Jewish Stars Shut Out Amid Night of Upset Wins at Golden Globes
Jonah Hill Image by Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – It was not the best of times for Jewish talent at Sunday evening’s Golden Globe awards.
None of the dozen Jewish nominees, including such respected actors as Natalie Portman, Liev Schreiber or Jonah Hill, made it to the winner’s podium.
It was left to two artists, hardly mentioned in the advance Jewish tip sheets, to uphold the tribal honor, buttressed by one young director who might be classified as an “honorary” Jew.
Justin Hurwitz’ musical gifts contributed immeasurably to the success of “La La Land,” the runaway seven-time winner in the musical or comedy film category. He was rewarded with Golden Globes for the movie’s original score and for the original song “City of Stars.”
Hurwitz is 31, as is Damien Chazelle, the film’s director, and they were roommates as undergraduates at Harvard. Chazelle, who won the Golden Globe nods both as director and screenwriter of “La La Land,” was raised by his two Catholic parents.
But, as Chazelle told the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles last year, the parents were dissatisfied with their son’s education at a church Sunday school and enrolled him in the Hebrew school of a liberal synagogue.
Over the next four years, Chazelle recalled, “I had that period of my life where I was very, very into Hebrew and the Old Testament, and then I went with my class to Israel when we were in the sixth grade. I don’t think they even knew I wasn’t Jewish; I was, like, ‘passing.’”
Veteran French film star Isabelle Huppert won the top spot as best actress in a drama for her role in the French film “Elle,” which also received a Golden Globe for best foreign-language movie.
Huppert, who plays the role of a successful businesswoman who plots an elaborate revenge on the home intruder who raped her, is the daughter of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. Her parents married while France was under Nazi occupation, with the father hiding his Jewish roots.
Also during the awards ceremony a montage honoring actress Carrie Fisher and her mother actress Debbie Reynolds, who died late last month two days apart was screened.
The evening’s big loser at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills was absent President-elect Donald Trump, who was the target of a number of jibes and denunciations, though without actually mentioning his name.
Most outspoken was actress Meryl Streep, who received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.
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