Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Kaddish for Cody's

In my recent post on The Yiddish Policemen's Union I mentioned that Cody's Books, in Berkeley CA, was asking people who they'd cast in the film adaptation (to be directed by the Coen Brothers).

Well, I guess that's called off, since Cody's Books has now closed after 52 years in business.

Darn. I'm always sad when a bookstore closes, and I feared something might be up--Cody's Books hadn't updated their blog in about a month. I know times are tough for independent bookstores, but I thought things might be better in the anti-corporate People's Republic of Berkeley. Guess not.

And I was curious, too, to see what kind of responses they'd get to their casting contest, because I was having trouble with my entry. For Meyer Landsman, it's hard to think of Jewish actors who are the right age (early/mid 40s) and can play a classic tough-but-vulnerable noir hero. (The most prominent Jewish actors in that age group are Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler--no thanks!) Meyer's partner, Berko Shemets, is a tall and husky man who is half Tlingit--can't think of many Native American actors off the top of my head either. And if the movie has any flashback sequences, it'll need to perform the impossible task of finding a guy who's believable as the potential Messiah.

If you've got any bright ideas for casting The Yiddish Policemen's Union, please leave them in the comments.

No comments: