"He's a bad mother...sheket b'vakashah..." - The Hebrew Hammer theme song
Several years ago I was at a Jewish arts and culture conference in NYC, and happened to meet writer Jon Kesselman. After a few minutes of conversation, wherein I expressed some delight for his 2003 film, The Hebrew Hammer, and its script, which was jampacked with absurdist Jewish references, he made the pitch.
"Glad you liked it. Got $2 million dollars? I want to make a sequel."
At some point after that, word (and a few pages) leaked out that the sequel, "The Hebrew Hammer Vs. Hitler," was floating around Hollywood somewhere, and that it featured an obliteration of then-famously-anti-Semitic-and-drunk-misogynist Mel Gibson. (Some people reported on that somewhere.)
If you're a fan of The Hebrew Hammer, the cult film featuring Mordechai Jefferson Carver as the world's first Jewxplotation hero to save both Christmas and Kwanzaa, you already know that earlier this week creator, writer, producer, gaffer, best boy, set tutor and crafts services menu coordinator (I don't know, I'm just making those titles up) Jon Kesselman has launched a Jewcer campaign to fund the sequel, with the confirmed title of "The Hebrew Hammer Vs. Hitler." Kesselman, with apparently minimal success at pitching bloggers for two-million-dollar investments, has decided to take it to the fans to drum up initial support (the goal is $200,000, but the minimal pledge for Kesselman to receive funding is $50,000) for the film.
In addition to cash donations, Kesselman is looking for his Hitler. (Hopefully this will not be the result of an old-style casting couch scenario.) The promotional pitch video below suggests actors as varied as Jack Black, Will Ferrell, and Paul Rudd...but I want to make a bold suggestion: John Hamm. Hamm is cool for the men, compelling for the ladies, but isn't afraid to deglam the Hamm in favor of the funny. Plus, putting "ham(m)" in a Jewish film has a rebellious aspect to it, and you get to use the tagline: "Hamm IS Hitler."
So who's your Hitler? And what would Kesselman do? Support the campaign (and follow their filmmaking adventures on @HammerVsHitler), and maybe we'll all have a chance to find out. And happy Hanukkah, motherf*&%ers.
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