, it might have been 
“nice” if Larson was clearly identified as 
Jewish in the film. It might be nice if the 
world knew, as Garfield knows, that being 
Jewish very often makes one empathize 
with others.
Kristen Stewart, 31, is nominated for 
playing Princess Diana, in the bio-pic 
Spencer. Like many critics, I thought the 

film was not great, but Stewart was out-
standing as Diana. Only recently has a 
fairly complete picture of Stewart’s Jewish 
background emerged (thanks to a 2021 
interview with Howard Stern).
Her father isn’t Jewish. Her mother 
was adopted by a Jewish couple. What 
Jewish background her mother grew up 
with is still unknown. All we know about 
Kristen’s childhood Jewish “learning” is 
that she knew “The Dreidel Song.” She 
did tell Stern that she took a DNA test, 
and she is 25% Ashkenazi Jewish. I am 
virtually sure her mother’s mother was 
Jewish. I say this based on my knowledge 

HERE ARE THE CONFIRMED JEWISH NOMINEES IN ALL BUT THE TECHNICAL CATEGORIES

Patrick Wachsberger
Andrew Garfield
Kristen Stewart

BY GEORGES BIARD

IMDB

IMDB

when the moment arises. So, it’s great that 
Amy Schumer, 40, is one of the trio of 
women who are hosting this year. Joining 
her are African American comedians 
Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall. 
Schumer is really fast on her feet. Back 
in 2011, she was an unknown comedian 

when she “brought down the house” at a 
Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen. 
Her prepared material was first-rate. Her 
ad-libbed “take-downs” of famous people 
on the Roast dais was deadly and smart. 
She wasn’t “just” a funny woman. She was 
great, period. 

In my opinion, the Academy shouldn’t 
ignore diversity, but the paramount host-
ing criteria should be talent. Talent knows 
no boundaries — sex, age, country, etc. 
It isn’t a great year for Jewish nominees, 
but I think you’ll be surprised that there 
are more than reported in articles like this.

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