68 | JUNE 15 • 2023 

ASTEROID CITY AND THE 
FLASH, THE “JEWISH 
INDIAN” 
Asteroid City, a sci-fi 
romance-comedy, has a 
limited opening on June 
16 and opens “wide” 
on the 23rd. This Wes 
Anderson film follows the 
transformative events that 
occur at an annual Junior 
Stargazer convention in 
1955. The stars include 
Scarlett Johansson, 38, 
Jason Schwartzman, 42, 
Liev Schreiber, 55, and 
Adrien Brody, 50. 
The cast is so large that 
some members don’t have 
character names in lists 
of credits. This is the case 
with Jeff Goldblum, 70, 
Fisher Stevens, 59, and 
Bob Balaban, 77. 
Anderson’s movies are 
always quirky, and I have 
mixed feelings about many 
of his films. Asteroid City 
premiered at the Cannes 
Film Festival on May 23, 
and a lot of major critics 
wrote reviews. I wasn’t 
surprised that Asteroid 
City split these critics. 
Asteroid got a rave review 
from Vanity Fair and The 
Guardian (U.K.) newspaper, 
and an acerbic “thumbs-
down” from Rolling Stone, 
Variety, Time magazine 

and the Hollywood 
Reporter. 
The Flash opens wide 
on June 16. Ezra Miller, 30, 
plays the title character. 
Miller previously played 
the Flash in DC Universe 
films in which the Flash 
is a supporting character. 
He first played the Flash 
in Justice League (2017), 
and he reprised the role 
in Zach Snyder’s Justice 
League (2021).
In the new film, the 
Flash travels back in time 
to prevent his mother’s 
death, which traps him 
in an alternate reality. 
He enlists the help of his 
younger self, an older 
Batman and Supergirl to 
save this world from a big-
time baddie and return to 
his own time. 
Miller’s father is Jewish, 
and he identifies as 
Jewish. I was impressed 
by remarks he made circa 
2013 — he eloquently 
asserted his Jewishness, 
even though he is not a 
halachic Jew. 
Miller, who also starred 
in the acclaimed film Perks 
of Being a Wallflower 
(2012), had a nice career 
arc until early 2020. Then 
he was involved in a long 
series of “crazy” actions. 
Really serious, mental 
illness-type incidents. 
The Flash was 
completed in December 
2021. But Miller’s constant 
“uber-meshuga” (and 
worse) conduct had 
Warner Bros. seriously 
thinking of shelving the 
film and taking a huge 
loss. But Miller agreed to 
go into therapy early this 
year, and they relented. 
Whether Miller will ever 
play the Flash again is an 
open question. 
At one point, John 
Frances Daley, 37, and 

Jonathan Goldstein were 
set to write and co-direct 
The Flash. But, for a lot 
of reasons, they left the 
film before it was made. 
However, they are credited 
with writing the story the 
movie’s screenplay was 
built-upon. Daley, whose 
mother is Jewish, began 
as an actor and co-starred 
in Freaks and Geeks and 
Bones. In 2011, he teamed 
up with Goldstein, and 
the first film they wrote 
(Horrible Bosses) was a hit. 
Goldstein, 54, is a 
University of Michigan 
grad and a Harvard Law 
grad. His wife, Adena 
Halpern, 55, is a novelist. 
Singer/actor Ed Ames 
died on May 21, age 95. 
People of a certain age 
know that Ames played 
Mingo, Daniel Boone’s 
faithful Native American 
companion, in the 1960s 
series, Daniel Boone. 
Years after they aired, I 
saw some episodes on 
cable.
A long time ago, I read 
a Jewish newspaper 
profile that informed me 
that Ames was Jewish. 
I already knew that Ed 
Ames was a member of 
the singing group The 
Ames Brothers, and the 
group was very popular in 
the 1950s. 
The profile said that 
Ames was not religious but 

was a big-time supporter 
of Israel. This article, and 
others, noted that Ames 
donated his time and 
money to groups and 
charities helping Native 
Americans. 
Ames is probably 
best known for his 1965 
appearance on The 
Tonight Show. Johnny 
Carson had Ames flip an 
axe at a wooden board 
with the outline of a man 
painted-on. The axe stuck 
in the figure’s groin area. 
Johnny joked, “I didn’t 
know you were Jewish.” 
Carson re-ran this funny 
moment on his yearly 
anniversary show. 
Just before Ames’ death, 
I saw a recent interview 
with actor Darby Hinton, 
57. Hinton played Daniel 
Boone’s son, Israel Boone 
(nice name!). Here’s two 
Hinton/Ames stories: (1) 
Many years ago, Hinton 
saw Ames sing at a fancy 
nightclub. Some drunk 
wouldn’t stop heckling 
Ames. Ames, a big man, 
stopped singing and said, 
“Hey, don’t f*** with a 
Jewish Indian!” and (2) 
Ames and Daniel Boone 
star Fess Parker were 
friends. Parker was a 
religious Christian. Ames 
honored his friend by 
singing Amazing Grace, a 
beautiful Christian hymn, 
at Parker’s funeral. 

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE

Ed Ames

BY GENEVIEVE 

John Frances Daley

BY GAGE SKIDMORE

Ezra Miller

