50 | JUNE 2 • 2022
SANDLER HUSTLES,
HIRSCH STAYS IN THE
GAME, E.T.’S 40TH
ANNIVERSARY
Adam Sandler, 56, stars
in the original Netflix film
Hustle. It begins streaming
on June 8. Sandler, a real-
life basketball super fan,
plays Stanley Sugarman,
a much-travelled basket-
ball coach for the (NBA)
Philadelphia ’76ers. He
dreams of being a basket-
ball coach, but he is stuck
on the road, year-after-year,
looking for an undiscovered
great talent who will turn his
life around.
While in Spain, he discov-
ers Bo Cruz, a great street-
ball player with a troubled
and impoverished past.
Cruz is played by Juancho
Hernangomez, a Spaniard
who has played for several
NBA teams since 2016. He
is currently a member of the
Utah Jazz.
Well, I figure that most
of you know where the
film is going. It’s a double
“Cinderella” story — for
Stanley and for Bo. I haven’t
seen the film, but I am quite
sure they will face obstacles
and sometimes will stumble,
but in the end their dreams
will be realized.
Netflix hasn’t given much
of a synopsis, so most of the
available information is from
the film’s trailers. I know
that Queen Latifah plays
Stanley’s wife, Teresa, and
that Ben Foster, 41, plays
Stanley’s boss (I’m guess-
ing he is the ’76ers general
manager). The credits say
that the great Robert Duvall,
91, is in Hustle. My gut says
that he has a brief scene
playing the team’s owner.
The film was directed
by Philadelphia native
Jeremiah Zagar, 50ish.
Zagar made a series of
well-received documen-
taries starting in 2008.
In 2018, he made We Are
the Animals, his first fictional
narrative film. This movie
about an interracial family
got good reviews.
Zagar’s first film, In a
Dream (2008), is a docu-
mentary about his unusual
family. His father, Isaiah
Zagar, 83, is very famous
in Philadelphia for his many
quite interesting street (wall)
murals (the murals are most-
ly made up of bits of glass
and tile). Jeremiah’s mother,
Julia, 82, is also an artist.
Isaiah Zagar was profiled
by the Philadelphia Jewish
paper in 2016. He grew up
in an Orthodox Brooklyn
Jewish family. While Isaiah
said Judaism greatly influ-
enced his work, my sense is
that he is not, now, a prac-
ticing Jew. The profile didn’t
say whether Julia is Jewish
or not.
Hollywood Stargirl is an
original Disney+ film that
premieres on June 3. It is a
sequel to Star Girl, a 2020
high school musical that got
pretty good reviews. Grace
Avery VanderWaal, a teen
singer with a distinctive
voice, plays Susan, the “star-
girl” in both films’ titles. In
the sequel, Susan moves to
L.A. and makes new friends.
Jordan Horowitz, 42, (La
La Land) co-wrote both
films. Judd Hirsch, 87, has a
supporting role as Susan’s
neighbor. It’s nice to see
“super-veteran” excellent
actors, like Hirsch and
Robert Duvall, still working.
The 40th anniversary of
the American release of
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
(E.T.) is June 11. This truly
beloved film was made for
$10.5 million and grossed
almost $800 million. No
one expected that. The box
office returns and the out-
pouring of plaudits from crit-
ics and audiences put direc-
tor Steven Spielberg, now
75, into the rarefied universe
of “tippy” top filmmakers.
Here are three Spielberg
E.T. “factoids”: While
Spielberg didn’t write the
film, he got the screenwriter,
Melissa Mathison, “going.”
He told her he long thought
about making a film about
his childhood — a lone-
ly childhood in which he
had an imaginary friend.
In some ways, Spielberg has
said, E.T. is a combination
of that imaginary friend and
his own beloved father.
Another story: Some writ-
ers said E.T. was a Jesus-like
figure. Spielberg replied
that this came as a surprise
to him and to his mother,
who he pointed out was the
owner of a kosher restau-
rant.
The script originally had
E.T. being lured to come out
with M&M candies. Mars
Candy wouldn’t give permis-
sion to use M&M’s unless
they saw the final script.
Spielberg didn’t have a sure
“money in the bank” repu-
tation then and Mars didn’t
want their candy associated
with a possibly monstrous
space alien. The film compa-
ny wouldn’t agree to share
the final script.
The Hershey candy
company took a chance
and agreed to do a joint
publicity campaign with
the filmmakers without
seeing the final script.
Reese’s Pieces, a Hershey
candy, was used in E.T. as
the “lure” candy. Hershey
was allowed to show the
film to their executives and
their families the day it
was generally released. The
Hershey Company audience
laughed and cried — and
they all knew that Hershey
had made a great decision.
Sales of Reese’s Pieces
went through the roof.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
Adam
Sandler
GEORGES BIARD, WIKIPEDIA
Judd
Hirsch
IMBD.COM
Steven
Spielberg
GAGE SKIDMORE, WIKIPEDIA