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