Jews Don’t Count: A Times Book of the Year 2021

* A caveat here. I noticed that when the film Supernova came out in 2020, there was no outrage. It’s a love story between two gay men starring the straight actors Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth. In fact it was reviewed extremely positively. There was still a conversation about it, and Firth spoke of his uncertainty about taking the role, saying ‘I don’t have a final position about this. I think the question is still alive.’ Which is not a discussion that happens much with non-Jews playing Jews. But I also think that there is a specific issue of bravery around the idea of playing a gay man on screen. Because for years in the cinema, to do so would have been considered damaging to a career (and obviously, also for years, actors who were gay would pretend to be straight). It is still, I would suggest, considered in some way brave for a major straight actor to play a gay man in a mainstream movie. It is not brave for a non-Jew to play a Jew.