58 | NOVEMBER 16 • 2023
J
N
HORROR ON TURKEY
DAY, THE CROWN
ENDS, BARBRA’S MALL,
CONVICTED!
Thanksgiving, a horror film,
was directed and co-written
by Eli Roth, 51, a “master”
of horror (opens in theaters
on Nov. 17). Roth’s big hits
include Hostel (2005) and
Cabin Fever (2016). He
also acts now-and-again.
He played Donny “The
Bear Jew” Donowitz in
Quentin Tarantino’s war film
Inglorious Basterds (2009).
Here’s the Thanksgiving
premise: After a Black
Friday riot ends in trag-
edy, a mysterious serial
killer, known only as “John
Carver,” comes to Plymouth,
Mass., with the intention
of creating a Thanksgiving
carving board out of the
town’s inhabitants.
The film’s co-stars include
Milo Manheim, 22, Gina
Gershon, 61, and Rick
Hoffman, 61. I’d like to tell
you more about their char-
acters, but Roth and his
publicity people have been
tight-lipped about what
these supporting actors
“do” in the film. I do know
they all have biggish roles.
Manheim is the son of
actress Camryn Manheim,
62 (The Practice and,
currently, the chief police
officer on Law and Order).
Milo had a bar mitzvah cer-
emony.
Gershon has been steadi-
ly working in film and TV for
about 30 years. Early in her
career, she starred in “hot”
roles in two films that got a
lot of attention: Bound and
Showgirls. Gershon, I just
learned, can sing, and a bio
noted that she recorded
a song (2011) with top jazz
bassist Christian McBride,
an African American and
eight-time Grammy win-
ner. The song was titled
“Chitlins and Gefiltefish.”
Hoffman is a character
actor who has scores of
TV guest shots. He was a
series regular on Suits, a
USA network show that ran
from 2011-2019. He played
Louis Litt, an attorney who
becomes the best friend of
his law partner, star charac-
ter Harvey Specter (Gabriel
Macht, now 51).
The Crown, the big hit
Netflix series, “drops” its
sixth and final eight-episode
season on Nov. 16. The
series primarily focused on
Queen Elizabeth II. The first
season began in 1947, when
the future queen was about
to marry Prince Phillip.
The sixth season is mostly
about Princess Diana. We
see Diana from the time
she met and married (1981)
now-King Charles III, until
her death in 1997.
As I’ve written before,
the series was created by,
and largely written by Peter
Morgan, 60. He’s the secu-
lar son of a German Jewish
refugee father and a Polish
Catholic refugee mother.
He wrote or co-wrote all
the sixth season episodes.
There is talk that a pre-
quel series may be made.
It would cover several
monarchs who preceded
Elizabeth II.
Almost all the actors
in The Crown are British;
there are comparatively few
British Jewish actors. Only
one British Jew had a reg-
ular role: Anton Lesser, 71,
who played Prime Minister
Macmillan in season two.
Game of Thrones fans
know his most-seen role —
“mad scientist” Qyburn, ally
of the mad Queen Cersei.
Barbra Streisand, 81,
finally wrote an autobiog-
raphy (Barbra Is My Name)
It was released on Nov. 7.
CBS Sunday Morning (Nov.
5) interviewed Streisand.
The interview was interest-
ing — but I was blown away
by the opening segment.
You gotta see it. Streisand
admits she’s a huge col-
lector of stuff — including
valuable antiques, clothing
(this includes expensive
film/stage costumes and
thrift store finds) and kitschy
inexpensive tchotchkes.
Viewers get a quick tour
of what CBS calls “her mall.”
It is on the lowest floor of
her Malibu mansion. There
is a line of “mall shops”—
medium-size, glass-en-
closed rooms (with a glass
door). Each “shop” is ded-
icated to a type of collec-
tion. It’s sort of crazy, but it
also makes sense: All her
stuff is nicely on display for
Barbra’s “viewing pleasure”
and not hidden away in a
warehouse (full interview on
YouTube).
I devoted my Nov. 2 col-
umn to the trial of Charles
Adelman, a prominent
South Florida dentist. He
was accused of paying
hitmen to kill (2014) his
ex-brother-in-law, law pro-
fessor Dan Markel. His
motive: Adelman’s sister,
Wendi, wanted her two
young sons with Markel
to live with her in South
Florida. Markel blocked
that.
The trial began on Oct.
26 and ended on Nov. 6.
The jury found Adelman
guilty of murder in just a
few hours. I really recom-
mend that you view sum-
maries/clips of this case on
Court TV (on YouTube). The
trial was better than almost
all TV mysteries. Adelman
popped up with a surprise
defense that I found to
be possibly credible. Of
course, Adelman might be a
great liar.
There is (probably) more
than one “season.” It’s likely
that Adelman’s Jewish par-
ents will now be indicted
for Markel’s murder, and the
district attorney may even
be close to having “the
goods” on Wendi, a law
professor.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
IMDB
Milo Manheim
PHILIP VIAL FLICKR
Anton Lesser
NIH IMAGE GALLERY
Barbra Streisand