(Jewish Group) A Pattern of Non-Jews Portraying Jewish Characters Is Leading to Offensive Prosthetic

[Behind the Aegis]

A Pattern of Non-Jews Portraying Jewish Characters Is Leading to Offensive Prosthetics



When the trailer for Maestro starring Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein dropped on Aug. 15, 2023, the world went up in arms about Bradley’s very clearly prosthetic nose to portray a Jewish man. Bradley himself is Irish and Italian, so his decision (and yes, it was a decision) to play a Jewish (and gay) man has been hotly debated. But even further, his decision to wear a prosthetic nose has driven some controversy around the film.

Bradley isn’t the only non-Jewish actor to play a Jewish character — Kathryn Hahn played a Rabbi in Transparent and Phyllis Shapiro in The Shrink Next Door; Rachel Brosnahan and Tony Shalhoub played the Jewish father and daughter pair in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; even as far back as 1956, Charlton Heston played Moses in The Ten Commandments.

Now, the pattern continues as Bradley takes on famously Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein. But he’s not the only one putting on a fake nose to portray a cultural group of people. Helen Mirren is also set to play former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in Golda on Aug. 25, in which she also wears a prosthetic nose.

So, is that okay? Or is it “Jewface”? It’s time to sound off!

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