{"id":47251,"date":"2019-02-08T05:07:30","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T11:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=47251"},"modified":"2019-02-08T05:07:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T11:07:30","slug":"billy-crystal-plays-a-rabbi-for-the-first-time-in-this-indie-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/billy-crystal-plays-a-rabbi-for-the-first-time-in-this-indie-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Crystal plays a rabbi for the first time in this indie drama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By STEPHEN SILVER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 On the surface, \u201cUntogether\u201d is a drama about a pair of young women struggling to come into their own as adults in contemporary Los Angeles. While that setup may sound mind-numbingly familiar to fans of American indie film, \u201cUntogether\u201d \u2014 which debuts Friday in theaters in several cities as well as on demand \u2014 is different from the norm in a couple of key ways.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_47252\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47252\" class=\"wp-image-47252 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal.jpeg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47252\" class=\"wp-image-47252 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-17-19-billycrystal.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-47252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Billy Crystal as a rabbi in &#8220;Untogether.&#8221; (Freestyle Digital Media)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>First, the film is very Jewish for the genre, both in theme and cast. Second, it represents the anticipated film debut of Jewish writer Emma Forrest, the British-American journalist and novelist who wrote an acclaimed memoir, \u201cYour Voice In My Head,\u201d back in 2011 (it covered, among other things, her relationship with movie star Colin Farrell). She wrote the \u201cUntogether\u201d screenplay and directed the movie.<\/p>\n<p>Real-life sisters Jemima Kirke (best known for her role in Lena Dunham\u2019s \u201cGirls\u201d) and Lola Kirke (best known for roles in \u201cMistress America\u201d and \u201cMozart in the Jungle\u201d) play the main characters. Jemima\u2019s character is an ex-junkie and aspiring writer who is dating a doctor-turned-war-memoirist played by \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d heartthrob Jamie Dornan. Her sister, a masseuse, is dating a much older rock star (Ben Mendelsohn, to whom Forrest was formerly married) but soon finds herself drawn to a liberal rabbi played by Crystal, who\u2019s even older.<\/p>\n<p>While Crystal may have sounded very rabbinical while eulogizing at Muhammad Ali\u2019s funeral back in 2016, and has told numerous rabbi jokes throughout his long career, \u201cUntogether\u201d marks the first time he has ever played <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bWHVFQiCcsg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a rabbi in a movie<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Crystal, \u201cDirty Dancing\u201d star Jennifer Grey has a small role in the film, as does Scott Caan (son of Jewish actor James Caan). The Kirke sisters have a Jewish mother and Israeli grandmother.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_47253\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47253\" class=\"wp-image-47253 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke.jpeg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47253\" class=\"wp-image-47253 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2-7-19-lolakirke.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-47253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lola Kirke in synagogue in a scene from &#8220;Untogether.&#8221; (Freestyle Digital Media)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Several scenes are set in a synagogue, and at one point, one character suggests that another has \u201ccopy-edited the Torah.\u201d The rabbi character, Forrest said, is inspired by an \u201camalgamation\u201d of Los Angeles rabbis, including David Wolpe, Mordecai Finley and Sharon Brous.<\/p>\n<p>While the film is Forrest\u2019s first to be produced, it was far from her first screenplay. In fact, she\u2019s spent several years in Los Angeles as a screenwriter, and had two different films for which she wrote screenplays fall apart shortly before production. She was able to get the film financed, with herself as director, by agreeing to a low budget and by getting Dornan, then in the middle of the \u201cFifty Shades\u201d series, on board to star. She described it as \u201ca small film, just with people talking in rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The London-born Forrest became a music journalist when she was a teenager, later writing three novels and then her memoir before getting into screenwriting. \u201cUntogether\u201d isn\u2019t 100 percent autobiographical, but Forrest did incorporate various inspirations from her own life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, in the sense that I take things that have happened to me, or I wish things that had happened to me, or things that happened to me where I wish I could change the ending,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>One big thing that inspired her was her Jewish background. Raised in a Jewish family in London, Forrest wrote in her memoir about how affected she was, at a very low moment in her life, by a synagogue sermon delivered by the well-known Rabbi David Wolpe, of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. She described Wolpe as \u201ca real moral force\u201d and added that \u201ccertainly Billy\u2019s character is the one in the piece who has the strongest moral clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Being Jewish] is a massive part of who I am,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the time of my life a long time ago when I didn\u2019t like myself, it was one of the things that I did like about myself \u2026 When you\u2019re struggling with how to stay alive, it\u2019s helpful to recognize [that you are] singing the same songs that people had sung a thousand years earlier. And part of that choosing to stay alive was carrying on a bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crystal at first passed on the part, but a rewrite ultimately got him on board, and Forrest said she got valuable input from him, which \u201creally enriched the script and the film.\u201d<br \/>\nAs for the Kirke sisters, Forrest knew that she wanted real sisters playing sisters. She also praised the acting the Kirkes do, particularly with their faces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[They] have really lively, interesting faces. It has to be a face that you want to stay with. It means a face where you can feel what\u2019s happening underneath the surface,\u201d Forrest said.<\/p>\n<p>She also compared Jemima\u2019s acting style to that of the prolific Jewish actress Rachel Weisz.<\/p>\n<p>As for the line about copy-editing the Torah, Forrest said that came from her own observations about how, as the character says in the film, \u201cthere are too many \u2018and\u2019s\u2019\u201d in Jewish prayer texts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s from me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Billy%20Crystal%20plays%20a%20rabbi%20for%20the%20first%20time%20in%20this%20indie%20drama\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7139],"tags":[3775,8790,8795,8788,2476],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47254,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47251\/revisions\/47254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}