66 | FEBRUARY 15 • 2024 

CATCHING UP ON FEUD, 
EINSTEIN DOCUMENTARY, 
WINEHOUSE: SOUR?

 Feud: Capote Versus the 
Swans is an eight-episode 
series. The first two epi-
sodes were released on Jan. 
31 (on FX) and Feb. 1 (on 
Hulu). The remaining epi-
sodes stream on successive 
Wednesdays or Thursdays. 
As I write this, I have seen 
the first two episodes and 
I thought they were terrific. 
Most of the many reviews 
are positive. 
Here’s the capsule plot: 
famous author Truman 
Capote (Tom Hollander), who 
is gay, is a close, confidential 
friend to six very attractive 
older women who move in 
the top of New York society. 
They are the “Swans.” Then, 
in 1975, Esquire publishes 
a Capote story that reveals 
nasty, true stories about 
most of them — names are 
changed, but “everybody 
knows” who he is writing 
about. Most of the “Swans” 
never talk to him again. 
 Their reaction fuels 
Capote’s personal and pro-
fessional decline. (All the 
“Swans” are now deceased, 
as are the real Jewish char-
acters mentioned below) . 
Here are the Jewish 
angles: Jon Robin Baitz, 62, 
wrote the screenplays for all 
the episodes (he adapted 
them from Capote’s Women, 
a biographical study by 
Laurence Leamer, who isn’t 
Jewish). Baitz’s first “big 
play” (later a 1996 film) was 
Substance of Fire, about a 
Holocaust survivor. 
Max Winkler, 41, Henry’s 
son, directed the fifth epi-
sode. Famous photographer 
Richard Avedon is a charac-

ter in this episode.
Naomi Watts plays Barbara 
“Babe” Paley, Capote’s 
favorite Swan. Her hus-
band was Bill Paley (Treat 
Williams), the founder and 
owner of CBS. He constantly 
“cheats” on Babe and Babe 
seeks solace from Capote. 
Bill Paley is the most seen 
male character after Capote.
The recurring Jewish char-
acters are “uber” film pro-
ducer David Selznick (Gone 
with the Wind) and 
famous documentary 
makers Albert and David 
Maysles. Selznick, like Paley, 
had a cultured, beautiful, 
WASP “trophy” wife (actress 
Jennifer Jones). In the very 
first episode, Selznick and 
Jones introduce Capote to 
Babe and Bill Paley. 
The Maysles brothers’ 
recurring role in Feud is not 
yet clear to me. In 1966, they 
made a short documentary 
about Capote and, in 1976, 
they released Grey Gardens, 
one of their most famous 
films. Gardens was about 
two very eccentric cousins 
of Lee Radziwell, a “Swan.” 
She introduced the brothers 
to her cousins. Radziwell 
(played by Calista Flockhart), 
was the sister of Jackie 
Kennedy. 
Yuval David, 38, an actor 
and filmmaker, plays David 
Maysles. Yuval went to a 
Jewish day school and is 
very active in Jewish orga-

nizations that represent the 
Jewish LGBTQ community. 
(A non-Jewish actor plays 
Albert). 
Oppenheimer, the mega-
hit film, began streaming 
on Peacock on Feb. 15. It’s 
worth paying $6 (for the 
basic Peacock “sub”) to see 
the film. Meanwhile, “not by 
coincidence,” Netflix moved 
its premiere of the BBC 
docu-drama Einstein and the 
Bomb from Feb. 19 to Feb. 
15. Netflix, like the BBC, is 
just cashing in on the suc-
cess of Oppenheimer. 
The BBC rounded up a 
group of virtually unknown, 
not Jewish, English actors 
to play mostly Jewish scien-
tists who were Americans 
by birth or choice. The BBC 
always goes cheap and 
rarely imports an American 
actor to play an American 
character. The BBC knows 
there aren’t many English 
Jewish actors, but they won’t 
import American Jewish 
actors even if the charac-
ter is Jewish (American or 
English). 
Capsule plot: Einstein 
writes a letter to President 
Roosevelt warning him that 
the Nazis could make “the 
bomb.” Einstein has regrets 
after the war and says that 
he might not have written 
the letter if he knew how 
behind Nazi scientists were 
in “the bomb race.”
This “state of affairs” is 

exemplified by the upcom-
ing film Back to Black, 
a bio-pic about the late 
English Jewish singer Amy 
Winehouse (opens in May in 
the U.S.) Her English Jewish 
parents are played by British 
non-Jews. A not Jewish, 
almost-unknown Canadian 
actor plays Mark Ronson, 
the American producer of 
Winehouse’s most famous 
album.
But, by U.K. standards, 
they “went all out.” They 
hired Sam Taylor-Johnson to 
direct. Her husband is Aaron 
Taylor-Johnson, an English 
Jewish actor. (By the way, he 
could have played Ronson.)
They cast Marisa Abela, 
27, who has made a bit of 
splash in some British TV 
series, as Winehouse. Her 
father is Maltese, and not 
Jewish. She probably got 
the star role because her 
mother is Jewish. Otherwise, 
even the Brits realize it 
would be another complete-
ly “Jew-free” project about 
a Jew.
A trailer has been 
released. The good news 
is that Abela actually sings 
Winehouse’s songs in her 
own voice, and she sings 
very well. But many fans said 
they otherwise hated the 
trailer. The trailer prompted 
Web pages full of comments 
like “it felt like a parody of 
Amy’s life and feels very 
exploitive.” (Oy vey). 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

RAMA/WIKIPEDIA

Amy Winehouse 

IMDB

Marisa Abela

IMDB

Yuval David

