Israel’s biggest film star is fronting a TV series that reveals the trauma of the 1973 Yom Kippur conflict
Back when Lior Ashkenazi attended the 2017 Venice Film Festival’s press conference for Samuel Maoz’s film, Foxtrot, I cheekily suggested that the garrulous, handsome Israeli star was the George Clooney of Israel, given that Clooney was also at the festival with Suburbicon.
In our interview the following day, Ashkenazi said he had to put up with some ribbing from his colleagues at the film’s dinner. “Everybody was talking about your comment yesterday about George Clooney and they were all laughing at me,” Ashkenazi said good-naturedly. Certainly he could handle it, and probably had the last laugh when Foxtrot took out the festival’s Grand Jury prize while Suburbicon went away empty-handed.
Ashkenazi is a man of the people, and even though he is the country’s most mainstream star — and one of its most formidable talents — he can be seen walking the Tel Aviv streets with his wife and family. When he was about to host the awards ceremony at the 2017 Jerusalem Film Festival, we were casually chatting in the festival’s garden bar. “Don’t expect me to be PC,” he warned.
Read the article by Helen Barlow in The Australian.