By Nate Bloom
Contributing Columnist
“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 grandson, 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 Award ($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 associate professor. He is 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 “acupuncturist hippie.” As the film begins, Janet and her ‘clingy’ 11-year-old daughter, Lucy, are spending a summer at a house in rural New England.
Janet invites three people that Lucy doesn’t like to visit: her boyfriend (Will Patton) and her friends Avi (Elias Koteas) and Regina (SOPHIE OKONEDO, 55).
Okenedo, an Oscar-nominated British actress, is the daughter of a Nigerian (black) 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 universities. After graduation, she worked as an 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 married, Diane began designing dresses — and she quickly had two children with Egon in 1970 and 1971 (I have no idea if either of her 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 divorce 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 long-time friend, billionaire BARRY DILLER, now 82. He was a leading entertainment executive and, over time, became a media owner. Diana and Diller have been major philanthropists (huge donations to the Statue of Liberty foundation).
There is a good chance that an American Jewish woman (who had a bat mitzvah ceremony) will make the Olympic team, and it’s certainly possible that she will win a medal. I am referring to CLAIRE WEINSTEIN, who is just 17! The members of the team are picked in trial swim races that began on June 15, and end on June 22. Weinstein has qualified to swim in 7 races, and she will appear in a race almost every day of this week. (All races on Peacock and USA. Some on NBC. Check listings).
