44 | JUNE 27 • 2024 
J
N

BEAR RETURNS, JOEY 
KING’S NEW MOVIE, 
ZAC EFRON SAYS HE’S 
JEWISH, THE CANADIAN 
WOODSTOCK

The Bear, an acclaimed 
Hulu/FX series, will return 
for its third season on 
Thursday, June 27. The 
first two seasons’ episodes 
were “doled out” week-by-
week. This season, all 10 
episodes will be dropped 
on the 27th. The head of 
FX said that the weekly 
schedule made many loyal 
viewers “anxious” waiting 
for a new episode — and 
that’s not consistent with 
a hit show that has won 
many Emmys. 
The show’s trailers find 
chef Carmy (aka The Bear) 
pushing his Chicago gour-
met restaurant staff to be 
better than ever. Carmy 
(Jeremy Allen White) is 
hoping for a Michelin 
(review) star. 
The whole regular cast, 
including Ebon Moss-
Bachrach, 47, is returning. 
He plays Richie, Carmy’s 
cousin and a worker in 
Carmy’s restaurant. Moss-
Bachrach won the Emmy 
(2023) for best supporting 
actor in a comedy series. 
While not confirmed, the 
buzz is that most of the 
recurring cast members 
will return (this includes 
Molly Gordon, who plays 
Carmy’s girlfriend, and Jon 
Berenthal, who appears in 
flashbacks as Carmy’s late 
brother). 
A Family Affair, a roman-
tic comedy film, will be 
released by Netflix on June 
28. Here’s the premise: 
Zara (Joey King, 24) is a 
young woman who works 
as the personal assistant to 

self-absorbed Hollywood 
star Chris Cole (Zac Efron, 
36). Zara discovers that 
Cole is having a secret 
romantic relationship with 
Zara’s widowed mother, 
Brooke (Nicole Kidman, 
56). 
King got good reviews 
for her performance in 
the 2024 Hulu mini-series 
We Were the Lucky Ones 
(about an extended Jewish 
family that remarkably sur-
vived the Holocaust). 
King, in a sense, flew her 
Jewish flag in this series 
— and I just found out that 
Efron has recently done 
something similar. 
In common parlance, 
Efron is one-quarter Jewish 
(his paternal grandfather), 
and he wasn’t raised any-
thing. Back in 2014, he said 
he was Jewish — but the 
context he spoke in was 
comical and it was hard to 
say that Efron really iden-
tified as Jewish. However, 
last March, he made his 
Jewish identification very 
clear. As the Gaza war got 
very “hot,” Efron was inter-
viewed by Ynet, an Israeli 
news service.
Ynet reported: “Efron 
clarified that although he 
is not close to religion 
in any way, he identifies 
himself as Jewish. When 
asked how he feels about 
the sharp rise in global 
antisemitism, he immedi-

ately responded, ‘It’s dev-
astating. It’s sad it’s just 
going to happen in today’s 
world. It shouldn’t.’” 

Ynet also spoke to Efron 
about Iron Claw, a film he 
made that had just opened 
in Israel. It was based on 
the lives of the Von Erichs, 
a (not German) American 
family that were famous pro 
wrestlers. Efron co-starred 
as Kevin Von Erich, now 
67. Kevin has long been 
an Israel supporter, and he 
was in Israel last March to 
open Iron Claw and show 
his support of Israel.
Iron Claw was a surprise 
critical and box-office hit. 
Efron’s main co-star was 
Jeremy (The Bear) Allen 
White. (Small world!). 
Daddio is a drama (with 
light moments) about a 
taxi driver (Sean Penn, 63) 
and his customer (Dakota 
Johnson) who have very 
personal conversations as 
he drives her from the air-
port to Manhattan. It opens 
on June 28. Film festivals 
reviews were very compli-
mentary. 
You should really watch 
Penn’s interview with 
Jimmy Kimmel (June 15 
on YouTube). First, Penn 
promoted Daddio, then 
had wonderfully smart 
and funny exchanges with 
Kimmel. I can see why he 
is still getting good parts 
at 63.

I know that Detroit has 
ties to Toronto, which isn’t 
very far away. Perhaps 
some JN readers are old 
enough to remember — 
or actually went to — a 
spectacular outdoor rock 
concert in 1969 in Toronto. 
It had an incredible line-
up: John Lennon and the 
Plastic Ono Band, the 
Doors, Little Richard and 
Jerry Lee Lewis.
Revival69 is a documen-
tary that covers the many 
difficulties the promoter 
had in organizing the 
concert — and, like 
Woodstock (1969) — a 
miracle happened and 
everything “came togeth-
er.” The film features some 
good footage of the con-
cert never seen before. 
(Revival69 opens in 
theaters on June 28)
A number of rock music 
figures with ties to the 
concert were interviewed. 
They include guitarist 
Robbie Krieger, now 78, 
the last surviving mem-
ber of the Doors; Shep 
Gordon, now 78, a top 
agent; and bassist Geddy 
Lee, now 70, a Toronto 
native who was 16 years 
old when he attended the 
concert. He had joined 
the band Rush the previ-
ous year. But Rush wasn’t 
famous enough then to be 
in the concert. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GAGE SKIDMORE

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

CONDÉ NAST

Joey King

EVA RINALDI

Zac Efron

