60 | SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022
BRITISH BRETHREN
MOURN, BLAIR KNOCKS
THEM OUT, AND A VERY
GAY (AND QUITE JEWISH)
MOVIE
I have long admired the
Jewish Chronicle (UK). It’s
more commonly known as
the JC. Its website, thejc.
com, posts the whole news-
paper and its entirely free
(including back issues). I’ve
cited the JC as a source
many times. I recommend
that you click over and read
their “wall-to-wall” cover-
age of the death of Queen
Elizabeth II and the succes-
sion of her son, King Charles
III. Check out the most
recent three issues.
Of course, you don’t
have to read every arti-
cle. But I found it quite
interesting to read the
British Jewish “take” on so
many things related to the
Queen’s death. Here’s just
a sampler of the headlines:
“Palace Moves Event to
Accommodate Shabbat” (the
timing of a meeting of “faith
leaders” with King Charles
III was changed a bit so the
UK Chief Rabbi had to time
get to shul before Shabbat
began); “Jewish Stars
Remember a Much Beloved
Monarch” (the “stars” are not
well-known in the States, but
pretty well known in the UK
for their TV roles/journalism);
and “When Buckingham
Palace Went Kosher” (in
1997, a “crack team” of
kosher caterers was flown
in to furnish the food for
a state dinner for Israeli
President Ezer Weizman).
Dancing with the Stars,
which premiered on ABC
in 2005, moved over to
Disney+ this season. The
first Disney+ episode
streamed on Sept. 19 and
new episodes premiere on
following Mondays. This
season’s contestants include
actress Selma Blair, 50.
Blair, a Detroit-area native
and University of Michigan
graduate, was clearly the
studio audience’s senti-
mental favorite. Few in the
audience didn’t know her
backstory. In 2018, Blair
revealed she had recently
been diagnosed with mul-
tiple sclerosis (MS). In her
2022 book, Mean Baby: A
Memoir of Growing Up, and
in a recent documentary,
she detailed how her phys-
ical state declined until she
opted (2019) to try a risky
and arduous stem-cell treat-
ment. Fortunately, it appears
to have put her MS in remis-
sion.
Well, her first dance
couldn’t have gone better.
Blair put down her cane and
leaned for a few seconds on
her professional dance part-
ner, Sasha Farber, 38. Then
they danced beautifully to
the music of a Viennese
waltz. Blair and Farber fin-
ished third, a very good
showing.
Carrie Ann Inaba, a dance
judge, also suffers from an
“invisible” disease (lupus).
Inaba was in tears as she
told Blair: “Seeing you come
out here with your circum-
stances and just making
everyone aware that you are
fully able to do and achieve
anything you put your mind
to.”
Like Blair, Farber attend-
ed Jewish day schools.
Except his schools were in
Australia. He was born in
Moscow and, with the rest
of his (religiously observant)
family, he moved to Australia
in 1986.
Blair’s “comeback”
and courage is simply a
great story that everyone
embraces. She was given a
standing ovation when she
presented the best drama
series Emmy a couple of
weeks ago and, earlier this
month, she became the face
of a major new Gap fashion
campaign.
Bros, which opens in the-
aters on Sept. 30, has been
heralded as the first main-
stream Hollywood movie to
feature gay men as the lead
characters. This romantic
comedy was co-written by
comedian Billy Eichner, 44,
and he co-stars.
The entire cast, except for
a few celebs who play them-
selves, identify as a member
of the LGBTQ community.
“Famously” gay Harvey
Fierstein, 68, has a support-
ing role. Ben Stiller, 56, and
Debra Messing, 54, have
cameo roles as themselves.
The film got mostly good
reviews after playing the
Toronto Film Festival.
Capsule plot “set-up”:
Eichner plays Bobby, a
40-year-old Jewish New
Yorker who hosts a popular
LGBTQ podcast. He has
spent most of his life hook-
ing up instead of looking
for long-term commitment.
That is until he meets ath-
letic CrossFit jock Aaron at
a club. They hit it off, start
seeing each other but agree
to not commit to any sort of
relationship.
The film was produced
by Judd Apatow, 54, a
master of the “rom-com,”
and it was co-written and
directed by Nicholas Stoller,
46. Stoller’s films (as a writ-
er and director) include
Forgetting Sarah Marshall,
Get Him to the Greek and
The Five-Year Engagement
(which was set in Ann
Arbor).
Stoller and his wife of 17
years, novelist Francesca
Delbanco, 48, co-created
and co-wrote Friends from
College, a Netflix series
that ran from 2017-2019.
The couple have three
children. Francesca has an
MFA from the University
of Michigan. Her father is
Nicholas Delbanco, 80, a
highly esteemed novelist
and prose writer. His many
top academic posts included
heading-up the U-M MFA
program.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
DISNEY+
Selma Blair and
dancing partner,
Sasha Farber
ANDREW H. WALKER/GETTY IMAGES FOR YAHOO NEWS
Billy Eichner