MARCH 24 • 2022 | 49

of adoption agency policies.
Stewart is engaged to 
marry screenwriter Dina 
Meyer, the daughter of nov-
elist, screenwriter and direc-
tor Nicholas Meyer, 76. He’s 
best known for writing three 
Star Trek movies and adapt-
ing two Philip Roth novels 
for the screen. I don’t believe 
Dina’s mother is Jewish.

DIRECTOR
Steven Spielberg, West Side 
Story. Spielberg has been 
nominated for best director 
for at least one film in each 
of the last six decades (1970s 
through 2010s).

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Zach Baylin, 41, King Richard. 
This film focuses on the 
(not rich) father of the great 
African American tennis 
players Serena and Venus 
Williams. Will Smith gives a 
great performance as “King” 
Richard Williams, the first, 
and most important tennis 
coach his daughters had. 
King Richard is Baylin’s first 
feature film screenplay. Bio 
sources are scarce, but I was 
able to find out his father 
is Jewish, and his mother 
is not. After graduating 
from Johns Hopkins, Baylin 
worked in film-production 
jobs until a chance conver-
sation with a film producer 
at a tennis tournament led 
him to write the King Richard 
script. 
 David Sirota, 46, 
co-wrote Don’t Look Now. It 
is a political comedy that 
obliquely satirizes the public 
figures who oppose taking 
action to mitigate climate 
change. Sirota is best known 
as a political journalist and 
political activist. He was 

a senior adviser to Sen. 
Bernie Sanders’ 2020 cam-
paign. His wife, Ohio native 
Emily Lipp Sirota, 43, is 
a Colorado state senator. 
By the way, Sirota is not a 
Sephardi name, as I long 
thought. It is Ashkenazi—
and derives from a Slavic 
word for “orphan.” 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth, 76, is one of four 
writers nominated for writ-
ing Dune, a film based on a 
classic sci-fi novel (starring 
Timothee Chalamet). Roth 
has been nominated six 
times in this category, win-
ning once (Forrest Gump). 
 Maggie Gyllenhaal, 44, 
wrote the script for The 
Lost Daughter, which was 
based on a novel about the 
meeting of two women at a 
resort. Gyllenhaal also made 
her directing debut with this 
film. 
 A recent Esquire profile of 
Maggie’s brother, actor Jake 
Gyllenhaal, 41, reports that 
Maggie gave Jake a lovely 
mezuzah at a 2021 family 
Chanukah party hosted 
by their mother, Naomi 
Foner, 75. Foner was Oscar-
nominated for her original 
script for Running Empty 
(1988). 
 
ANIMATED FILM 
(Feature Length)
Osnat Shurer, 51, is nom-
inated as the producer of 
Raya and the Last Dragon, a 
Disney film. Shurer was 
born and raised in Israel and 
is an IDF veteran. She was 
previously nominated for 
producing Moana (2017). 
Luca, a huge hit, is also 
nominated in this category. 
Animated film writers aren’t 

eligible for an Oscar nomi-
nation, but it’s worth noting 
that Jesse Andrews, 39, 
co-wrote Luca. His big-sell-
ing novel, Me and Earl and 
the Dying Girl, featured many 
Jewish characters and was 
made into a 2015 film.

SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Jon Shenk, 57, is nominat-
ed as the co-director and 
co-producer of Lead Me Home, 
a film about the homeless, 

which is now streaming on 
Netflix. His wife, Bonni 
Cohen, is also a documenta-
ry maker. They co-directed 
and co-produced Athlete A 
(2020), an acclaimed Netflix 
film about sexual abuse of 
young female gymnasts by 
Dr. Larry Nasser, a Michigan 
State faculty member. 
 Jay Rosenblatt, 66, is the 
director/writer of When We 
Were Bullies. The film fol-
lows Rosenblatt as he tracks 
down his fifth grade teacher 
and questions him about 
a brutal bullying incident 
some 50 years before.

MUSICAL CATEGORIES
Diane Warren, 65, for 
writing the original song 
Somehow You Do for the film 
Four Good Years. 
 She has been nominated 

16 times for best song and 
has never won. For years, 
I’ve wrote that this might 
be “her year.” I don’t think 
that 2022 is her year. Maybe 
writing that will bring her 
mazel.
 Hans Zimmer (Dune) and 
Nicholas Britell (Don’t Look 
Up), vie for the best score 
Oscar. Zimmer, 64, has 
received 14 nominations 
for his scores, winning once 
(The Lion King). Britell, 41, 

has been nominated three 
times before. 

HONORARY OSCARS
Finally, the “Honorary 
Oscars.” Years ago, the 
Honorary Oscars were 
moved from the “live event” 
to a pre-Oscar ceremonies 
banquet. A minute or so 
of taped footage of the 
Honorary Oscar presenta-
tions is always shown during 
the “live” Oscars.
On March 25, Samuel 
Jackson, Liv Ullmann, and 
Elaine May, 89, received 
honorary Oscars. May’s 
award certificate said, in 
part: “For Elaine May’s bold, 
uncompromising approach 
to filmmaking, as a writer, 
director and actress.” 

Maggie Gyllenhaal
Diane Warren

BY MONTCLAIR FILM 

IMDB

