FINDING ROOTS
BACKGROUNDS, THE
LUCKY ONES
As noted last week, Michael
Douglas and Lena Dunham
will be the guests on Finding
Your Roots on Tuesday, April
2 (PBS — check local sched-
ule for exact time).
Last December, when
this season’s Roots guests
were announced, I wrote a
paragraph about Michael
Douglas. Here’s a refresh-
er: Michael, 79, is a star
actor and producer, like his
father, the late Kirk Douglas.
Michael’s mother wasn’t
Jewish and Michael was
long secular. However, about
10 years ago, he embraced
Reform Judaism.
This embrace was influ-
enced by his son, Dylan.
When he was 11 years old,
Dylan told his father that he
wanted to study Judaism and
have a bar mitzvah. Dylan,
now 21, had his bar mitzvah
(2015) in Jerusalem and, in
2015, Michael received the
Genesis Prize for “Jewish
achievement.”
Here’s a heads-up:
Douglas will play Benjamin
Franklin in an eight-part
Apple TV+ series titled
Franklin (begins April 12). It
focuses on Franklin’s role
in getting French aid during
the Revolution. More about
Franklin in my next column.
Dunham, 37, is best known
as the creator, writer and star
of the hit HBO series Girls
(2012-2017). She grew up in
New York City. Her (non-Jew-
ish) father is a respected
painter. Her Jewish mother is
a well-known photographer.
Lena has long identified
as Jewish, but I didn’t know
much more until she was
profiled and interviewed
in February by El Pais, an
online magazine.
Dunham co-stars in
Treasure, a film that recently
played a Berlin film festival
and will open in theaters this
June. She plays the daugh-
ter of a Holocaust survivor.
Sadly, Berlin festival reviews
were bad. But Treasure did
prompt the El Pais piece.
She told El Pais: “[When
my grandmother] died in
2016, I started studying
with a rabbi, reading reli-
gious texts and authors like
Yehuda Amichai. What I like
about being Jewish is that
it’s not mandatory to have
a relationship with God, but
rather, with the community
around you.
“For me, being Jewish is
about being someone you
can trust, being a source of
support, being able to rec-
ommend a good doctor … or
being the person who shows
up with bagels in an emer-
gency situation.”
After Girls ended, Dunham
had serious, “real” health
issues that led her to over-
use anxiety and anti-depres-
sion drugs. The El Pais article
says she’s “OK” now.
Dunham may have a
career uptick soon (even if
Treasure flops). Filming right
now is Too Much, a Netflix
rom-com series Dunham
co-created and co-wrote
with Luis Felber, 37, her hus-
band. He’s a U.K. native and
a fairly well-known musician.
His father is a British Jew.
His mother is Peruvian, and
not Jewish. Lena and Luis
wed in a Jewish ceremony.
Too Much follows a New
Y
ork comedian who moves to
London following a break-up.
The Jewish cast members
include Rhea Perlman, 75,
Michael Zegen, 45 (Mrs.
Maisel), Emily Ratajkowski,
32 (her mother is Jewish),
and Brit Stephen Fry, 66. He
also co-starred in Treasure.
We Are the Lucky Ones
is an eight-part Hulu series
that premieres on March 28.
It is based on a bestselling
2017 novel of the same
name by Georgia Hunter,
38ish. The novel and the
series are “historical fiction”
— based on real events, but
with some details and dia-
logue imagined.
Hunter’s maternal grand-
father was Addy Kurc, a
Polish Jew. He happened
to be in France when WWII
broke out. He found refuge
in Brazil and, later, in the
United States.
He never talked about
his Jewish background or
the Holocaust, and Hunter
didn’t even know she was
“one-quarter” Jewish until
after his death.
Around 2000, Hunter
began researching the
“story” of her Jewish grand-
father, his three siblings and
their parents. Remarkably,
they all managed to survive
the Holocaust. Even more
remarkable, some 22 mem-
bers of the extended Kurc
family survived.
The cast is heavily Jewish:
Logan Lerman, 32, as Addy
Kurc; Joey King, 24, as
Addy’s sister, Halina; Israeli
actor Amit Rehav, 28, as
their brother, Jakob; and
Israeli actress Hadas Yaron,
33, as Mila, their sister.
Robin Weigert, 55, and
Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi,
55, play the Kurc siblings’
parents, and Israeli “super-
star” Michael Aloni, 40
(Shtisel) has a recurring role
as Mila’s husband.
Weigert now has a main
cast role on Tracker, a CBS
series that premiered in
February. The title character
tracks down bad guys for a
hefty fee. Weigert plays his
sort-of-agent: finding jobs
for him. Tracker got good
reviews, and so many are
watching that it was renewed
for a second season.
Good for Weigert: she’s
been a frequent guest star,
but she hasn’t had a main
cast series role since she
played Calamity Jane in
Deadwood (HBO; 2004-
2006).
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Dylan Douglas
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Robin Weigert
BY EFFIE27
Michael Aloni
BY דור מלכה