52 | SEPTEMBER 28 • 2023 
J
N

GUITAR LESSONS, 
THEATER CAMP 
STREAMING, FAMILY 
REUNION, CHRIS 
WALLACE

Flora and Son begins 
streaming on Apple TV+ 
on Sept. 29. This musical 
comedy-drama film got 
very good reviews at the 
Sundance Film Festival last 
January and, soon after, 
Apple paid $20 million for 
the rights to show it.
Basic plot: Flora (Ewa 
Hewson), a single mother 
in Ireland, has trouble with 
her teenage son Max. He’s 
a rebellious petty thief. 
The police tell Max to find 
a hobby. Fiona digs out 
an old guitar. Then, with 
the help of a Los Angeles 
online guitar teacher 
(Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 42) 
Max finds his “calling.” 
Fun facts: Gordon-Levitt 
is really an accomplished 
guitarist, and Ewa Hewson, 
who is Irish, is the daugh-
ter of Bono (born Paul 
Hewson), the very famous 
Irish lead singer for the 
band U-2. 
I was a bit surprised, 
last week, when Hulu 
began streaming Theater 
Camp. Only two months 
ago, I wrote a column item 
about this film opening in 
theaters. But, as I thought 
about it, I think this is the 
“new world.” 
Theater Camp got mostly 
good (if not great) reviews 
and the box-office receipts 
were pretty good for a 
smallish indie film. In the 
last six months or so, indie 
films with any “buzz” are 
being rushed to a stream-
ing service. Hulu and other 
streaming services clearly 
want “new, originally-in- 

theaters films” as soon as 
possible — and they can 
pay for them.
Theater Camp is a come-
dic “mockumentary” about 
a summer arts camp for 
children. As I wrote in July, 
the cast is heavily Jewish 
(Ben Platt, Noah Galvin 
and Molly Gordon co-star. 
Gordon co-directed the film, 
too). 
The film is uneven, but 
there are many funny 
scenes. It’s not at the level 
of the best mockumenta-
ries, like This is Spinal Tap 
(a Rob Reiner film) or Best 
in Show (a Christopher 
Guest film). But it has its 
charms and quite a few 
laughs. By the way, Hulu 
has many subscription 
plans. You can see all their 
movies and their original 
series for only $8 a month. 
Last week, People report-
ed that the filming of We 
are the Lucky Ones, a 
limited Hulu series, had 
wrapped in June and 
won’t be affected by the 
actors’ strike. The series 
co-stars Logan Lerman, 
31, and Joey King, 24. It 
is based on a novel of the 
same name. The novel was 
based on a real extended 
European Jewish family that 
(mostly) survived WWII and 
the Holocaust. It focuses 
on their struggle to reunite 
after the war.

The new season of Who’s 
Talking to Chris Wallace? 
begins streaming on Sept. 
29 on HBO/Max. Wallace, 
75, quit Fox News in 2021 
after 28 years. He was 
one of the few “traditional” 
news anchors still working 
for Fox. He was reportedly 
very upset with the Fox 
“opinion anchors” (that’s 
what Fox calls them) — who 
were pushing the false 
election fraud stories — 
stories that have already 
cost Fox $780 million in the 
settlement of a defamation 
suit.
In April 2022, Wallace 
joined a new streaming 
service called CNN+. But 
few subscribed, and it was 
scrapped a week after 
launching. Wallace had a 
big money contract with 
CNN, so they shuttled him 
off to HBO/Max, which is 
owned by the same compa-
ny as CNN. 
Last month, Wallace was 
given a second show: a 
CNN Sunday morning show 
called The Chris Wallace 
Show. Wallace is a respect-
ed journalist who treats his 
interviewees respectfully 
— so he attracts guests 
from across the mainstream 
political spectrum.
Most know that Chris 
Wallace is the son of Mike 
Wallace (1918-2012), a 
University of Michigan grad 

and a longtime top CBS 
journalist. Most Jews who 
know that Mike Wallace 
was Jewish erroneously 
think that Chris’ first name 
“signals” that his mother 
wasn’t Jewish. 
His mother was Jewish, 
as was his stepfather (who 
helped raise Chris). 
Personally, I am alternate-
ly mystified and annoyed 
that two Jewish parents 
would name their son 
“Chris.” Chris Wallace isn’t 
the only famous Jew (with 
two Jewish parents) named 
Chris. Two others: well-
known sportscaster Chris 
Berman, 68, and actor/
writer/director Christopher 
Guest, 75.
My tongue-in-cheek 
advice: Don’t name your 
child “Chris” until Christians 
start naming their sons 
Pincas or Shumley.
Mike Wallace was inter-
viewed by journalist Abigail 
Pogrebin, now 58, for her 
book Stars of David (2005). 
She talked to many famous 
Jews and asked them about 
being Jewish. Mike said he 
was raised in a religious 
home, but his practice as an 
adult was limited to saying 
the Shema at bedtime. 
Mike strongly implied that 
Chris was raised secular 
and, he said, “I sometimes 
have to remind Chris that 
he is Jewish.” 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

TECHCRUNCH 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

JIM GREENHILL

Chris Wallace

CONDÉ NAST (THROUGH VOGUE TAIWAN)

Joey King

