PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at grisar@forward.com and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture Our dream cast for the new ‘Fiddler’ film
Casting in Hollywood is as precarious as a fiddler on the roof. Did you know, for instance, that James Caan was nearly Han Solo or that Armie Hammer was this close to being Batman? Things fall through. But here at the Forward, every one of us is a casting director, trying to fit our favorite…
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Culture The Weinstein brothers and Disney named in underage rape lawsuit
Now serving a 23-year-prison sentence, convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein may once again face a legal battle — this time he wouldn’t be alone. On May 28, four women filed a sexual abuse lawsuit in New York, naming Weinstein, his brother and former producing partner, Robert Weinstein, and the Walt Disney Company, which owned the Weinstein’s…
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Culture Is Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein doc too slick for its own good?
When Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August, 2019, there were widespread rumors from across the political spectrum that he was, in fact, murdered by his powerful acquaintances. It seemed unbelievable that the accused sex trafficker, just released from suicide watch following an earlier attempt to take his own life,…
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Culture ‘Hamilton’ director set for new film of ‘Fiddler’
Miracle of miracles, we’re getting another film adaptation of “Fiddler on the Roof.” And this time, the director’s Jewish. Thomas Kail, the Tony-winning director of “Hamilton” is set to helm the new adaptation of Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s classic musical, Deadline reports, with a script by Kail’s former collaborator, Tony-winner Steven Levenson (“Dear Evan…
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Culture Did pop star Doja Cat moderate ‘alt-right’ chatrooms?
Day to night to morning, it’s hard to keep with Doja Cat’s many cancellations in the moment. The artist’s rise from profoundly weird SoundCloud novelty rapper to Billboard chart topper was never without its controversy. Now there’s another one, this time involving alt-right vernacular and racist chatrooms. The 24-year-old “Say So” singer, whose real name…
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Culture Larry Kramer, AIDS crusader and playwright, dies at 84
Larry Kramer, the firebrand playwright who ignited bold protests over the government’s inaction to the AIDS crisis, died Wednesday morning of pneumonia. Kramer, who was H.I.V. positive and battled poor health for years, was 84. Kramer was all but ousted from the AIDS activism group Gay Men’s Health Crisis for his militancy in 1982. He…
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Culture The unexpected joys of watching ‘Uncut Gems’ on Netflix
I first met Howard Ratner at a sold-out afternoon showing at the Lincoln Square AMC — back when going to the movies was a thing. The theater was a vivid cross-section of New York life — old gay couples, Modern Orthodox college kids in kippot, young black and Latinx urban professionals. By pinning down Adam…
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Culture This is the only cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” we need right now
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” began its life, in 1984’s “Various Positions,” as a profoundly weird song with gospel choir accompaniment, a painfully-of-its-era drum machine and a stentorian and unemotive delivery from the poet himself. But you don’t really care for that music, do you? For many, the template for all covers of Cohen’s initially unremarked ballad…
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