JUNE 23 • 2022 | 51

A MYSTERY ON THE 
RESERVATION, CHARITY 
SAVES A RICH LADY, AN 
ARTY BIO-PIC
Dark Winds is an eight-ep-
isode psychological thriller 
that began streaming on 
AMC and AMC+ on June 
12. It is based on a series 
of bestselling and critically 
acclaimed novels written 
by the late Tony Hillerman. 
The books, and the AMC 
series, center on two Native 
American reservation police 
officers. 
Noah Emmerich, 57, has 
a major supporting role in 
Dark Winds as Whitover, a 
burned-out FBI agent whose 
career is dying. 
It’s nice to note that Dark 
Winds is a big hit with critics. 
Earlier this year, Emmerich 
played another FBI agent 
in the Apple TV+ mystery/
thriller series Suspicion. 
The first episode was inter-
esting, and the acting was 
fine. However, I joined most 
critics in thinking it didn’t 
provide enough clever twists 
to justify watching eight one-
hour episodes. 
Loot is a 10-episode com-
edy that begins streaming 
on Apple TV+ on June 24. 

Molly Novak (Maya Rudolph, 
47) lives a dream-like, luxuri-
ous life. She is married to a 
super-duper-rich high-tech 
billionaire (played by Adam 
Scott). Then, suddenly, her 
whole life crashes when she 
discovers her husband has 
been cheating on her. She 
goes into a major depres-
sion that is not relieved 
when she snares a world-re-
cord $87 billion divorce set-
tlement.
 Molly is brought out of her 
blues when she gets a call 
from Sofia, an employee of 
Molly’s charitable foundation 
— a foundation Molly didn’t 
even know she had. Molly 
latches on to Sofia, and the 
foundation staff, as a lifeline 
out of her depression. 
Molly’s new life purpose is 
to help others with her rich-
es. Of course, there’s a lot of 
humor contrasting the rich 
cocoon that Molly has long 
lived-in with “the real world.”
Nat Faxon, 46, has a 
co-starring, “main cast” role. 
He plays Arthur, an accoun-
tant. Faxon has many come-
dy series acting credits and 
he was the co-winner of a 
best screenplay Oscar (The 
Descendants, 2011). 
His mother is Jewish, and 
he’s secular. Faxon’s mater-
nal grandfather fled Nazi 
Germany in 1938. 

 

THE AMAZING 
BILLY WILDER
Another refugee from the 
Nazis, the truly amazing 
director/writer Billy Wilder 
(1906-2002), is going to be 
the subject of an upcom-
ing “sort-of” bio-pic. I was 
excited when the film was 
announced a couple of 
weeks ago. Then details 
about the film came out, and 
I’m not so happy. I think the 
planned film probably won’t 
be of interest to anyone 
except the “really arty.” 
Who was Wilder? Well, 
many say he was the great-
est “all-around” film creator 
of the 20th century — the 
depth and breadth of his 
talents is astonishing. There 
is really no way to briefly 
convey his incredible life and 
his works. But I’ll try to make 
you curious enough to read 
a long bio online.
He was born Shmuel Vild 
to middle-class Polish Jewish 
parents. The whole family 
moved to Vienna around 
1920. Wilder was a journalist 
in Vienna, before moving to 
Berlin in 1926. By 1929, he 
was a screenwriter. The hit 
films he wrote or co-write 
ushered in a new era of real-
ism in the German cinema. 
He fled from the Nazis in 
1933 and settled in America. 
He learned English by listen-
ing to the radio hour after 
hour for several months. 
Months after he learned 
English, he began writ-
ing really good American 
(English) movie scripts for 
Hollywood studios. His first 
big hit (as a writer) was the 
great comedy Ninotchka 
(1939). He co-wrote more 
hits and was given a chance 
to direct in 1942. The 
third film he directed (and 
co-wrote) was the classic 
film-noir Double Indemnity 
(1944). 
He went on to direct and 

co-write classic after classic. 
Some were dramas and 
many were comedies. Here 
are the biggest hits: Sunset 
Boulevard, Stalag 17, Lost 
Weekend, Sabrina, Witness 
for the Prosecution, Some 
Like It Hot, The Apartment 
and The Fortune Cookie. 
He won six Oscars (two for 
directing, four for screen-
plays). 
The film about Wilder is 
based on a novel by Brit 
writer Jonathan Coe about 
the making of Fedora (1978), 
a Wilder film that got mostly 
bad reviews when it opened 
and flopped at the box 
office. Its reputation has real-
ly risen over the years. 
Stephen Frears, 80, a top 
British director, will helm 
the bio-pic. Oscar-winner 
Christoph Waltz, a Vienna 
native, will play Wilder. Both 
have Jewish ties — Frears’ 
mother was Jewish, and his 
wife is Jewish. Waltz’s first 
wife was Jewish, and their 
three children were raised 
Jewish. 
 In interviews, Wilder was 
a funny, smart man with an 
infectious joy-of-life per-
sonality. I think a film about 
Wilder making a very hard-
to-make film that flopped 
almost can’t help but “bury” 
the “delightful” Wilder I’ve 
seen myself. I hope I am 
wrong. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GREG2600

Noah 
Emmerich

MINGLEMEDIATVNETWORK

Maya 
Rudolph

GALERIE POLL, BERLIN

Billy Wilder 
in 1989