Coen Brothers

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- With “The King’s Speech” garnering 12 nods, royalty led the Oscar nomination parade, but Jewish contenders had their shining moments.

Three of the Best Picture nominations for Academy Awards had Jewish producers: Scott Rudin for “The Social Network”; Ethan and Joel Coen for "True Grit"; and Mike Medavoy for “The Black Swan.”

Jesse Eisenberg was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in “Social Network,” which received eight nominations.

At the center of Joel and Ethan Coen’s new film, “A Serious Man,” which opens on Friday, is a very weighty matter. A Jewish physics professor, Larry Gopnik, faces a string of woes — his wife leaves him for a colleague; he accidentally kills that colleague in a car crash; his brother shows up, homeless, looking for a place to stay; and so on. Why him? To answer the question, the Coen’s send Larry to three rabbis, each one promising the answer to his eternal question.

That quest for enlightenment is a bit what it’s like interviewing the Coens. A brigade of publicists courts you weeks in advance, each new e-mail enticing you for the next: the first one promises you the interview;
the second that the interview will be in person. In subsequent e-mails you learn the day, time, place, and finally receive one last note: arrive early, you have only 15 minutes.