52 | OCTOBER 5 • 2023 J
N
COUP ‘FUN,’ DO I LIKE
YOU ‘THAT WAY?’
CAINE, REDUX
Freelance and Cat Person
are films that open
in theaters on Oct. 6.
Freelance is a comedic
action film. Here’s the basic
plot: Former Special Forces
operator Mason Pettit (John
Cena) takes a job providing
security for journalist Claire
Wellington (Alison Brie,
40) as she interviews Juan
Venegas, the president of
the (fictional) country of
Paldonia.
A military coup breaks
out as the interview is
happening. The three are
forced to escape into the
jungle together.
Brie’s credits include
starring roles in the TV
series Community and
GLOW. Brie’s father is not
Jewish. Her mother is
Jewish. She’s been married
to actor Dave Franco since
2017. Franco, 38, has the
exact same background as
Brie.
Cat Person is based on
a 2017 New Yorker short
story that got a huge
response. Basic plot:
Margot (Emilia Jones), a
college sophomore, works
at a movie snacks counter.
Robert (Nicholas Braun), a
regular moviegoer, asks for
her number. He’s about 35.
Margot likes the witty
and funny texts that
Robert sends her, and he
frequently mentions his
cats. Finally, they go out on
a “real date” and — well, I
won’t really spoil things —
like telling you how their
date goes. One hint: This
is a drama, not a romantic
comedy.
Fred Melamed, 67,
has a supporting role as
a psychiatrist. The film
was directed by Susanne
Fogel, 41. She directed
A Small Light, a 2023
Disney series about Anne
Frank, her family and those
who helped the Frank
family. Fogel got an Emmy
nomination (2021) for
writing an episode of The
Flight Attendant (HBO), and
she wrote the hit movie
Booksmart (2021).
Also opening on Oct. 6 is
Exorcist: Believer, a sequel
to The Exorcist (1973), a
huge box-office hit. Ellen
Burstyn, 90, who played the
mother of a possessed child
(Linda Blair) in the original,
plays the same character
— this time she’s a kind of
“exorcism consultant.”
Burstyn, who was born
and raised in Detroit, isn’t
Jewish, as many think. Her
second husband, actor
Neil Burstyn (1939-78), was
Jewish. He suffered from
schizophrenia and that
destroyed their marriage.
The director of the
original Exorcist film,
William Friedkin, died last
August, age 87. Burstyn and
Blair praised Friedkin. They,
like many others, called
him a “genius.” On Oct. 6,
Showtime will premiere The
Caine Mutiny Court Martial,
an original new film. The
director is William Friedkin.
Advance reviews of the
Showtime film are mostly
good, but some respected
critics gave it a “thumbs-
down.”
The Caine Mutiny began
as a 1952 novel by Herman
Wouk (1915-2019). Wouk
was a best-selling writer
and a Pulitzer Prize winner.
In 1954, Wouk, a religious
Jew who had served on
a WWII U.S. Navy mine-
sweeper ship, turned his
novel into a Broadway play.
The same year, a hit film
called The Caine Mutiny
opened. Humphrey Bogart
gave a great performance
as the captain of the Caine,
a WWII U.S. Navy mine-
sweeper.
Barney Greenwald, a
(Jewish) U.S. Navy fighter
pilot who was a hot-shot
civilian lawyer, is a major
Caine character. The Navy
mutiny members were tried
right after WWIl ended, and
Greenwald was assigned as
their Navy defense lawyer.
The 1954 movie left out the
facts that Greenwald was a
fighter pilot and that he was
Jewish. Non-Jewish actors
played Greenwald in the ’54
movie, in a 1988 TV movie
and in the Showtime film.
At the end of the original
novel and the Broadway
play, Greenwald references
the (recent) Holocaust. I
doubt that reference will
be in the Showtime film:
The time period has been
moved from WWII to the
Persian Gulf War.
It came as a surprise to
me that Friedkin directed
the Showtime film. He was
quite old, and he didn’t
have a box office hit after
The Exorcist. (His other
big hit was The French
Connection, 1971). Then
I realized that Showtime
was owned by Paramount
and Friedkin’s wife, Sherry
Lansing, 77, was the
very successful head of
Paramount (1992-2004).
She probably put in a
“word.”
I wondered why Friedkin’s
career crashed after
Exorcist. I heard he was
often very abrasive and
always sure he was right.
Then I came across a two-
minute YouTube video titled
William Friedkin and the
Birth of a Nation. Friedkin
defended Birth, a 1915 film
that showed the 1860s
Klan in a heroic light. Birth
helped revive the Klan in
the 1920s.
Friedkin actually forcefully
repeated the racist myth
that the Klan’s mission
was to protect women
from recently freed black
slaves. You could sense
that Friedkin viewed, with
contempt, anyone who had
another opinion.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
GAGE SKIDMORE
Alison Brie
LOUISE PALANKER
Fred Melamed
GUILLEMMEDINA
William Friedkin