Oscar winners Joaquin Phoenix and Joel Coen lead a group of more than 150 Jewish Hollywood figures publicly backing director Jonathan Glazer's controversial speech.
The pair have signed an open letter alongside the likes of comedian David Cross, three-time Oscar nominee Debra Winger and Titanic actress Frances Fisher. In it, they state they are “alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterise and denounce his remarks” and that “attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation".
It also refers to grieving for the 1,200 Israelis killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks as well as the 253 taken hostage. However, it further states that attacks on Glazer have a “silencing effect” on the industry and contribute to the suppression of free speech and dissent.
It continues: “Glazer, Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg and countless other artists of all backgrounds have decried the killing of Palestinian civilians. We should all be able to do the same without being wrongly accused of fueling antisemitism.
“We honour the Holocaust by saying: Never again for anyone.”
What Glazer said during his Oscars speech
The Zone of Interest, a German-language film set during the Holocaust, won the Best International Film award at this year's Oscars.
During his acceptance speech, Glazer said the film showed “where dehumanisation leads at its worst”.
He added: “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present – not to say: 'Look what they did then', rather: 'Look what we do now'."
The film tells the disturbing story of a group of people living near the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-controlled Poland during the Second World War, who block out the horrors happening nearby and lead apparently normal lives.
“Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst,” Glazer continued. “It shaped all of our pasts and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation that has led to conflict for so many innocent people.
“Whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanisation. How do we resist?”
His words were met with both backlash and praise. In a different open letter on March 18, more than 450 Jewish creatives and execs denounced his speech for helping “fuel growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world.”
Who signed the letter of support?
- Lenny Abrahamson
- Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
- Erin Allweiss
- Mark Asch
- Liran Atzmor
- Erin Axelman
- Annie Baker
- Todd Banhazl
- Ariela Barer
- Morgan Bassichis
- Joshuah Bearman
- Abner Benaim
- Amy Berg
- Kate Berlant
- Gregg Bordowitz
- Agnes Borinsky
- Janicza Bravo
- Margaret Brown
- Dan Bucatinsky
- Simone Bitton
- Daniel Chalfen
- Joel Coen
- Dan Cogan
- Dominic Cooke
- Molly Crabapple
- David Cross
- Cyrus Dunham
- David Ehrlich
- Deborah Eisenberg
- Isaac Feldberg
- Chloe Fineman
- Jordan Firstman
- Frances Fisher
- Sarah Sophie Flicker
- Esther Freud
- Bella Freud
- Uri Fruchtmann
- Noah Galvin
- Sarah Gavron
- Tavi Gevinson
- Ilana Glazer
- Natalie Gold
- Sam Gold
- Jimmy Goldblum
- Daniel Goldhaber
- Nan Goldin
- Josh Gondelman
- Josh Gordon
- Elliott Gould
- Miles Greenberg
- Doron Max Hagay
- Gordon Hall
- Todd Haynes
- Fred Hechinger
- Lee Hirsch
- Eliza Hittman
- Nicole Holofcener
- Ilan Isakov
- Abbi Jacobson
- Kristi Jacobson
- Rachel Leah Jones
- Miranda July
- David Katznelson
- Deborah Kaufman
- Ella Kemp
- Sara Kiener
- Lola Kirke
- Dan Kitrosser
- Alison Klayman
- Naomi Klein
- Pamela Koffler
- Jess Kohl
- Maris Kreizman
- Lisa Kron
- Justin Kuritzkes
- Rachel Kushner
- Serge Lalou
- Nadav Lapid
- Julliette Larthe
- Michael Lieberman
- Alison Leiby
- Mike Leigh
- Cindi Leive
- Jonathan Lethem
- Mica Levi
- Avi Lewis
- Kyle Lukoff
- Darius Marder
- Miriam Margolyes
- Sam Marks
- Daniel Mate
- Gabor Mate
- Jane Mayle
- Jonathan Meth
- Lise Mayer
- Collier Meyerson
- Avi Mograbi
- Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Mik Moore
- Michael Morris
- Hari Nef
- Chani Nicholas
- David Osit
- Nira Park
- Zeena Parkins
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Rain Phoenix
- Max Posner
- Jeff Preiss
- Sarah Ramos
- Allon Reich
- Leo Reich
- Boots Riley
- Howard A Rodman
- Jon Ronson
- Jacqueline Rose
- Martin Rosenbaum
- Jason Rosenberg
- Tessa Ross
- Ira Sachs
- Tilly Scantlebury
- James Schamus
- Jane Schoenbrun
- Sarah Schulman
- Emma Seligman
- Wallace Shawn
- Mel Shimkowitz
- Noam Shuster Eliassi
- Amy Sillman
- Nathan Silver
- Michael Skolnik
- Gillian Slovo
- Robyn Slovo
- Shawn Slovo
- Sarah Adina Smith
- Alan Snitow
- Morgan Spector
- Tom Stoppard
- Kae Tempest
- Lynne Tillman
- Rachel Traub
- V (formerly Eve Ensler)
- Alicia Van Couvering
- Adam Weber
- Madeline Weinstein
- Debra Winger
- Matt Wolf
- Jeremy Yaches
- Gary Yershon
- Jeremiah Zagar
- Alexander Zeldin