42 | JUNE 6 • 2024 
J
N

FASHION TALES, 
PRESUMED INNOCENT 
REMAKE, EISENBERG 
LIKES POLAND

Lagerfeld, an original, six-ep-
isode Hulu series, begins 
streaming on June 7. The 
title refers to the series’ 
central character — Karl 
Lagerfeld (1935-2015), the 
famous fashion designer 
best known as the chief 
designer for Chanel from 
1983 until his death.
Lagerfeld’s first big break 
came when he was hired 
(1966) to design for Chloe, 
a top French luxury fashion 
house that was founded 
(1952) by Gaby Aghion, a 
Sephardi Jew (1921-2014). 
She also co-owned Chloe. 
Aghion was Chloe’s chief 
designer until she gave 
Lagerfeld his next big break. 
She made him Chloe’s top 
designer in 1974. 
The early part of the series 
covers Karl’s years at Chloe. 
Most of the series covers 
Lagerfeld being named 
(1983) the head designer of 
Chanel (then not doing well) 
and turning Chanel into a 
“top house” again.
It’s worth noting that 
Lagerfeld’s German father 
was a rich Nazi party mem-
ber — and Karl made his 
stellar career working for 
Jews — Aghion and the 
Westheimer family, who 
have long owned both the 
fashion and perfume parts of 
the privately owned Chanel 
company. 
For many years, Lagerfeld 
put out fictional tales about 
his father’s “Swedish” back-
ground. But eventually the 
truth came out.
More info: Agnes Jaoui, 
59, plays Aghion. She is a 

highly respected French 
actress. Her Jewish parents 
left Tunisia in 1956 and set-
tled in France. Jaoui also 
co-starred in the acclaimed 
film The Last of the Jews. It 
opened in France last year 
and, last January, it had a 
very limited American open-
ing. In America, the film was 
retitled A Nice Jewish Boy.
It’s a comedy/drama about 
an older French Jewish 
woman who never goes out 
and her “nebbish” adult son. 
He knows that all the other 
Jews have moved away 
from his rundown, mostly 
Arab, neighborhood. But he 
keeps this “secret” from his 
Algeria-born mother. (Now 
streaming on-demand). 
Aghion was the subject 
of a major Jewish Museum 
(NYC) exhibit last October. 
On Oct. 20, the NY Times 
ran a very good, long article 
about Aghion and her work. 
Also: Stella McCartney, 52, 
was also the head design-
er of Chloe (1997-2001). 
She identifies as Jewish, 
but really doesn’t practice 
(Linda, her late mother, and 
Paul McCartney’s wife, was 
Jewish).
Presumed Innocent, an 
eight-episode mystery 
series, begins streaming on 
Apple TV+ on Wednesday, 
June 12. The first two epi-
sodes will run on the 12th, 
with the remaining epi-
sodes shown on successive 

Wednesdays. 
The series is based on a 
1987 bestselling novel writ-
ten by Scott Turow, now 75. 
It was previously made into a 
1990 film of the same name. 
It starred Harrison Ford. 
now 81, as Rusty Sabich, a 
(prosecuting) attorney in the 
District Attorney’s office who 
becomes suspected of kill-
ing a female attorney in the 
D.A.’s office.
The film, which was 
directed by the late Alan J. 
Pakula, was a huge hit (cost 
$20 million, made $220 
million).
Jake Gyllenhaal, 43, 
plays Rusty Sabich in the 
Apple TV+ series. Jake’s 
real-life brother-in-law, Peter 
Sarsgaard, plays a zealous 
district attorney who is 
obsessed with prosecuting 
Sabich. Sarsgaard has long 
been married to actress 
Maggie Gyllenhaal, 43, 
Jake’s sister. (As I’ve noted 
before, the Gyllenhaals’ 
mother is Jewish, and they 
identify as Jewish). 
One mystery for me: In 
the novel and in the 1990 
movie, the very smart lawyer 
who defends Rusty Sabich is 
Alejandro “Sandy” Stern. In 
the novel, he’s described as 
Jewish and from Argentina. 
Well, there is no Sandy Stern 
character in the TV series. 
My guess is that Stern char-
acter has been replaced in 
the TV series with a char-

acter with a WASP name: 
Dalton Caldwell.
Actor Jesse Eisenberg, 40, 
has applied for (dual) Polish 
citizenship. He recently was 
interviewed by a Polish pub-
lication and pretty soon what 
he had to say appeared in 
publications like Variety.
In the interview, Eisenberg 
said that his roots and the 
roots of his Jewish wife, 
Anna Strout, are in Poland. 
He added that his “old” fami-
ly stories about relations with 
Polish Catholics were posi-
tive. He added that he had 
written and directed a film, A 
Real Pain, about two cousins 
visiting Poland to look for 
their roots. It was filmed in 
Poland and will open this 
October.
Becoming a Polish citizen, 
he said, would help Jewish-
Polish relations. He said, “I 
would love to create better 
relationships between Jews 
and Polish people. To me, 
it’s so unfortunate they are 
not great. I would love to do 
that.”
The Daytime Program 
Emmys are given on June 
7 (CBS, 8 p.m.). The awards 
mostly go to talk show hosts 
and soap opera actors. 
Oddly, none of the talk show 
hosts are Jewish, and only 
one Jewish soap thespian 
was nominated: Tamara 
Braun, 53, on Days of Our 
Lives, got a lead actress 
nomination. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GEORGES BIARD

Agnes Jaoui

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE 

Stella McCartney

TOGLENN

Jake Gyllenhaal

