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