60 | APRIL 21 • 2022 

SEAN PENN, ON-SCREEN 
AND OFF; BAD BALTIMORE 
COPS; AND TEN 
COMMANDMENTS NEWS
Gaslight is an eight-episode 
limited Starz series that 
begins streaming April 24. 
Early in 1972, John Mitchell 
(Sean Penn, 61), Nixon’s 
Attorney General, resigned 
and became Nixon’s re-elec-
tion campaign head. His 
wife, Martha (Julia Roberts), 
had some info about the 
Watergate break-in (June 
1972). John knew she prob-
ably would give this info to 
the press. Just days after 
the break-in, John arranged 
for his wife’s kidnapping 
and imprisonment in a hotel 
room. Martha managed to 
call a top Washington report-
er and briefly talk about 
Watergate before the phone 
was ripped from her hand. 
John then orchestrated a 
smear campaign to paint his 
wife as a drunk and a “nut.”
Nat Faxon, 44, whose 
mother was Jewish, 
plays top Nixon aide Bob 
Haldeman. Like Nixon’s other 
top aide, John Ehrlichman, 
Haldeman did prison time 
for his Watergate crimes. 
The Nixon tapes disclosed 
that Haldeman and Nixon 
often made antisemitic 
remarks, but never did so 

when Ehrlichman was pres-
ent. Why? They knew that 
Ehrlichman’s father was 
a Jew who converted to 
Christian Science, John’s 
mother’s faith. 
I do have to note, here, 
Sean Penn’s humanitarian 
work. It was once again in 
the news when Penn spoke 
to MSNBC and Fox News 
shortly after his return (April 
4) from Ukraine, where he 
was making a documentary 
that began filming before 
the Russian invasion. He 
talked about his admiration 
for President Volodymyr 
Zelensky, about their friend-
ship, and about the work 
that CORE, a humanitarian 
organization he founded, is 
doing in Ukraine and Poland 
(helping refugees).
 As I saw Penn talk about 
the Ukraine war, I thought 
about his sharp reaction 
to comments that he was 
“unpatriotic” when he 
opposed the Iraq War (2003-
4). He bristled as he point-
ed-out that his late father, 
actor/director Leo Penn, was 
a WWII bomber crew mem-
ber who flew 25 missions 
over Nazi-occupied Europe.
CORE’s first mission (2010) 
was helping Haitian hurri-
cane victims. Early in the 
pandemic, CORE gave thou-
sands of free COVID tests to 
Americans. Later, it gave free 
vaccinations to thousands. 

As I’ve noted before, Penn 
arranged the “jail-break” 
(2013) of an Orthodox Jewish 
businessman held in a 
Bolivian prison on trumped-
up charges.
We Own This City is an 
original, limited HBO Max 
series that streams the first 
of its six episodes on April 21. 
We Own tells the story of the 
amazingly corrupt Gun Track 
Task Force (GTTF), a (real) 
unit in the Baltimore Police 
Department. In 2017, all eight 
members of the GTTF were 
arrested and were subse-
quently convicted.
We Own is familiar ground 
for series co-creator David 
Simon, 62, a Baltimore 
native. He was the creator, 
or co-creator, and princi-
pal writer of three other 
Baltimore-based series that 
focused heavily on the trou-
bled relationship between 
Baltimore’s poor and the 
police — Homicide: Life on 
the Street (1993-99), an NBC 
series; The Corner, a 2000 
HBO mini-series; and the 
HBO series The Wire (2002-
2008).
The large cast includes 
Jon Bernthal, 45, as Sgt. 
Wayne Jenkins, the worst 
of the very bad GTTF cops; 
Josh Charles, 50, as Daniel 
Hersl, another GTTF mem-
ber; and David Corenswet, 
28, as David McDougall, a 
county deputy sheriff who 

initiated the GTFF corruption 
investigation. 
Bernthal is having a career 
year, with high profile roles 
in King Richard and the 
HBO Sopranos movie; 
Charles, a Baltimore native, 
is still best known as the 
co-star of The Good Wife. 
Since that series ended, 
he and his wife, journalist 
Sophie Flack, 38, have had 
two children; and Corenswet 
(The Politician), may have 
a career breakthrough role 
with We Own. His late father 
came from a prominent New 
Orleans Jewish family. His 
mother is a “WASP.” He iden-
tifies as Jewish.

OY VEY CORNER! 
Every year, around Pesach, 
ABC airs The Ten 
Commandments, the 1956 
blockbuster. A few weeks 
ago, schedules said it would 
air on April 17 (Passover/
Easter weekend). For 
unknown reasons, its air date 
was changed to April 9. It 
was too late to change my 
last column, and I apologize 
to anyone who tuned in to 
watch it and it “wasn’t there.”
I wanted you to see the 
film because I very recently 
interviewed Cantor Riselle 
Bain, 74, who played “Young 
Miriam” in the film.
The good news is that I 
discovered there’s a (free) 
really high-quality com-
plete copy of the film on 
YouTube. On YouTube, 
search just like this: “The 
Ten Commandments 
1956.” You’ll find it. Bain’s 
scene is in this copy’s Part 
I, about four minutes into 
the movie. As I wrote last 
week, it’s the scene in 
which Young Miriam (Bain) 
puts the basket holding the 
baby Moses into the Nile 
River. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY SEHER SIKANDAR

Sean 
Penn

BY MINGLE MEDIA TV

Nat Faxon

BY PEABODY AWARDS

David Simon

