(Jewish Group) 'Oppenheimer,' 'Golda,' 'Maestro': Will the Real Jewish Actors Please Stand Up?

[Behind the Aegis]

A flurry of mainstream films released this year pivot on Jewish historical figures who impacted the world in ways impossible to ignore: Robert Oppenheimer, the subject of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Oppenheimer, is known to history as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Leonard Bernstein, played by Bradley Cooper in Netflix’s Maestro, which Cooper will also direct, is considered one of the 20th century’s most influential composers. And Golda Meir, played by Helen Mirren in Guy Nattiv’s Golda, served as Israel’s first — and, to date, only — female prime minister, shepherding the fledgling nation through the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

All of these individuals were Jewish. In their cinematic counterparts, none of them are played by Jews.

In a May 24 New York Times profile of Cillian Murphy, who stars as the titular physicist in Nolan’s blockbuster biopic, the helmer-screenwriter revealed that he penned the film specifically with the Irish actor “in mind.” Murphy, a 2023 BAFTA nominee for his dynamic lead turn on Netflix’s gritty gangster drama Peaky Blinders, is a critically-touted actor with a spate of commercial film credits. Like Oppenheimer, Murphy has bright, blue eyes — a stare that cuts right through you. But while Oppenheimer was a Jew born in New York City to Jewish parents who immigrated from Germany in the late 1800s, Murphy was born in Douglas, Ireland and raised Catholic.

That Nolan wrote a film about one of the most famous Jewish scientists to ever live without at least considering a Jewish actor for the role is emblematic of a problem that continues to pervade the entertainment industry, one that has rightly pushed for increased diversity, equity and inclusion and advocated on behalf of every ethnicity and race — except for Jews.

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Some things to consider: If you are one of those who says, "let the best actor take the role", do you feel the same when it comes to roles about transpeople going to those who aren't trans? What about gay and lesbians? What about those with disabilities? What about Muslims? Arabs? At what point, do Jews get to represent ourselves when the story is actually about Jews or the Jewish experience?