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SANDLER HUSTLES, HIRSCH STAYS IN THE GAME, E.T.’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Adam Sandler, 56, stars in the original Netflix film Hustle. It begins streaming on June 8. Sandler, a reallife basketball super fan, plays Stanley Sugarman, a much-travelled basketball coach for the (NBA) Philadelphia ’76ers. He dreams of being a basketball coach, but he is stuck on the road, year-after-year, looking for an undiscovered great talent who will turn his life around.
While in Spain, he discovers Bo Cruz, a great streetball player with a troubled and impoverished past. Cruz is played by Juancho Hernangomez, a Spaniard who has played for several NBA teams since 2016. He is currently a member of the Utah Jazz.
Well, I figure that most of you know where the film is going. It’s a double “Cinderella” story — for Stanley and for Bo. I haven’t seen the film, but I am quite sure they will face obstacles and sometimes will stumble, but in the end their dreams will be realized.
Netflix hasn’t given much of a synopsis, so most of the available information is from the film’s trailers. I know that Queen Latifah plays Stanley’s wife, Teresa, and that Ben Foster, 41, plays Stanley’s boss (I’m guessing he is the ’76ers general manager). The credits say that the great Robert Duvall, 91, is in Hustle. My gut says that he has a brief scene playing the team’s owner.
The film was directed by Philadelphia native Jeremiah Zagar, 50ish. Zagar made a series of well-received documentaries starting in 2008. In 2018, he made We Are the Animals, his first fictional narrative film. This movie about an interracial family got good reviews.
Zagar’s first film, In a Dream (2008), is a documentary about his unusual family. His father, Isaiah Zagar, 83, is very famous in Philadelphia for his many quite interesting street (wall) murals (the murals are mostly made up of bits of glass and tile). Jeremiah’s mother, Julia, 82, is also an artist.
Isaiah Zagar was profiled by the Philadelphia Jewish paper in 2016. He grew up in an Orthodox Brooklyn Jewish family. While Isaiah said Judaism greatly influenced his work, my sense is that he is not, now, a practicing Jew. The profile didn’t say whether Julia is Jewish or not.
Hollywood Stargirl is an original Disney+ film that premieres on June 3. It is a sequel to Star Girl, a 2020 high school musical that got pretty good reviews. Grace Avery VanderWaal, a teen singer with a distinctive voice, plays Susan, the “stargirl” in both films’ titles. In the sequel, Susan moves to L.A. and makes new friends.
Jordan Horowitz, 42, (La La Land) co-wrote both films. Judd Hirsch, 87, has a supporting role as Susan’s neighbor. It’s nice to see “super-veteran” excellent actors, like Hirsch and Robert Duvall, still working.
The 40th anniversary of the American release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (E.T.) is June 11. This truly beloved film was made for $10.5 million and grossed almost $800 million. No one expected that. The box office returns and the outpouring of plaudits from critics and audiences put director Steven Spielberg, now 75, into the rarefied universe of “tippy” top filmmakers.
Here are three Spielberg E.T. “factoids”: While Spielberg didn’t write the film, he got the screenwriter, Melissa Mathison, “going.” He told her he long thought about making a film about his childhood — a lonely childhood in which he had an imaginary friend. In some ways, Spielberg has said, E.T. is a combination of that imaginary friend and his own beloved father.
Another story: Some writers said E.T. was a Jesus-like figure. Spielberg replied that this came as a surprise to him and to his mother, who he pointed out was the owner of a kosher restaurant.
The script originally had E.T. being lured to come out with M&M candies. Mars Candy wouldn’t give permission to use M&M’s unless they saw the final script. Spielberg didn’t have a sure “money in the bank” reputation then and Mars didn’t want their candy associated with a possibly monstrous space alien. The film company wouldn’t agree to share the final script.
The Hershey candy company took a chance and agreed to do a joint publicity campaign with the filmmakers without seeing the final script. Reese’s Pieces, a Hershey candy, was used in E.T. as the “lure” candy. Hershey was allowed to show the film to their executives and their families the day it was generally released. The Hershey Company audience laughed and cried — and they all knew that Hershey had made a great decision. Sales of Reese’s Pieces went through the roof.
GEORGES BIARD, WIKIPEDIA
Adam Sandler Judd Hirsch
GAGE SKIDMORE, WIKIPEDIA
