Al Pacino Quits Theatre Production After Learning of
Author’s Nazi Past
by Kipp Jones 29 May 2015New York, NY
Actor Al Pacino is
being praised for removing himself from the stage adaptation of a novel written
by Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, after becoming aware of the author’s support
for Nazi Germany during the Second World
War.
Pacino, 75, pulled out of a commitment last week to film a
narration of Hamsun’s dark novel,
Hunger, which was intended to be
displayed on stage through a hologram,
according to the New York
Daily News.
After the actor learned of the Hamsun’s support for Hitler’s
occupation of Norway and of the personal relationship between him and Hitler,
Pacino informed producers at Copenhagen’s Aveny-T theatre he no longer wished
to participate.
“It is correct: he jumped at the last minute because he
couldn’t come to terms with Knut Hamsun’s support for the German occupation and
Nazism,” Aveny-T’s manager, Jon Stephensen, told a Danish publication, per the Daily
News. “We must respect that.”
Hamsun, a
Nobel prize-winning
author who died in 1952 at the age of 92, admired Germany and was sympathetic
to the country’s invasion of
Norway in 1940.
Hamsun was so sympathetic to the cause, he presented Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels with
his 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature as a gift.
The author also published an obituary describing Hitler as “a preacher of the gospel of justice for all
nations,” after the German leader’s 1945 suicide.
“If one looks at the impact Hunger made on Hemingway,
Kafka, Hesse, Lindgren, Singer and other prominent authors at the time, it is
somewhat strange to see to what extent this differs from today’s judgment,”
Hamsun Society chairperson Hege Faust said.
“Many people choose not to read Hamsun at all, or when it
comes to famous people such as Al Pacino, to risk having their name connected
to him.”
After World War II, the author was stripped of his property
and fined heavily. He was also placed under a psychiatric hold for a short
time, and despite accumulating a great deal of wealth and fame, died broke.
Nazi
Note:
Adolf Hitler was
the leader of the
Nazi Party, and
the fuhrer of
Germany.
Daniel
R. Coats was the U.S. ambassador for
Germany,
and a lobbyist for
Cerberus Capital
Management L.P.
Stephen A.
Feinberg is the CEO for
Cerberus
Capital Management L.P., and
Martin
Feinberg’s son.
Newtown
(CT) is the location for the
2012
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Richard R. Burt
was a U.S. ambassador for
Germany, an
assistant secretary for the
U.S.
Department of State, a senior adviser for
Kissinger McLarty Associates, a senior adviser for the
Center for Strategic and International
Studies (think tank), and is a director at the
Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Richard W. Fisher
was the vice chairman for
Kissinger
McLarty Associates, and is a director at the
American Council on Germany.
Henry A. Kissinger was the secretary for the U.S. Department of State, a co-founder
for Kissinger McLarty Associates, a co-chairman
for the American Academy in Berlin, is
a director at the American Council on
Germany, a trustee at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (think tank), a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, the founder of Kissinger
Associates, Inc. a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Germany
was a funder for the
Center for
Strategic and International Studies (think tank).
Norway
was a funder for the
Center for
Strategic and International Studies (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the
Open Society Foundations, a board member for the
International Crisis Group, and was the
chairman for the
Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the
International Rescue Committee, the
Climate Reality Project, the
Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the
New America Foundation.
Thorvald
Stoltenberg was a board member for the
International
Crisis Group, and the foreign minister for
Norway.
Robin Chandler
Duke was a U.S. ambassador for
Norway,
an overseer at the
International Rescue
Committee, and is a life trustee at the
Institute of International Education.
Timothy F.
Geithner is a director at the
International
Rescue Committee, was a researcher for
Kissinger
Associates, Inc., and the secretary at the
U.S. Department of the Treasury for the
Barack Obama administration.
Susan
McCue was a founding president & CEO for the
ONE Campaign,
Harry Reid’s
chief of staff, and is a trustee at the
Third
Way.
