Now Playing: ‘Bad Shabbos’ Is the Most Upper West Side Film of the Year

By Tracy Zwick

If there was an award for Most UWS Film of the Year, “Bad Shabbos” would be a sure thing, like latkes on Hanukkah or lox at a shiva. It already took home the Audience Award for Best Narrative at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. It’s played to packed, howling houses on the UWS and at festivals across the country. This weekend it’s being released nationwide, and the filmmakers will be on hand for pop-up Q&As. There will be screenings at both the UWS’s New Plaza Cinema and the Quad downtown.

The film’s UWS creds are unimpeachable. It’s set and was filmed entirely on the UWS. It stars UWSer Kyra Sedgwick and was co-written by UWSer and former candidate to represent District 6 on the City Council Zack Weiner.  Josh Mostel, son of film star and one-time UWSer Zero Mostel, has two important scenes, and the cast includes Theo Taplitz, who was a Columbia student at the time of filming. Even local legend Gary Greengrass has a small speaking role in an opening scene.

The film’s premise may be as familiar to UWSers as its visual landmarks – the Ansonia and Zabar’s among them. A shabbos-observing matriarch, played by Sedgwick, is meeting her goyishe future daughter-in-law’s parents for the first time. She’s hosting a Shabbat dinner in her UWS duplex for the midwestern goyim, attended by all three of her squabbling children, their partners, and the building’s doorman, played by Method Man. What could go wrong? (A death, no dinner, and a guest of honor covered in kosher wine, among other things.)

Weiner and his co-writer, Daniel Robbins, who also directed “Bad Shabbos,” spoke with the Rag by phone on Monday about their friendship, the film, how their own experiences keeping shabbos influenced it, and where they go for bagels, babka, and knishes on the UWS.

 Where did you two meet and what was the germ of the story for “Bad Shabbos”?

We met at Ramaz on the UES and made two films together before “Bad Shabbos.” We both grew up in observant households, but the real-life spark was Zack’s family. His mom hosts shabbat dinners that are very loving and fun and sometimes she’ll pull a prank on someone.

Are there any nods or winks in the film for UWSers or Shabbat keepers? I’d call them Easter eggs, but given that we’re talking about Jews maybe ‘hidden afikomen’ would be more apt.

Kyra plays Ellen, whose eldest son, David, is marrying a shiksa named Meg [who’s converting to Judaism]. “Meg and David” sounds a lot like Mogen David, the Hebrew name for the six-pointed star that symbolizes Judaism. Maybe not everyone would pick up on that right away. We also shot for 18 days, and that number has special meaning in Jewish culture.

Was it important to you to make the UWS of “Bad Shabbos” authentic?

Totally. Everything about the film is UWS. The lobby and exterior of the building where Ellen and her husband live is on West 93rd and Riverside Drive. It’s the same building where Tom Hanks’s character lived in “You’ve Got Mail.” The interior was shot entirely in a duplex apartment around West 80th and Columbus.

I understand this is a question perhaps only a New Yorker would ask, but how could these characters, a guy who seems to be a Talmudic scholar and his wife whose work is never mentioned, afford a duplex on West 80th and Columbus Ave.?!

We wrote a whole back story that didn’t make it into the film about how the patriarch had written a book about conflict resolution [a subject that he brings up repeatedly in the film] that was a huge hit in Korea. Family money’s always a possibility in New York.

 Do you feel you might’ve been a little hard on the Jewish mother, Ellen, who isn’t exactly delighted about her eldest son marrying a shiksa?

We’ve gotten the opposite feedback from audiences, including Jewish moms. You can get in trouble portraying Jewish mothers as cold and mean-spirited. What we got right was that Jewish mothers are typically warm and loving, and they may be reluctant to accept a non-Jewish partner, but that’s out of faith, not out of coldness. And Kyra Sedgwick is an absolute beacon of Jewish-motherly kindness.

Did you always have Method Man, who’s perhaps better known as a rapper and member of Wu-Tang Clan than as an actor, in mind for the doorman role?

We wrote it thinking we wanted to write the best thing possible regardless of who played each role, but he was definitely our first choice. He has this aura where he can take up the room, even amongst an excitable family. He’s an A+ actor with incredible charisma, and just a warm, loving guy. We also knew he could deliver some semi-controversial lines and the audience would know it was coming from a good place.

Last question, and it’s about Jewish foods of the UWS. Where ya goin’ for a bagel, a babka, and a knish?

Definitely Barney Greengrass for a knish. Zack’s a Kossar’s guy for bagels. And we’re team Breads for babka.

How about Gary Greengrass’s cameo?

Gary has been nothing but supportive! He’s terrific on screen, and if you tell him you saw the movie he’ll give you a discount. Maybe. Results may vary!

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