56 | NOVEMBER 14 • 2024 
J
N

CROSS, A THRILLER; PALTROW 
AND CHALAMET IN JEWISH 
BIOPIC
Cross is an original, eight-
episode crime thriller series that 
premieres on Netflix on Nov. 14. 
The title references Alex Cross, 
the main character in 30 best-
selling novels written by James 
Patterson. Three Alex Cross 
feature films have been made 
since 1997.
Aldis Hodge plays Cross, 
an African American police 
detective. Cross has a Ph.D. 
in forensic psychology. He’s 
worked for the Washington, 
D.C., police department and 
for the FBI. The series’ trailer 
leads us to believe that Cross is 
seeking a masked, very smart 
serial killer. 
Kaylie Craig, a friend or an 
ally of Cross, is played by Alona 
Tai, 41. I say that Craig is an 
ally because Tai said that at a 
Comic Con panel. She told her 
audience that she wasn’t free 
to say more — and — Tai made 
it clear that she couldn’t say 
if Kaylie is/was related to Kyle 
Craig, the “most evil” character 
in the novels. 
Tai did say, “You will see 
[Kaylie] develop in future 
seasons.” 
Tai was born and raised in 
Israel, and she served in the 
IDF. She’s steadily worked 
in American TV since 2004, 
but it’s mostly in recurring or 
guest roles, and it’s hard to 
point out a credit most people 
would know. Cross may be her 
career breakthrough: Netflix has 
already renewed Cross for a 
second season.
In a previous column, I noted 
that Timothee Chalamet, 

28, had signed to play Marty 
Reisman (1930-2012), a top 
pro table tennis player, in an 
upcoming film titled Marty 
Supreme. 
Well, People magazine (Nov. 
1) caught up with shooting of 
scenes of the movie in Central 
Park on Oct. 16. The film’s 
director is Josh Safdie, 40, 
and he co-wrote the original 
screenplay (no release date 
announced yet).
The scenes that were shot 
featured Chalamet and co-star 
Gwyneth Paltrow, 52. I was 
surprised that she was a co-star. 
The article didn’t disclose what, 
exactly, her role is.
Most of the article was about 
Paltrow and she spoke to 
People. About Chalamet, she 
said: “Such a wonderful young 
man. Really, he’s very polite, 
very talented, just so nice to be 
with. I’m really having a good 
time with him.”
People noted that Paltrow 
had not taken a film role since 
2019, and her Netflix series 
(Politician) ended in 2020. She 
told People she took time off 
to run her business (Goop) and 
help parent her teen children. 
She told People that she and 
her husband, producer Brad 
Falchuk, 53, are now empty 
nesters.
Paltrow and Falchuck both 

have two children from their 
previous marriages (one 
daughter and one son). By 
coincidence, the sons are 
about the same age, as are the 
daughters. The sons just left 
for college and the (respective) 
daughters are college juniors. 
On Nov. 18 and 19, PBS 
will show (8-10 p.m.) a four-
part biography of Leonardo 
DaVinci. Ken Burns, 72, the 
famous documentary maker, is a 
co-director of DaVinci and this is 
the first time that he made a film 
about a “not-American” subject. 
The co-directors and 
co-writers of the film are 
Sarah Burns, 42, and David 
McMahon, Sarah’s husband. The 
couple have made three other 
documentaries with Ken Burns: 
The Central Park Five (2012), 
Jackie Robinson (2016) and 
Muhammad Ali (2021).
Years ago, I heard that 
Ken Burns and his brother, 
documentary maker Ric Burns, 
were both married to Jewish 
women. Not sure about Ric. But 
I confirmed that Sarah Burns’ 
mother, Amy Stechler (1955-
2022), was Jewish. She was 
married to Ken Burns from 1982-
1994. 
She worked with Ken on 
his early films, and she was a 
critical collaborator in many 
ways. Stechler then turned (c. 

1985) to painting, and when 
Sarah and her sister were 
grown, she made an Emmy-
nominated film about Frida 
Kahlo (2005).
All I know about Sarah’s 
religious background comes 
from an old Forward article in 
which Ken Burns said that his 
children celebrated Jewish and 
Christian holidays. 
If you watched L.A. Law 
(1985-1994) or Dharma & Greg 
(1997-2002), you know Alan 
Rachins. He died on Nov. 
2, age 82. He co-starred as 
Douglas Brackman, a way-
too-stiff partner in LA Law and 
he “deliciously” played Larry 
Finkelstein, a Jewish, ’60s 
hippie/stoner “relic” who was 
Dharma’s father. 
Alan’s widow is Joanna Frank, 
83. She and Rachins seem to 
have had a good, long marriage 
and they had one child. I knew 
that Frank, an actress, had 
a recurring role as Douglas 
Brackman’s wife. I didn’t know, 
until a few days ago, that Frank 
and Rachins were really married, 
and Frank’s brother was (the 
late) Steve Bocho, the creator 
of LA Law. He gave Rachins a 
career-making role.
Frank didn’t really find a 
meaty role after LA Law ended. 
But she had a mensch brother 
and a mensch husband. 
 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

ILYA HAYKINSON

Alona Tal
Gwyneth Paltrow

Alan 
Rachins

ANDREA RAFFIN

ALAN LIGHT

