A scene that was so Jewish it wound up on the cutting-room floor – The Forward

By Jeremy Kagan July 01, 2022 This essay is part of the Forward’s list of 125 greatest Jewish movie scenes. You can find the whole list and accompanying essays here.Can a scene be too Jewish to film? That was an issue I had to face when I was directing “The Chosen,” based on Chaim Potok’s famed book. It was a very hot summer in Brooklyn and on the first day of filming  I had planned many setups for the opening baseball game between two groups of young Jews — one of which consisted of Hasidic boys dressed with black wool pants, white shirts, black suspenders and payot, the side locks of hair that Hasidim grow and don’t cut.   We couldn’t get anyone from the very orthodox Hasidic groups to portray these boys; some Hasidim had even taken ads out in Yiddish papers urging people not to participate in this movie. So, I cast actors who, of course, didn’t have payot.  Our hair and makeup people created curly hair pieces to attach to the boys’ heads so they looked appropriately Hasidic.   During our lunch break, our actors left the playground to eat. A half-hour later, I looked up and saw dozens of these boys…
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