60 | JUNE 20 • 2024
J
N
TWO NEW FILMS, DIANE
VON FURSTENBERG BIO,
OLYMPIC SWIMMER(?)
Thelma opens in theaters
on June 21. Here’s the plot:
Thelma Post (June Squibb,
94!) gets duped by a phone
scammer pretending to
be her grandson. She sets
out on a dangerous quest
to reclaim what was taken
from her.
Advance reviews
(Sundance) are quite good.
Thelma is the first feature
film directed and written by
Josh Margolis, 35. His film
is based on a real scam
played on Josh’s elderly
Jewish grandma.
Fred Hechinger, 25,
co-stars as Thelma’s grand-
son, Danny. Hechinger
gained attention in 2020-
2021 when he had a big
supporting role in News of
the World, a hit Tom Hanks
movie, and had a big “main
cast” role in the first season
of White Lotus, a hit HBO
series. He co-stars in the
latest Spiderman movie,
Kraven the Hunter, which
opens in August. British
Jewish actor Aaron Taylor
Johnson, 33, plays the title
role.
Janet Planet is a drama
that opens in theaters on
June 21. Annie Baker, 43,
an acclaimed playwright, is
the director and writer of
Janet. It is the first film that
she wrote and directed.
In 2014, Baker won the
Pulitzer Prize for her play,
Flick, and, in 2017, she was
honored with a MacArthur
Genius Grant ($625K, paid
out over five years).
Baker’s mother is Jewish,
and she identifies as
Jewish. Her husband, Nico
Baumbach, a film theorist,
is a Columbia University
professor. He’s the brother
of well-known director and
writer Noah Baumbach, 54
(Barbie, Marriage Story).
Janet is set in 1991.
Janet (Julianne Nicholson)
is described as an acu-
puncturist hippie. As the
film begins, Janet and her
“clingy” 11-year-old daugh-
ter, Lucy, are spending a
summer at a house in rural
New England.
Janet invites three peo-
ple that Lucy doesn’t like
to visit: her boyfriend (Will
Patton) and her friends Avi
(Elias Koteas) and Regina
(Sophie Okonedo, 55).
Okonedo, an Oscar-
nominated British actress,
is the daughter of a
Nigerian father and a
British Jewish mother. She
was raised by her mother
and strongly identifies as
Jewish.
On June 25, Hulu and
Disney+ will premiere the
documentary Diane Von
Furstenberg, a Woman in
Charge. The life of this very
famous fashion designer is
so full of events and celebs
that it is almost exhausting
to read about it.
Here’s a very short
bio that might whet your
appetite for more (like the
documentary): She was
born (1946) and raised
in Belgium. Her mother,
Lillane, was a Greek Jew
who settled in Belgium
before the war. She joined
the anti-Nazi resistance,
was captured — and she
barely survived Auschwitz.
Diane’s father, Leon Halfin,
was born in Romania and
settled in Belgium in the
’20s, He found refuge in
Switzerland during WWII.
Her father had the means
to send her to a boarding
school and to quality uni-
versities. After graduation,
she worked as assistant
to a fashion photographer
and, after that, learned a lot
about textiles in Italy.
In 1969, she married
Egon Von Furstenberg. His
family was an “ancient”
German noble family. Such
families lost their “legal”
nobility after WWI, but most
continued to use their titles.
Egon was a “prince”— and
Diane was the (Jewish)
princess of Furstenberg.
Shortly after they mar-
ried, Diane began design-
ing dresses — and she
quickly had children with
Egon in 1970 and 1971 (I
have no idea if either of her
two children had/have any
connection to Judaism).
Diane became “big”
when the now-famous DVF
wrap dress was introduced
in 1974. By 1976, a million
wrap dresses had been
sold.
Diane and Egon had
an open marriage. They
remained friends after
their separation in 1973
and divorced in 1983.
Meanwhile, Diane had
hook-ups and longer affairs
with many celebrities. In a
very long June 6 profile,
Diane told NY Times
columnist Maureen Dowd
that she wanted to live her
life like a man — she was
referring to her business
and her sex life.
In 2001, she married her
longtime friend, billionaire
Barry Diller, now 82. He
was a top entertainment
executive and, over time,
became a media owner.
Diana and Diller have been
major philanthropists.
In case the other Jewish
media doesn’t note this:
There is a good chance
that an American Jewish
woman (who had a bat
mitzvah ceremony)
will make the Olympic
women’s swim team, and
it’s certainly possible that
she will win an Olympic
medal. I am referring to
Claire Weinstein, who is
just 17. The members of
the team are picked in trial
swim races that began
June 15 and end on June
22. Weinstein has qualified
to swim in seven races,
and she will appear in
almost a race every day
of this week (all on NBC;
check times).
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
BY FRANK SCHULENBURG
June Squibb
DAVID SHANKBONE
Diane Von Furstenberg
IMDB
Sophie Okonedo