Habonim opened the Dror for Golden boy
Jewish Telegraph, March 2004
THE Habonim Dror network paid off for film director Ric Cantor. Cheadle-born Ric was approached by fellow former-Habonim member Rebecca Green about her script for Suzie Gold. ‘‘I liked the idea,’’ Ric said. ‘‘She showed me the first draft but it needed work done on it. At the time I was directing commercials and Rebecca had seen my showreel.
‘‘I rewrote the first act and Rebecca liked it. We had a laugh but we weren’t sure it would ever get made. Rebecca put her whole life behind Suzie Gold. She set up her own production company especially for the film.’’ The finished script was written by Ric, Carry Franklin and Lisa Ratner.
Suzie Gold — which received its northern premiere, hosted by the Jewish Telegraph, last night — is set in the north London Jewish community. Suzie, played by American Summer Phoenix, is being pressured by her family to find a Jewish husband.
The intensity of the pressure builds when Anthony Silver, from a good Jewish family, is invited to the Golds for dinner.
A romance starts to blossom but Suzie meets the non-Jewish Darren on her first day in a new job and Suzie has to decide whether a life that conforms to her family’s expectations and social conventions is more important than following her own feelings.
The casting of Summer Phoenix in the title role was a major coup for the filmmakers. Summer is the sister of tragic actor River and Joaquim, who starred in Gladiator.
‘‘We flew to New York to meet Summer,’’ Ric says. ‘‘But she wasn’t sure about doing it. We liked her work and her look; there were not a lot of girls like that in the UK.
‘‘I’d say I came up with the idea of casting Summer, but Rebecca would say it was her idea and casting director Abi Cohen would say she came up with it. I suppose it was a mix of all three of us.
‘‘We needed someone who would be truly authentic, but if we cast a British actress we would have to have got them straight from film school.
‘‘The only problem we could see with Phoenix was the accent, but she mastered it well.’’
He added: ‘‘Americans and Jewish people have something in common in that they’re not polite and reserved in an English way, they’re loud and cheeky.
‘‘Summer has great comedic sense, she’s lively and ballsy. That’s exactly what we needed for Suzy.’’
When casting the rest of Suzy’s family, Ric says: ‘‘We paid a lot of attention to them looking alike and feeling like they knew each other.
‘‘I’ve always been a fan of Rebecca Front (Barbara Gold) but she didn’t come to mind until she came to read for it, she was so brilliant and immediately was Barbara.
‘‘When Stanley Townsend (Irvine Gold) came into casting, we asked him to read some of the funnier scenes, then he read the scene after his mother’s death and he had us in tears.’’
Things could have worked out differently for 34-year-old Ric but the sudden rise to success of his friend Sacha Baron Cohen held him back.
Ric knew Sacha from his Habonim days and was given a writing credit on The Ali G Show.
‘‘I actually gave him a few jokes over the phone and he told me he’d given me a credit,’’ Ric reveals.
The pair co-wrote a radio sit-com called Friday Night at the Gurnichts. Ric says: ‘‘We pitched it to the BBC but by the time they started showing any enthusiasm, Sacha was doing The Ali G Show and I was too busy.
‘‘I used some of it in Suzie Gold. The sit-com was based around a weekly Shabbat meal at the Gurnicht family’s home. It’s a shame it never got made because we loved it.
‘‘I’d like to think that one day it will get made.’’
Ric, who attended North Cheshire Jewish Primary School, worked at the BBC for five years working on a diverse range of promotional films. He also directed commercials — which he was doing when approached by Rebecca.
‘‘Once we got the money for Suzie Gold — £3.5million — it was like ‘let’s go’,’’ he said. ‘‘We didn’t want to spend too long on pre-production because it was eating into the budget.’’
The film opened in London a few weeks ago and is now moving to Manchester and Leeds from today (Friday).
‘‘The idea was to test it on London audiences,’’ he said. ‘‘I wanted it shown in Manchester so my mother could show it to her friends.
‘‘We’ve had a number of good reviews and some poor ones — I’ve never had my work under such scrutiny before.
‘‘I’m very proud of my achievement. It’s more important to me what an audience thinks than what a critic says.
‘‘At a lot of test screenings, Jewish viewers would say that non-Jews wouldn’t understand it, but the non-Jews would argue that they did. It’s a bit like Scorcese’s gangster films and Monsoon Wedding — culturally specific films that retain authenticity by speaking in the language that was authentic to the subjects.
‘‘Occasionally, I wouldn’t understand some of the language, some of the slang in these types of films but it feels real.
‘‘I’d feel that I was privy to a world where I’m not normally allowed and it feels great.’’
Ric admits that he would have liked to have set the film in Manchester, but ‘‘London is more universally understood. The jokes are more specific to the North London community. But it could easily have been set in Whitecraigs (Glasgow), Alwoodley (Leeds) or Whitefield (Manchester)’’.
He adds that he finds it funny that Jews are ‘‘slightly embarrassed of their Judaism in a way, but loud and brash in other ways. It’s a very Jewish thing.
‘‘A lot of what is dealt with in Suzie Gold is what I’d talk about with my parents — Angela and Geoffrey — around the Shabbat table.’’
The film has received extra publicity from the cameo appearance by Jewish pop star Rachel Stevens.
‘‘She’s keen to make the move into film,’’ Ric said, ‘‘but she wasn’t right for the lead role.’’
Ric describes himself as ‘‘not religious, but I have a strong sense of culture and identity. It’s a big part of me but it doesn’t govern my life or who I choose to be my friends.’’
Ric is currently working on a new script — with no Jewish angle — as well as reading a number of scripts before he decides on his next project.
