Ever since Queen Amidala smiled and said "Ani, you are all grown up" I have been a Natalie Portman fan. She is making a new movie about how difficult it is to fall in love and marry across cultural boundaries. Sounds like a great topic. Unfortunately, there has been a setback in the movie. The lead man had to quit recently under pressure from his Jewish community. The following article tells the story. Click here for the full article.
Hasidic actor walks off Portman movie BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Saturday, March 15th 2008, 4:00 AM  Corkery, Richard ((Click Abe Karpen's pic of a gallery of photos from the movie.))
First he couldn't hold Natalie Portman's hand - and now a WilliamsburgHasidic Jew-turned-actor has to give up his chance to hit it big in a Hollywood movie.
Abe Karpen, 25, a married father of three, was cast as Portman's husband in "New York I Love You," a film composed of 12 short stories about love in the five boroughs. "I am backing out of the movie," said Karpen, a kitchen cabinet salesman. "It's not acceptable in my community. It's a lot of pressure I am getting. They [the rabbis] didn't like the idea of a Hasidic guy playing in Hollywood. "I have my kids in religious schools and the rabbi called me over yesterday and said in order for me to keep my kids in the school I have to do what they tell me and back out," Karpen said. While news of Karpen's withdrawal sent waves of disappointment through the movie set, the Hasidic community was up in arms over Karpen's acting gig - forcing him to flee for the weekend, a friend said. "We are very sorry that this has created a problem for him personally and for the community," said the film's executive producer, Jan Korbelin. "He's a great ambassador of his faith and it came out of the left field. ... This is the last thing this picture should be doing," Korbelin said. "This film is about love and understanding between different people and communities." Just Wednesday, Karpen was strolling along the Fulton Ferry State Park under the Brooklyn Bridgealongside Portman, 26, who sported a dark head-covering and a coat. "They wanted me to hold her hand, but I said 'no way,'" said Karpen, who proudly stood his ground. "It's against our religion. You can't even hold your wife's hand on the street." Then came the howls of protest about his unorthodox job. "This is when I woke up and saw that I made a big mistake. My kids mean everything to me and my community where I live means everything to me," said Karpen, who comes from a prominent Williamsburg, Brooklyn, family. His longtime friend Levi Okunov said the Karpens had to flee the city for the weekend. "The community wants to kill him," he said. Hasidic community activist Isaac Weinbergersaid Karpen should have known better. |
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