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Jewish World Review Feb. 15, 2013 / 5 Adar, 5773 Jews in the National Hockey League; Possible Start of a Blockbuster Film Series; Star Wars Keep on Comin', Special TV Showing of Schindler's List By Nate Bloom
THE Starz of David maven is back!
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JEWS ON ICE
The 113-day lockout of National Hockey League (NHL) players by the owners ended in early January.
Here are the four Jews playing NHL hockey as the delayed season began: MIKE BROWN, 27, right wing, Toronto Maple Leafs; MICHAEL CAMMALLERI, 30, left wing, Calgary Flames; JEFF HALPERN, 36, center, NY Rangers; and ERIC NYSTROM, 29, left wing, Dallas Stars. Halpern and Brown are the sons of two Jewish parents. Nystrom, who was raised Jewish and had a bar mitzvah, is the son of a non-Jewish father (hockey great Bobby Nystrom) and a Jewish mother. Cammalleri, who is also the son of a Jewish mother/non-Jewish father, was raised secular, but has no problem being identified as a "Jewish athlete."
Jewish Sports Review magazine says that 10 Jewish players are now playing in the highest minor league, the AHL. Several have a good chance of being called up to the NHL this season or next.
NEW TWILIGHT?
Opening on Thursday, Feb. 14, is the supernatural film, "Beautiful Creatures." It's based on a best-selling young adult novel of the same name. If this film does well, it likely will be the start of a film series, as with the "Twilight" books and films. Already, three hot selling book sequels have followed the first "Creatures" book.
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EMMY ROSSUM, 26 ("Shameless"), whose mother is Jewish, has a big supporting role as Lena's cousin Ridley, who has chosen the "dark" path. ZOEY DEUTCH, 18, has another large supporting role as Emily, a former girlfriend of Ethan who now hates Ethan and Lena and leads a group opposed to any Caster.
This is Deutch's first big film role. In the last three years, she's had a large recurring roles on "Suite Life on Deck," a Disney Channel series, and on the CW series, "Ringer." Her father is HOWARD DEUTCH, 63, a film director whose credits include "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful." While making the latter film, he met his wife, actress Lea Thompson, who is also Zoey's mother. In a recent interview, and twitter tweet, Zoey described herself as "Jewish." I don't believe Thompson, now 51, has converted to Judaism--but its possible. She recently did a public service ad urging couples to test for genetic diseases that disproportionately affect Jews.
MAY THE JEWS BE WITH YOU
Last last month, came the news that Disney (which bought Lucas films last year) planned to make three new sequential films in the "Star Wars" saga and that they had hired J.J. ABRAMS, 46, to direct the first one, "Star Wars: Episode VII." The three films will be made over a six-year period, starting in 2015. Abrams' many stellar credits include directing the successful re-launch of the Star Trek movie series with his 2009 film, "Star Trek." Another Abrams' directed "Trek" film opens in May.
Disney head BOB IGER, 61, surprised many last week when he said that Disney had engaged LAWRENCE KASDAN, 64, and SIMON KINBERG, 39, "to work on" separate films that will serve as "stand-alone" spinoffs of the main new trilogy. Iger told CNBC that their films are "derived from great 'Star Wars' characters that are not part of the overall saga."
Kinberg is a top screenwriter ("Mr. and Mrs. Smith;" "X-Men"). Kasdan's notable credits include the screenplays for two of the best Star Wars pics: "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Return of the Jedi." He's also well known for directing and writing a number of dramatic hits, including "The Big Chill" and "Body Heat."
TV NEWS: SCHINDLER'S LIST AND OSCARS SPECIAL
On Saturday, Feb. 23, at 8PM, USA network will present a special, commercial free presentation of "Schindler's List." Director STEVEN SPIELBERG will provide a special introduction to his great Holocaust film, which was released twenty years ago. USA will offer additional information and resources at charactersunite.com and through the interactive second screen experience app, Zeebox, in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation.
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 10PM, ABC will air an Oscars special hosted by Katie Couric. It includes tons of celebs, including BILLY CRYSTAL; lots of clips from past Oscars shows; behind the scenes footage, and some celeb home movies.
Next Week: Oscars Round-Up
Info Note:
Persons in capital letters, above, are deemed Jewish for the purpose of this column. For the purpose of the column, the person has to have at least one Jewish parent, be raised Jewish or secular, and not identify with a religion other than Judaism as an adult. Converts to Judaism are also, of course, considered Jewish, even if they don't have a Jewish parent.
INTERESTED IN YOUR FAMILY HISTORY?
Ten years of doing a Jewish celebrity column has turned Nate Bloom into something of an expert in finding basic family history records and articles mentioning a "searched-for" person. During these 10 years, he has put together a small team of "mavens" who aid his research. Most professional family history experts charge at least a $1000 for a full family history. However, many people just want to get started by tracing one particular family line.
So here's the deal: Send Nate an e-mail at middleoftheroad1@aol.com, and tell him you saw this ad on Jewish World Review and include your phone number (area code too). Nate will contact you about doing a limited family history for a modest cost (no more than $100). No upfront cost. Open to everybody; of any religious/ethnic background.
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