The extremely long-gestating adaptation of Philip Rother’s American Pastoral is slowly making its way to the screen, with Ewan McGregor set to star and direct. However it’s not the only Roth novel that’s getting a movie version as James Schamus is set to write and direct Indignation, which has just added Logan Lerman and Sarah Gadon to the cast, according to Deadline.
Roth’s Indignation is ‘set in 1951 and focuses on Marcus (Lerman), the 18-year-old son of a kosher butcher in Newark who grapples with anti-Semitism, sexual repression and the escalating Korean War as he comes of age at a Midwestern Lutheran college. Into his life comes Olivia Hutton (Gadon). Blonde and pretty, Olivia is a classmate of Marcus’ at Winesburg College. She goes on a date with Marcus and is attracted to his intensity. She is sexually promiscuous, headstrong and fiercely independent. A daughter to a highly regarded Cleveland surgeon, Olivia had previously attempted suicide and spent time in a mental institution.’
It’s a good fit for Lerman, who many don’t realise is Jewish himself and so has the right cultural background for the role.
Gadon incidentally has also just signed up for the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s 11/22/63, which has James Franco in the lead as a time-travelling teacher who sets out to prevent JFK’s assassination.
“who many don’t realise is Jewish himself” – Can’t you simply say he’s Jewish, if you have to, without the qualifier at the beginning? Sorry, but you can’t keep writing things like this and claim to be “progressive” or “liberal” or whatever it is.
And all those people with their “realizing” or “not realizing” can go straight to hell.
Maybe it’s a cultural thing (we’re writing this in the UK), but I’m not sure what’s prejorative about saying some people don’t know something. We were just trying to point out that in the world of film, which has a history of casting actors who have have a completely different cultural heritage to the characters they’re playing, this time they’ve cast someone from the same background as the character they’re playing, but some people may not realise that. Maybe I’m missing something though or we’ve expressed it badly if others feel differently?
Logan Lerman is a full-blooded Jew with an exclusively Jewish surname (carried only by Jews). This biographical information is easily available on the internet. It’s pretty disturbing that, in 2015, he can’t be unambiguously described as a Jew without some qualifying statement.
(on the other hand, if he was some annoying “comedian” starring in a Judd Apatow movie, then he’s immediately and permanently a Jew, no questions asked, even if his father’s name is “Luigi Cera”).
We’re not even talking about someone like Jake Gyllenhaal and Scarlett Johansson, who are Jewish through their mothers and obviously carry their fathers’ non-Jewish last names, not that that matters.
Are those “many people” with their “realizing” the same racist a-holes who still “think” Jason Biggs is a Jew? What else do they think?
If you’re going to bow to those people, you should also add “many people don’t realize there are black doctors”, “many people believe the president was born in Africa”, “many people believe Ronald Reagan invented AIDS”, “many people “many people don’t acknowledge the Holocaust happened”, etc.
I think that Logan Lerman is perfectly suited for this role. Yes, there is the fact that he is Jewish, of course. But more importantly, he is very good at portraying individuals who are carrying a fair bit of emotional baggage, which would seem to be the case with the protagonist in Roth’s story. I have not read the book and am not sure how sympathetic the character of Marcus will be, in the final analysis, but I look forward to seeing Logan’s portrayal up on the big screen, as he has demonstrated his ability to do quality work.
Here, David, memorize this, lest you be one of those who don’t “realize” someone is Jewish because they’re not an ugly comedian:
Actors of fully Jewish background: -Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mila Kunis, Bar Refaeli, James Wolk, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julian Morris, Adam Brody, Esti Ginzburg, Kat Dennings, Gabriel Macht, Erin Heatherton, Odeya Rush, Anton Yelchin, Paul Rudd, Scott Mechlowicz, Lisa Kudrow, Lizzy Caplan, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Gal Gadot, Debra Messing, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Logan Lerman, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Margarita Levieva, Elizabeth Berkley, Halston Sage, Seth Gabel, Corey Stoll, Mia Kirshner, Alden Ehrenreich, Eric Balfour, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy.
Andrew Garfield is Jewish, too (though I don’t know if both of his parents are).
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers -Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Franco, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Eva Green, Joaquin Phoenix, River Phoenix, Emmy Rossum, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Connelly, Sofia Black D’Elia, Nora Arnezeder, Goldie Hawn, Ginnifer Goodwin, Amanda Peet, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman, Ben Barnes, Patricia Arquette, Kyra Sedgwick, Dave Annable, Ryan Potter.
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jews and/or identify as Jews: -Ezra Miller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, Nicola Peltz, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Winona Ryder, Michael Douglas, Ben Foster, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nikki Reed, Zac Efron, Jonathan Keltz, Paul Newman.
Oh, and Ansel Elgort’s father is Jewish, though I don’t know how Ansel was raised. Robert Downey, Jr. and Sean Penn were also born to Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism -Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.