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