MARCH 9 • 2023 | 47
ARTS&LIFE
FILM
T
he Academy Awards
will be presented on
Sunday, March 12, at 8
p.m. (ABC). Jimmy Kimmel
will host. The ceremony is
produced by Glenn Weiss,
61, and his professional
partner, Ricky Kirshner, 60.
Rihanna will sing at the
ceremony, as will Dianne
Warren, 66. Warren and
Sofia Carson will perform
“Applause,” a song Warren
wrote. It’s up for the best
song Oscar this year. Warren
has previously been
nominated 13 times for this
Oscar and has never won.
She was given an Honorary
Oscar last November. At the
ceremony, Warren exclaimed
from the stage, “I’ve waited
34 years to say this. I’d like to
thank the academy!”
Here are the “verified”
Jewish nominees and one
“honorable mention.”
ACTING CATEGORIES
Michelle Williams (honorable
mention) is nominated
(lead actress) for playing
Mitzi Fabelman, a Jewish
woman, in The Fabelmans, a
semi-autobiographical film
directed and co-written by
Steven Spielberg, 76.
In a recent interview,
Williams said that her two
young children with theater
director Thomas Kail, 45,
would be raised Jewish
and that she was studying
Judaism herself. Williams
added that Jewish families
lived on both sides of her
childhood home, and she
“adored being in their homes
… the discourse at the
tables and the deep sense
of belonging that tradition
fosters.”
In the same article,
Spielberg praised Williams.
[He] “sensed a soul in
her that connected to his
childhood memories … She
felt more like my mom than I
could have imagined.”
I had a similar emotion
when I saw Me Without
You (2001), a film directed
by and written by Sandra
Goldbacher, an English
Jew. Williams played (age
16-24) an English Jewish
girl from a warm, observant
Jewish home. I didn’t know if
Williams was Jewish in 2001.
But I knew she was “spot-on”
in this role.
Jamie Lee Curtis, 62,
is nominated for best
supporting actress for
Everything Everywhere All
at Once. This interesting
sci-fi film posited that
a person could exist in
different universes and have
differing personalities in
each universe. So, Curtis’
character varied greatly
depending on the universe
she came from.
The Most
Complete
Guide to Jewish
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
Oscar Nominees
SPOTIFY
Dianne Warren
GAGE SKIDMORE
Steven
Spielberg
continued on page 48