Ronald A. Klain
is a trustee at the
Third Way, the coordinator
of government
Ebola efforts for the
Barack Obama administration, and was a
partner at
O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
William
M. Daley is a trustee at the
Third
Way, a member of the
Commercial Club
of Chicago, and was the chief of staff for the
Barack Obama administration.
Kathleen L. Brown
was an attorney at
O'Melveny & Myers
LLP, and is a member of the
Commercial
Club of Chicago.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the
Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at
Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at
Sidley Austin
LLP, and is an advocate for the
ONE
Campaign.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at
Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the
Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is a member of the
Commercial
Club of Chicago, the
Chicago (IL) mayor,
Ari Emanuel’s brother, and was the
White House chief of staff for the
Barack
Obama administration.
Ari
Emanuel is
Rahm I.
Emanuel’s brother, and was an agent for the
International Creative Management, Inc.
Al
Pacino is an
International Creative
Management, Inc. client, and a was a
Creative
Artists Agency Inc. client.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the
Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the
Barack
Obama administration, and her great uncle is
Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the
Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the
Brookings Institution (think tank).
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is an honorary trustee at the
Brookings Institution
(think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great
uncle,
a director at the American
Friends of
Bilderberg (think tank), a trustee at the
Institute of International Education, and
was the president of the
Economic Club
of Washington, a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think
tank).
Robin Chandler
Duke is a life trustee at the
Institute
of International Education, was an overseer at the
International Rescue Committee, and a U.S. ambassador for
Norway.
David M.
Rubenstein is a co-chairman for the
Brookings Institution (think tank), the president of the Economic Club of
Washington, was a trustee at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (think tank), a director at the American Council on Germany,
and a trustee at the American Academy in Berlin.
Germany was a funder
for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (think tank).
Norway was a funder
for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (think tank).
Richard W. Fisher
is a director at the
American Council on
Germany, and was the vice chairman for
Kissinger
McLarty Associates.
Henry A. Kissinger is a director at the American Council on Germany, a trustee
at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (think tank), a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank), an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, the founder of Kissinger
Associates, Inc. a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), was the secretary for the U.S.
Department of State, a co-founder for Kissinger
McLarty Associates, a co-chairman for the American Academy in Berlin, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Timothy F.
Geithner is a director at the
International
Rescue Committee, was a researcher for
Kissinger
Associates, Inc., and the secretary at the
U.S. Department of the Treasury for the
Barack Obama administration.
Matt
Damon is an advocate for the
ONE
Campaign, and a
William Morris Endeavor
Entertainment client.
Ari
Emanuel is the co-CEO & director for
William Morris Endeavor Entertainment,
Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother, and was an agent
for the
International Creative
Management, Inc.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is
Ari Emanuel’s
brother, a member of the
Commercial Club
of Chicago, the
Chicago (IL) mayor,
and was the White House chief of staff for the
Barack Obama administration.
Al
Pacino is an
International Creative
Management, Inc. client, and a was a
Creative
Artists Agency Inc. client
Albert
A. Gore Jr. was a donor for
The
Climate Project, is the chairman for the
Climate Reality Project, and senior adviser for
Google Inc.
Eric E. Schmidt is the chairman for
Google Inc., the chairman of the
New
America Foundation, was a funder
for the New America Foundation, and a 2008
Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Google's Eric Schmidt talks about how to run the world
June 9, 2008 | 3:48 pm
Despite its famous motto of
"Don't be evil," there are some in the dark corners of the Web who
speculate that Google's real plan
is to take over the world. Google Watch features headlines such as
"Google Must be Stopped," and "Is Google God?" The site Google World Domination even has a
countdown clock, which indicates that the Skynet-type moment when we will all
be slaves to the mighty Google algorithms will take place in roughly 6 years
and 192 days. (Interestingly, the site, which includes a creepy video, features
ads by Google,
demonstrating how insidious that plot actually might be).
With that type of speculation
out there, it's news any time a Google executive talks about running the world.
