#70th cannes film festival

[just-just-gyllenhaal]

70th Cannes Film Festival-Vanity Fair And HBO Dinner Cannes France(2017) pic...

[rebeccasundstrom]

Barbara Palvin

70th Cannes Film Festival

[world-of-celebs]

Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst attending the Beguiled photocall as part of the 70th Cannes Film Festival on 24th May 2017.

[letzternachtzug]

Kristen Stewart attends the '120 Battements Par Minutes (120 Beats Per Minute)' screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2017

[ifreakingloveroyals]

17 May 2017 | Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, his husband Belgian architect Gauthier Destenay, Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourgand his wife Princess Stéphanie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg pose as they arrive for the screening of the film 'Ismael's Ghosts' (Les Fantomes d'Ismael) during the opening ceremony of the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (c) Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

[jordanianroyals]

Queen Rania of Jordan with Wendy Yu Wan Wan, a Chinese socialite & entrepreneur, at the Fashion for Relief event during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu on 21 May 2017

[devoted-to-colin-farrell]

Colin Farrell is the sweetest man 🥰

The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiere at the 70th Cannes Film Festival on 22 May 2017.

[alexinafan]

Alexina Graham attending amfAR's 24th Cinema Against AIDS Gala at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, France - 25 May 2017

[70s80sandbeyond]

Director Yorgos Lanthimos, Sunny Suljic, Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman attend ‘The Killing Of A Sacred Deer’ premiere during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2017 in Cannes, France

[rivertalesien]

There once was a boy named Lenny Whose talents were varied and many So many that he was inclined Never to make up his mind In fact he was so gifted He seldom felt uplifted Just undefined

-- The Saga of Lenny by Stephen Sondheim, on occasion of the conductor's 70th birthday, 1989.

Of all the bullshit coming out of this new Leonard Bernstein movie, the Jake G stuff has to be the most manipulative. All thanks to this one quote from an interview in 2021 that is being used in headlines:

"That story, 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"

Steven Spielberg, another renowned Jew, took up the rights for this film, sometime before he did Bernstein's West Side Story. He was going to direct the biopic when he met Cooper back in 2018. According to Cooper, Spielberg saw A Star is Born, wanted Cooper to play Lenny, then offered him the director's chair. Cooper went on to co-write the screenplay and got the blessing of Bernstein's family.

In 2018 the Hollywood Reporter and other media outlsets announced Gyllenhaal's project as Bernstein was going ahead.

But it wasn't.

Because Bernstein's kids signed off on the project being produced by Spielberg. For whatever reason, they went with the most famous filmmaker in the world to produce a film about their super-famous dad.

Trying to manipulate viewers as this film is being promoted screams like someone is very bitter over this, but Gyllenhaal hasn't been interviewed on it since 2021. Full quotes from the Deadline interview:

DEADLINE: Last one. You set up a film in which you would play the great composer Leonard Bernstein. I recall sitting down a few Cannes festivals ago with your producing partner Riva Marker, when I told her, “I’d heard that Bradley Cooper has a rival version of the film, with Spielberg, who was doing West Side Story, and Scorsese behind them.” I imagine that was a bitter pill for young producers to swallow when the Bernstein estate assigned rights to the other project. Stars are usually collegial, but you guys are also competitive. What can you say about it, and what was the lesson for a couple of young producers?

GYLLENHAAL: This is the thing. No one likes to admit this, but, we got beat at our own game. That’s basically what happened. There’s really nothing more to say about it than that. There’s always another project. Sticking your neck out, hoping to get to tell the stories you love and that have been in your heart for a very long time is something to be proud of. And that story, 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, but sometimes those things don’t work out. In this business, if you’re lucky enough to stick it out for a while, we can easily forget that getting to tell the story isn’t the most important thing. I mean, this is our life. Gotta enjoy it. Bottom line, and this may be my Achilles heel or it may be my superpower, but I wish them the best.

DEADLINE: That’s generous.

GYLLENHAAL: You know, as artists, there are many stories to give our hearts to and if part of our self is caught up worrying about something you have no control over, then you can’t give your whole self to the thing that’s right in front of you.

Awful as it must be to miss such an opportunity (over forces you can't control, as he says), Gyllenhaal's interview shows his pragmatic side. And there is no law that says he couldn't pursue another opportunity to play Bernstein. Dragging his name into this as if he had some right that no one else had is just messing with people. If I were Gyllenhaal, I wouldn't want my words to be used like this.

And Gyllenhaal being half-Jewish giving him more "right" to play the role clearly wasn't a consideration when Bernstein's kids shook hands with Steven Spielberg. That they already had a relationship with him (West Side Story, whatever else prior) probably helped. Gyllenhaal did not have the benefit of that relationship (I'm a quarter Jewish myself and assume no rights to being able to play Bernstein).

But a completely ignorant audience, who probably know little to nothing about Bernstein, are out tweeting up storms of wild bullshit that Gyllenhaal was robbed and Cooper isn't Jewish and he's wearing a fake nose and no one has even seen this film yet.

Poor Lenny Pacing his den, he Was worried he'd be left behind He mumbled, "How ironic Atonal is a tonic When you can't make up your mind"

So let's hit the nail on the head of the *real* controversy over this film and not beat around the bush:

Did Spielberg make a mistake hiring Cooper, who *did* go ahead with a completely unnecessary prosthetic extension because Hollywood just can't drop those bullshit anti-Semitic tropes? Was it a deliberate insult? Bernstein's kids didn't seem to think so, Spielberg didn't stop it, so no, it probably wasn't meant with malice. It was stupid. And it reinforces a nasty anti-Semitic trope. Spielberg at the very least, should have known better. Shame on him and Cooper for not seeing that. I don't think there can be an excuse.

But reading malice into every aspect of this movie has been quite the business this past week and it's brain-melting.

Because the obvious harm: repeating a stupid anti-Semitic practice (the Bernsteins' acceptance is irrelevant to the greater good) is the main issue and that's something the filmmakers should be called to task for. Not who might have played the role and dragging him into this as if Gyllenhaal *not* being able to make *his* version somehow led to this bastard project the media is currently propping up for clicks and giggles.

It won't affect whether people go to see it, but it will be talked about as it is actually released and this will be good because hopefully it will never happen again.

And then we'll all forget about it until it does happen again.

Maybe Gyllenhaal will get another chance. Maybe Spielberg should have met with him and his partners on their project before going ahead with Cooper. Was there some reason they didn't? Or maybe they did and visions didn't align and it was just a race to the finish. Spielberg and co had the upper hand. Sucks, but that's not where this went wrong.

Well, here it is. Lenny himself couldn't have led a better-orchestrated media cluster fuck.

In fact, I like to think of him rolling his eyes as he takes a drag from his cigarette and asks Sondheim what he thinks.

"Just be glad we're dead, Lenny. Be glad we're dead."

[phantomvogue]

atelier versace gown worn by irina shayk at the 70th annual cannes film festival

[world-of-celebs]

Rita Ora attends DeGrisogono "Love On The Rocks" during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on May 23, 2017 in Cap d'Antibes, France. 

[letzternachtzug]

KRISTEN STEWART attends the ‘120 Battements Par Minutes (120 Beats Per Minute)’ screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2017.

[withriri]

05/19/17 - ‘Okja’ Screening At 70th Annual Cannes Festival

[ifreakingloveroyals]

17 May 2017 | French actress Clotilde Courau poses as she arrives for the screening of the film 'Ismael's Ghosts' (Les Fantomes d'Ismael) during the opening ceremony of the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (c) Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images

[milusvery]

Emma Thompson attends "The Meyerowitz Stories" photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2017 in Cannes, France