Celebrity News

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

Gaslight is an eight-episode limited Starz series that begins streaming April 24. Early in 1972, John Mitchell (Sean Penn, 61), Nixon’s Attorney General, resigned and became Nixon’s re-election campaign head. His wife, Martha (Julia Roberts), had some info about the Watergate break-in (June 1972). John knew she probably would give this info to the press. Just days after the break-in, John arranged for his wife’s kidnapping and imprisonment in a hotel room. Martha managed to call a top Washington reporter and briefly talk about Watergate before the phone was ripped from her hand. John then orchestrated a smear campaign to paint his wife as a drunk and a “nut.”

Nat Faxon, 44, whose mother was Jewish, plays top Nixon aide Bob Haldeman. Like Nixon’s other top aide, John Ehrlichman, Haldeman did prison time for his Watergate crimes. The Nixon tapes disclosed that Haldeman and Nixon often made antisemitic remarks, but never did so when Ehrlichman was present. Why? They knew that Ehrlichman’s father was a Jew who converted to Christian Science, John’s mother’s faith.

I do have to note, here, Sean Penn’s humanitarian work. It was once again in the news when Penn spoke to MSNBC and Fox News shortly after his return (April 4) from Ukraine, where he was making a documentary that began filming before the Russian invasion. He talked about his admiration for President Volodymyr Zelensky, about their friendship, and about the work that CORE, a humanitarian organization he founded, is doing in Ukraine and Poland (helping refugees). As I saw Penn talk about the Ukraine war, I thought about his sharp reaction to comments that he was “unpatriotic” when he opposed the Iraq War (20034). He bristled as he pointed-out that his late father, actor/director Leo Penn, was a WWII bomber crew member who flew 25 missions over Nazi-occupied Europe.

CORE’s first mission (2010) was helping Haitian hurricane victims. Early in the pandemic, CORE gave thousands of free COVID tests to Americans. Later, it gave free vaccinations to thousands. As I’ve noted before, Penn arranged the “jail-break” (2013) of an Orthodox Jewish businessman held in a Bolivian prison on trumpedup charges.

We Own This City is an original, limited HBO Max series that streams the first of its six episodes on April 21. We Own tells the story of the amazingly corrupt Gun Track Task Force (GTTF), a (real) unit in the Baltimore Police Department. In 2017, all eight members of the GTTF were arrested and were subsequently convicted.

We Own is familiar ground for series co-creator David Simon, 62, a Baltimore native. He was the creator, or co-creator, and principal writer of three other Baltimore-based series that focused heavily on the troubled relationship between Baltimore’s poor and the police — Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), an NBC series; The Corner, a 2000 HBO mini-series; and the HBO series The Wire (20022008).

The large cast includes Jon Bernthal, 45, as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, the worst of the very bad GTTF cops; Josh Charles, 50, as Daniel Hersl, another GTTF member; and David Corenswet, 28, as David McDougall, a county deputy sheriff who initiated the GTFF corruption investigation.

Bernthal is having a career year, with high profile roles in King Richard and the HBO Sopranos movie; Charles, a Baltimore native, is still best known as the co-star of The Good Wife. Since that series ended, he and his wife, journalist Sophie Flack, 38, have had two children; and Corenswet (The Politician), may have a career breakthrough role with We Own. His late father came from a prominent New Orleans Jewish family. His mother is a “WASP.” He identifies as Jewish.

Every year, around Pesach, ABC airs The Ten Commandments, the 1956 blockbuster. A few weeks ago, schedules said it would air on April 17 (Passover/ Easter weekend). For unknown reasons, its air date was changed to April 9. It was too late to change my last column, and I apologize to anyone who tuned in to watch it and it “wasn’t there.”

I wanted you to see the film because I very recently interviewed Cantor Riselle Bain, 74, who played “Young Miriam” in the film.

The good news is that I discovered there’s a (free) really high-quality complete copy of the film on YouTube. On YouTube, search just like this: “The Ten Commandments 1956.” You’ll find it. Bain’s scene is in this copy’s Part I, about four minutes into the movie. As I wrote last week, it’s the scene in which Young Miriam (Bain) puts the basket holding the baby Moses into the Nile River.

BY SEHER SIKANDAR

BY MINGLE MEDIA TV

BY PEABODY AWARDS