Articles written by curt schleier
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Carl Reiner, 95, dishes his secrets to longevity
(JTA)-The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he's named there. "If I'm not, I'll have my breakfast"-or so he says in the charming...
Chastain on playing Holocaust heroine in 'The Zookeeper's Wife'
(JTA)-Strong women are right in actor Jessica Chastain's wheelhouse. There's Maya, the fictional CIA agent in "Zero Dark Thirty," whose work led Seal Team Six to Osama bin Laden; Melissa Lewis, the he...
Hank Azaria opens up about speaking Ladino and his latest role
(JTA)-Actor Hank Azaria is known for his portrayal of an array of characters-most notably voicing Moe, Chief Wiggum and Apu on "The Simpsons." While he may be best known for his work on the...
Try not to cry during this Oscar-nominated film
(JTA)-Filmmaker Kahane Cooperman hasn't written an Oscars acceptance speech yet, but she likely will before the Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 28. Not to jinx things or appear overconfident, Cooperma...
Josh Radnor, beyond 'How I Met Your Mother'
(JTA)-Josh Radnor is starring these days in Richard Greenberg's off-Broadway play "The Babylon Line." For the 42-year-old actor, it is the latest in a long and impressive list of credits. However, the...
Comedian Nick Kroll is serious about being funny
NEW YORK (JTA)-Nick Kroll is serious, which is a tad unusual for a man who has largely made his living by being funny. But being funny for reporters isn't his job, he tells JTA in a telephone...
Ewan McGregor's biggest challenge: Philip Roth
(JTA)-Which is braver: Riding a motorcycle across the length of Africa, or taking on an adaptation of a Philip Roth novel for your first directing gig? For a second, actor Ewan McGregor is stumped by...
What's a nice Jewish boy like Daniel Radcliffe doing playing a neo-Nazi?
(JTA)-In his new film, "Imperium," Daniel Radcliffe plays FBI agent Nate Foster, who goes undercover to take down skinheads planning to set off a dirty bomb. The film, which opens Friday, is taut and...
Iran, the Holocaust, 'Septembers of Shiraz'-and me
(JTA)-"Septembers of Shiraz" is a film about a prosperous Jewish family in Iran caught up in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah. It's based on Dalia Sofer's well-received...
Anthony Weiner lets it all hang out in new documentary
(JTA)-It's just before Rosh Hashanah in 2013, and New York City's mayoral campaign is heating up. Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, who in a surprise move had thrown his hat in the ring a...
In new film, Yitzhak Rabin narrates his autobiography
(JTA)-"Rabin in his Own Words," which opened last Friday in New York, Los Angeles and South Florida, is more than a tribute to the two-time Israeli prime minister tragically gunned down in 1995. The...
'Batman v. Superman': Jesse Eisenberg on Lex Luthor's embrace of Jewish culture
(JTA)-When the highly anticipated movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" opened nationally last Friday, several burning questions might finally be answered. Among them: Which superhero is...
Meet Miss Israel
(JTA)-Avigail Alfatov eats her pizza upside down and has funny hiccups. Her favorite food is falafel and she makes her face shine by wiping it with green tea bags. How do we know this and, perhaps...
How a Jewish trans father inspired a hit series
(JTA)-Writer and director Jill Soloway grew up in what she calls a "somewhat normalish, upper middle class Jewish household" in Chicago. Her mom was a public relations consultant (she worked for...
The Jewish writer and actor who is 'the voice of black America'
(JTA)-Danny Strong is probably most recognizable as being "that Jewish guy" on TV-he played eager adman wannabe Danny Siegel on "Mad Men" and the nerdy, perennial victim Jonathan Levinson on "Buffy:...
Oh Hell Yeah: An interview with 'Sharknado' writer Thunder Levin
(JTA)-Will lightning strike thrice? Who better to ask than Thunder? That would be Thunder Levin, the writer of the campy, over-the-top "Sharknado" movies-the latest of which, "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell...
Amy Winehouse, through the lens (and the bottom of a bottle)
(JTA)—To anyone who has read a rock-and-roll biography or caught an episode of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” it is a sadly familiar tale: An artist achieves great success only to self destruct. There’s something called the “27 Club,” made up of a surpr...
In new HBO doc, a look at writer-AIDS activist Larry Kramer, warts and all
(JTA)-It wasn't so long ago that gay men were vilified by American society at large. Back in the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic surfaced, priests railed against them, claiming the disease was God's...
