Nate Bloom blogs on this week's Jews in the News.

 

Springsteen, Scorsese, Stiller & Meara

Opening Oct. 24 in theaters is “Deliver Me from Nothing”, a bio-pic about Bruce Springsteen. It takes place in 1982. Jeremy Allen White, the star of the Hulu series “The Bear”, plays Springsteen.

 

Springsteen grew-up in a blue collar, working-class Catholic family in New Jersey. A Dutch ancestor gave Bruce a Dutch last name. But he’s mostly of Irish and Italian ancestry.

 

His first two albums (1972 and ‘73) were well-reviewed, but sales were so/so. His third album, “Born to Run” (1975), was a huge breakout album, as was the title song. It was a “real rocking” album, but smart and touching, too.

 

JON LANDAU, a rock critic, changed careers and he produced the “Born to Run” album. He gave Bruce a lot of good advice on this album and he’s produced almost all the Springsteen albums since 1975. He’s now 77 and he’s Bruce’s “right-hand man.”

 

Bruce’s 4th and 5th albums sold well, but not “great”. But everyone said he was still on the cusp of ‘global superstardom’. Many things in Bruce’s life led him to make “Nebraska” (1982),his 6th album. It’s an acoustic, somber album that focuses on the hard lives of blue-collar workers. It was recorded in Bruce’s bedroom, using very simple recording equipment. “Nebraska” got great reviews and it’s still viewed as one of his best works.

 

JEREMY STRONG, 49 (“Succession”) plays Landau. Strong’s father is Jewish; DAVID KRUMHOLTZ, 46, plays AL TELLER, now 81, a top record executive; and MARC MARON, 61, plays CHUCK PLOTKIN, now 82, a top record producer/engineer who worked on “Nebraska”.

 

In 1984, Springsteen got that ‘superstardom’ with the release of “Born in the USA”. “Born in the USA” was a “monster” hit song and the name of the equally popular album.

 

MAX WEINBERG (drummer), now 74, and ROY BITTAN (keyboards), now 76, played on the “Born to Run” album and on every Springsteen album since—except “Nebraska”.

 

I have to say that it’s nice that all the real Jewish people in this film (Jon Landau, etc.) are played by Jewish actors. Also, it’s “cool” that Springsteen has so many Jewish friends and collaborators—and it’s great that he’s played Hava Nagila in at least 3 concerts (1979, 2004, 2009).

 

“Mr. Scorsese”, a 5-part documentary about famous director Martin Scorsese, premiered on AppleTV on October 17. Many ‘biggies’ were interviewed, including STEVEN SPIELBERG, 78.

 

The film was directed by REBECCA MILLER, 62. Miller also directed a very good documentary about her Jewish father, the famous playwright ARTHUR MILLER (“Arthur Miller, A Writer.” It was made for HBO and is available there)

 

As I wrote last week, Rebecca’s mother wasn’t Jewish, and, like her husband, DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, she’s secular (Day-Lewis’s mother was Jewish). Day-Lewis, 68, appears in his wife’s film and he talks about acting in two films directed by Scorsese: “The Age of Innocence” (1993) and “Gangs of New York” (2002).

You can see two different informative trailers about this documentary on Youtube: Mr. Scorsese—First Look Apple+ and Mr. Scorsese-AppleTV. (In case you’re confused: Apple+ just changed its name to AppleTV).

 

Also, on Youtube, is a recent, hour-long on-stage discussion about “Mr. Scorsese”. Search for: “Talking Martin Scorsese’s Career”. Miller is on the stage, as is Michael Imperioli, a “Sopranos” star. He had two short, but memorable scenes in “Goodfellas,” a Scorsese film.

I suspect Miller’s documentary film will mention Scorsese’s upcoming film. It’s about the Grateful Dead, the famous rock band. JONAH HILL, 41, has just been cast as Jerry Garcia, the most famous “Dead” member.

 

Scorsese has many ties to rock musicians. In 1976, he made a documentary about the last concert of “The Band”, a famous group. The concert featured three Jewish rockers: ROBBIE ROBERTSON, the Band’s leader; BOB DYLAN, and NEIL DIAMOND. In 2005, Scorsese made “No Direction Home”, a documentary about Dylan.

 

Also premiering (AppleTV) on Oct. 24 is “Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost.” It’s a film about the late JERRY STILLER and ANNE MEARA. It was directed by BEN STILLER, their son, and he narrates the film.

 

A two-minute trailer on Youtube is very informative (just enter the name of the film—it pops up). In the trailer, Ben says that Jerry kept “everything” (home films, diaries, etc.). Ben makes it clear that his parents were loving parents who also loved each other.

 

No doubt, the film will mention that Jerry never asked Anne to convert to Judaism. That was her choice and she embraced Judaism.