Greater than 450 Jewish stars and different Hollywood professionals are denouncing Zone of Curiosity writer-director Jonathan Glazer’s speech from the 2024 Oscars, in an open letter printed by Selection on Monday.
In his controversial remarks on stage accepting the award for Greatest Worldwide Function, Glazer related his Holocaust movie with the disaster in Gaza, saying, “Our movie exhibits the place dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s formed all of our previous and current. Proper now, we stand right here as males who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to battle for thus many harmless folks. Whether or not the victims of October — whether or not the victims of October the seventh in Israel or the continuing assault on Gaza, all of the victims of this dehumanization, how will we resist?”
The open letter responds partially: “We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the aim of drawing an ethical equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of individuals, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its personal extermination.”
EW has not been in a position to acquire the letter and it’s unclear the place it originated.
‘Zone of Curiosity’ director Jonathan Glazer.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
It continues, “Each civilian loss of life in Gaza is tragic. Israel will not be focusing on civilians. It’s focusing on Hamas. The second Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the second this heartbreaking conflict ends. This has been true for the reason that Hamas assaults of October seventh. The usage of phrases like ‘occupation’ to explain an indigenous Jewish folks defending a homeland that dates again hundreds of years, and has been acknowledged as a state by the United Nations, distorts historical past.”
The letter additionally states that Glazer’s speech “provides credence to the fashionable blood libel that fuels a rising anti-Jewish hatred around the globe, in the USA, and in Hollywood. The present local weather of rising antisemitism solely underscores the necessity for the Jewish State of Israel, a spot which is able to all the time take us in, as no state did through the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s movie.”
Actors Debra Messing, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianna Margulies and Brett Gelman, director Eli Roth, author Amy Sherman-Palladino, and producer Amy Pascal are a number of the Hollywood stars who signed, as did many different creatives, executives, and Hollywood professionals. The letter apart, public response to Glazer’s remarks has been divisive — along with the criticism, it has acquired some help from these calling for a cease-fire.
Glazer had no remark when contacted by EW. Reps for Messing, Leigh, Margulies, Roth, Sherman-Palladino, and Pascal didn’t instantly reply to EW’s requests for remark.
The Zone of Curiosity filmmaker’s acceptance speech has additionally acquired reward from different stars and creatives, together with Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Barrera, and administrators Boots Riley, Jesse Peretz, and Asif Kapadia, lots of whom beforehand signed an open letter to President Joe Biden calling for speedy de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards and successful two, The Zone of Curiosity follows the house lifetime of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller. Glazer was joined by producers James Wilson and Len Blavatnik on the Oscars stage to just accept the glory, although the latter later revealed Glazer didn’t seek the advice of him in regards to the remarks beforehand. “He didn’t clear the speech,” a spokesperson for Blavatnik advised The Hollywood Reporter. “However he’s extremely pleased with the movie and the accolades it has acquired and he doesn’t wish to distract from the vital themes of the film.”
One other of Zone of Curiosity’s govt producers, Danny Cohen, beforehand mentioned he “basically” disagreed with the director’s remarks. “It’s actually vital to acknowledge it’s upset lots of people and lots of people really feel upset and indignant about it. And I perceive that anger frankly,” Cohen mentioned on the an episode of the Unholy podcast.
Watch Glazer’s acceptance speech on the Oscars above.
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