(Jewish Group) Is It Kosher For Non-Jewish Actors To Play Jewish Characters?

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

Felicity Jones will star in “On The Basis Of Sex” as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a role that initially went to Natalie Portman. Ginsburg and Portman are Jewish. Jones is not.

The arrival of the glossy biopic will be a welcome distraction for those who have already binged their way through the second season of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” starring Rachel Brosnahan as the madcap Jewish comedian. Brosnahan isn’t Jewish, but says she’s been to a lot of bar mitzvahs. The candy-colored Judaism of “Maisel” was a pleasant break from the Jewy dysfunction on “Transparent,” where the problematic Pfefferman family depended on the moral guidance of Rabbi Raquel, portrayed by the Roman Catholic Kathryn Hahn.

Don’t forget the non-Jew who hunted Nazis this year — Oscar Isaac as an Eichmann captor in “Operation Finale.” Not to mention the non-Jew who played a Jew hunting KKK members — Adam Driver in “BlackKklansman.”

Is it kosher for non-Jewish actors to be play Jews? Does it deserve the outcry met by Scarlett Johansson being cast as a transgender character, or Scarlett Johansson being cast as an asian character? (What are you doing, Scarlett Johansson?) Or is it just…acting? We asked writers and experts to weigh in.

more...

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. Why not?

Natalie Portman played Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl, and the historical Anne was a devout Christian.

Ben Kingsley stated in 1994: "I'm not Jewish... and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mother's side, the thread is so fine there's no real evidence." Yet he played Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List.

[BeyondGeography]

2. "The question is silly, really."

Leah Gottfried, from the link.

Actors act.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Feel the same in regards to non-GLBT playing GLBT roles?

What about a Greek playing an Arab?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. And on the flip side, being born Jewish doesn't mean you're inherently "Jewish".

In my case, I was born to two Jewish parents. I attended five years of Jewish Sunday School. I was compelled to go to Temple twice a year. I was repulsed by deli. Our family didn't associate with other Jewish families. We were regarded as "not Jewish enough" by other Jewish families. And (I swear this is true), I naively told my parents that I saw my father's medical partner at Temple and "I didn't know that Dr. Steinberg was Jewish." At age 14. That's how not Jewish I was.

Felicity Jones and I are about the same level of Jewishness. If I were offered the role of RBG b/c I am technically Jewish and she isn't (not to mention she has experience acting and I don't), it just wouldn't make sense.

That being said, if two actresses were auditioning for a role of a Jewish woman and that role demanded nuances found in in Jewish culture (beating one's breast, sighing "Oy vey" or "Vey iz meer", etc.), I think that actress should get that part.

[FBaggins]

4. Of course

[elleng]

5. ACTORS!

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Do you feel the same in regards to GLBT roles?

How about different ethnic groups playing one another? (Example: Greek playing and Egyptian)

[elleng]

8. ACTORS. It's their JOB!

[EllieBC]

9. I feel the same.

To me, actors act. It’s what they do and generally they are very good.

[MosheFeingold]

10. Actors act

Probably the one thing that is off limits to me is a white person playing black, and that’s more of a historical reason (and practical, in that it generally looks stupid).

And there are exceptions to that —- Robert Downey junior playing a white actor playing a black guy and being intentionally an idiot is a good example.

All (well, most) this pc stuff is a giant waste of time and effort.

If we’ve gotten rid of all the substantive bigotry I the world, then maybe look at this.

But then, we won’t care.