And that's exactly
what Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt did today, sort of.
He didn't say that
Google wanted to run the world. But he did offer an interesting suggestion to a
crowd of power players in Washington about the best way to do it: Just like Google.
"It is possible to build a
culture around innovation. It is possible to build a culture around leadership.
And it is possible to build a culture around optimism. Google is an example,
but by no means the only example, of a culture that can be built based on
relatively scalable principles. We could run our country this way. We could run
the world this way."
It was meant to be an inspiring
moment ...
...as Schmidt
wrapped up a speech to the Economic
Club of Washington during a luncheon in a
packed ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Click here
for an audio clip of Schmidt's comments.
The appearance was a homecoming
of sorts for Schmidt. Vernon E.
Jordan Jr., the club's president and a former
President Clinton advisor, noted that Schmidt was born a few blocks away from
the hotel at George Washington University Hospital, and grew up in the Northern
Virginia suburbs. His mother, Ellie Schmidt, was in the audience.
Schmidt talked about cloud computing
and the promise of mobile devices, all the while plugging some Google products.
For the journalists sitting in the back of the room (no lunch of seared beef
filet with Cabernet reduction and lemon and thyme glazed salmon filet for us),
Schmidt did commisserate about the state of the newspaper industry.
"We all care a lot about
this. Newspaper demand has never been higher. The problem is revenues have
never been lower. So people are reading the newspaper they're just not reading
it in a way where the newspapers can make money on it. This is a shared
problem. We have to solve it. There's no obviously good solution right
now."
One possible solution some have
have floated has been for Google to use a sliver of its approximately $175
billion market cap to buy a newspaper, such as the New York Times, but Schmidt recently
downplayed such an idea.
Like many Silicon Valley
executives who come to Washington, Schmidt spoke broadly about technology (his
speech was titled, "The Future of the Internet: Engine for Economic
Growth") and did his best not to make any major news. He didn't even come
close to mentioning Yahoo, let alone comment on the possibility of Google
cutting a deal to place ads next to Yahoo's search results.
Schmidt opted to talk less about
the nuts-and-bolts of one of the world's largest companies than the ways in
which technology can shape the future. Noting that the United States was
founded "by people who saw a better model," Schmidt concluded his
speech with this call to arms:
"So let's be
revolutionaries. Let's take this opportunity, this huge change that is before
us, with technlology, and let's change businesses, communications and the way
we interact, on some new principles that reflect the very best of
America."
Those sound like the words of
someone who might be considering a run for higher office one day, assuming
Google isn't running everything by then.
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. was the president of the
Economic Club of Washington, is an honorary trustee at the
Brookings
Institution (think tank), Valerie B.
Jarrett’s great uncle,
a
director at the American Friends of
Bilderberg (think tank), a trustee
at the
Institute of International
Education, and a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think
tank).
Robin Chandler
Duke is a life trustee at the
Institute
of International Education, was an overseer at the
International Rescue Committee, and a U.S. ambassador for
Norway.
Norway was a funder
for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (think tank).
Germany was a funder
for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (think tank).
David M.
Rubenstein was a trustee at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (think tank), a director at the American
Council on Germany, a trustee at the American Academy in Berlin, is
a co-chairman for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the
president of the Economic Club of Washington.
Henry A. Kissinger is a trustee at the
Center for Strategic and International
Studies (think tank), a director at the
American Council on Germany, a director at the
Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank), an overseer at the
International
Rescue Committee, the founder of
Kissinger
Associates, Inc. a director at the American Friends of
Bilderberg
(think tank), was the secretary for the
U.S.
Department of State, a co-founder for
Kissinger
McLarty Associates, a co-chairman for the
American Academy in Berlin, and a 2008
Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Timothy F.
Geithner is a director at the
International
Rescue Committee, was a researcher for
Kissinger
Associates, Inc., and the secretary at the
U.S. Department of the Treasury for the
Barack Obama administration.
