January 25, 2001
Cameo of a Playwright
Arthur Miller to make big-screen debut in Amos Gitai film.
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Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai will direct a novice actor in his next movie. He is playwright Arthur Miller, better known as the author of "Death of a Salesman," "The Crucible" and numerous other dramas.
The title of the movie is "Plain Jane" and Miller will be familiar with the plotline. "Plain Jane" is based on his own short story, "Homely Girl, a Life," according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter.
In the $9 million English-language film, Samantha Morton will play the troubled daughter of Jewish immigrants, and the 85-year-old Miller will make his big screen debut as her father.
Miller's story is set in the Jewish immigrant community of New York, but the film version has been transplanted to Palestine of the late 1930s, before the establishment of the state of Israel.
Gitai is known for his highly controversial Hebrew-language films, most recently "Kadosh" and "Kippur."
