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The Leonard Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’ has been plagued by ‘Jewface’ controversy. Many Jewish fans don’t care.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Like many other fans heading into Monday night’s New York Film Festival screening of “Maestro,” Alexander Gorlin was aware of the “Jewface” controversy that has plagued the film.
But acting is a “cross cultural” exercise, said Gorlin, who is Jewish. His architectural firm has designed several Jewish houses of worship.
“If you’re talented enough to play the role, you should do so,” Gorlin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the lobby outside of Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. “You’re not limited by your birth identity. The greatest actors are the ones who transcend that.”
“Maestro,” a biopic about Leonard Bernstein starring and directed by Bradley Cooper, took heat for months over its non-Jewish star’s use of a prosthetic nose. Online discourse was so intense that Bernstein’s three children issued a statement defending Cooper, saying he included them in “every step” of the production process. The makeup artist who created the prosthetic apologized for hurting people’s feelings. Even the Anti-Defamation League got involved.
But the atmosphere in the David Geffen lobby between the film’s two screenings on Monday night — which marked the film’s North American premiere — was light and celebratory. Granted, many in attendance were avowed fans of Bernstein, Cooper and classical music. Still, most were well read on the details of the nose controversy and decidedly over it.
“I thought it was appropriate and I have no problem. The nose seemed right for the movie,” said Scott Drevnig, who is Jewish and is the deputy director of the historic Glass House in Connecticut. He spent a large chunk of the screening that he attended trying to figure out if Cooper was sitting directly in front of him (he was).
Many ticket holders were more occupied with other aspects of the film and its plot, which focuses heavily on Bernstein’s marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre. Even though the two had an understanding about Bernstein’s love life and a genuine romantic connection, their relationship strains under the weight of Bernstein’s many gay affairs and his scrutiny in the public eye.
“I grew up loving Bernstein, and it felt totally fine,” Greg Outwater, who is not Jewish and works in fundraising for Northwestern University, said about the prosthetic nose. “I thought it was going to be a little bit more about the music and his conducting, that’s the only thing that I wasn’t expecting.”
Sarah Silverman, who a few years ago was one of the voices who helped amplify the “Jewface” criticism of non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters, co-stars in “Maestro,” as Bernstein’s sister Shirley. Silverman hasn’t been able to publicly comment on the film due to the ongoing actor’s guild strike.
Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre’s three children, from left, Nina, Alexander and Jamie, at the New York Film Festival screening of “Maestro,” Oct. 2, 2023. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for FLC)
The film makes Bernstein’s Jewish identity clear early and often. At the party where Bernstein first meets Montealegre, who is played by Carey Mulligan, the two bond over having Jewish parents. Montealegre, who was born in Costa Rica and raised in Chile, had a Jewish American father.
As Bernstein’s career picks up speed, a Russian-Jewish composer tells him he will find much more success if he changes his name to the less Jewish-sounding “Burns” (Montealegre convinces him that it’s bad advice). And later in the film, Bernstein is shown wearing a sweater with Hebrew on it. The movie’s closing credits feature Jewish prayers set to classical music melodies.
Its opening credits feature some of Hollywood’s biggest names as producers, notably Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Spielberg had hand-picked Cooper to helm the project after watching “A Star Is Born.”
The Spielberg-Cooper bid to buy the rights to use Bernstein’s music ultimately defeated a bid by another prominent Jewish actor: Jake Gyllenhaal.
In 2021, not long after using the bid battle, Gyllenhaal commented on the ordeal to Deadline. “That idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years,” he said.
That storyline was more disturbing than the nose controversy for Melissa Tomczak, a 24-year-old who works at a literary agency.
“I don’t necessarily think that non-Jewish people can’t play Jewish people or make films about Jewish people,” said Tomczak, who is not Jewish. “But it kind of sucks that [Gyllenhaal] is someone who is a stage actor, and he admires Bernstein, and wasn’t able to make the film.”
Bernstein — who is widely considered the first great American orchestral conductor and who composed music in different genres, from classical to the Broadway style of his “West Side Story” — was very engaged with Judaism throughout his life. In 1963, he wrote a symphony titled “Kaddish,” dedicated to the late John F. Kennedy. He and legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins collaborated on a ballet called “Dybbuk,” based on S. Ansky’s early 20th-century Yiddish play “The Dybbuk.” And after Israel’s Six-Day War in 1967, Bernstein conducted a historic concert on Jerusalem’s Mt. Scopus.
(Leonard Bernstein, behind the piano, plays a recital in the Negev with the Israel Philharmonic, Dec. 6, 1948. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
For Annalise Pelous, a 23-year-old film production coordinator at Monday night’s screenings, the Bernstein family’s embrace of Cooper’s vision went a long way. Bernstein’s elder daughter Jamie helped introduce the film at a podium before both screenings, saying almost breathlessly that the audience was “in for a treat.”
“The family was totally fine with it,” Pelous said about the nose backstory. “I don’t know, it’s like … whatever.”
The film as a whole seemed to split Monday’s audience — some found it to be a masterpiece, others found it trite. Many were awed by the way the film’s soundtrack boomed through a specially designed Dolby sound system.
“It felt a little bit hollow. I feel like a lot of the things that Netflix is helping make kind of all have the same look, and I keep waiting for something to break free from that,” Pelous said of the movie. After the film debuts in theaters on Nov. 22, it heads to Netflix on Dec. 20. “But a lot of the music was incredible,” she added.
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The post The Leonard Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’ has been plagued by ‘Jewface’ controversy. Many Jewish fans don’t care. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says
A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
The post Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
The post Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.