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Comments (0)Tell us, is there anything in this world sexier than the subject of … Holocaust insurance claims?
Probably not.
But Hollywood is taking on that thorny, complicated topic, reportedly with Oscar winner Sandra Bullock (who’s pretty sexy herself). Word has it that Sony Pictures may develop a vehicle starring Miss Sandy B. (whose ex, Jesse James, you’ll recall, appeared to be fond of Nazi memorabilia) in a suspense story about insurance companies and the Holocaust, a battle royale that led to one of the largest programs of Holocaust restitution.
The story involves the heirs of Moshe “Mor” Stern, a wealthy Hungarian Jewish wine entrepreneur who was perished in Auschwitz. His grandchildren made Generali, a major European insurance company, compensate them for his pre-war insurance policy, something that Generali conveniently refused to admit existed.
The case was the catalyst for big-time compensation funds being set up for Holocaust survivors and their families by European governments and businesses in the ‘90s.
But not so fast, Sandra & Co. Members of the Stern family, it appears, are now at loggerheads about the proposed film.
“I don’t understand how someone can sell a story that is just fiction,” said Martin Stern, 62, one of Mor Stern’s grandsons, who claims that his intergral role in the story never comes up in the film treatment.
But co-writer Robby Kushner insists that the family’s victory was largely due to a crusade undertaken by Lisa Stern, Martin’s sister-in-law, and William Shernoff, her attorney. (Natch, Sandra will play Lisa.)
“From my research, Martin Stern isn’t very prominent in the story,” Mr. Kushner said. Still he told the Jewish Forward that he doesn’t think the film diminishes Martin Stern’s role in the victory.
Oy, Jewish family infighting over money. Only time will tell if this thing ever hits the big screen.