At the movies
“Rosewater,” directed and written by Jon Stewart, 51, is based on a memoir by Iranian Canadian Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari, who recounted his four-month imprisonment in Iran after he appeared on Stewart’s satirical news show in 2009. Following his release, Bahari and Stewart became friends.
In a recent New York magazine interview, Stewart was asked, “You learned a great deal about [Iranian] politics and culture writing and directing ‘Rosewater.’ Did you make the movie because you felt guilty about contributing to Bahari’s jailing?”
Stewart replied: “Listen, Jews do a lot of things out of guilt. Generally it has to do with visiting people, not making movies. If I could draw a linear, rational line to what we had done and the charges against Maziar, I would be really devastated. You couldn’t do something more inane and vapid than Jason Jones in sunglasses and a kaffiyeh in a café going, ‘I am an American spy!’ But you can’t control what idiots will weaponize.” The movie opens Friday, Nov. 14.
Baby boom
Ashton Kutcher, in a recent appearance on “The Conan O’Brien Show,” explained how he and his fiancée, Mila Kunis, 31, came up with their newborn daughter’s name, Wyatt Isabelle. Kutcher said he started spitting out every name that came to mind
in an effort to find one that Mila would like. When he said “Wyatt,” Kunis said, “That’s it.” Then he added, “We gave her the middle name Isabelle after Mila’s grandfather, who was Itzhak, and so it has a little heritage.” He didn’t explain the Ashkenazi
Jewish custom to name a newborn after a deceased relative — including borrowing the name’s first letter, sound or meaning.
Robert Downey Jr., who wed producer Susan Levin Downey, 40, in a Jewish ceremony in 2005, welcomed a daughter on Nov. 4. She’s named Avri Roel. In 2012, they had a son, whom they named Exton Elias. (I suspect that Avri, too, is named after a Jewish relative. It is a common Hebrew nickname for Abraham). Meanwhile, Isla Fisher, 38, and hubbie Sacha Baron Cohen, 43, reportedly are expecting their third child. The couple have two daughters: Olive, 7, and Elula, 4.
TV worth watching
The original dramatic film “The Real Inglorious Bastards,” based on a true story and produced in Canada in 2012, was shown on Veterans Day on the American Heroes Channel (AHC, formerly the Military Channel). It will rerun at 6 a.m. Saturday, Nov.
15 and at 4 and 11 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17. It tells the story of two young American Jewish refugees from Europe who joined a secret branch of the Army, parachuted into Austria in the last months of World War II and met up with a German armydeserter. Together they gathered invaluable intelligence and did sabotage work. Sgt. Fred Mayer, now 92, one of the two Americans, was captured and tortured. But he convinced the Nazi head of that region that he was an Army “big wig.” Eventually, acting alone, he accepted the surrender of Innsbruck and turned the city over to advancing American troops.
At 8 p.m. Dec. 4, NBC will present a live version of the classic musical “Peter Pan” starring Allison Williams as Peter and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook. The week before, at 8 p.m. Nov. 26, the network will air a “behind the scenes” special about the show. It’s hosted by Minnie Driver, who signed a petition supporting Israel in the recent Gaza conflict. The musical was penned by five Jewish theater legends, all now deceased. Lyrics by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Carolyn Leigh, with music by Mark Charlap and Jule Styne.
Columnist Nate Bloom , an Oaklander, can be reached at [email protected].