Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito at
the Israel Film Festival | 
Jewelry designer Aya Azrielant and
actress Gila Almagor | 
Danny DeVito and wife Rhea Pearlman | 
Lainie Kazan and Danny DeVito | 
Meir Fenigstein and actress Mili Avital | 
Founding director Meir Fenigstein, left, welcomes Michael Douglas and
Danny DeVito to Israel Film Festival | 
Gila Almagor, Meir Fenigstein and Aya Azrielant | 
Daniel Craig (right) and Live Schreiber in Defiance
Photo courtesy Paramount Vantage | ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL
Danny DeVito Had Michal Douglas
Hanging From The Chandelier Story and Photos by Tim Boxer  ICHAEL DOUGLAS ruefully recalled the time Danny DeVito, the 5-foot-tall director of the big 1989 movie The War of the Roses, had co-stars Douglas and Kathleen Turner entangled in a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
It was scary. It was a reflection of the diminutive director’s dark sense of humor. The film crew labored hard to get the two actors to hang safely in the air. "Are you okay?" DeVito asked. "Are you comfortable?" Douglas said yes, hoping to shoot the scene quickly and get down from the ceiling. DeVito looked at his watch and announced, "Okay, let’s break for lunch." Everybody went out and left Turner and Douglas hanging from the chandelier for half an hour. Douglas told the story at the opening festivities of the 23rd Israel Film Festival in New York. The festival’s founding director, Meir Fenigstein, got Douglas to present a visionary award to his old pal, Devito. "You’re my oldest friend and I am proud of you," Douglas said. "I’m a shaygetz [gentile] so you gotta listen to me," DeVito said. "I support the OneVoice Movement which tries to get everyone to realize that we can live together." The organization tries to nurture peace between Israelis and Palestinians. New York Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman presented an award to director Irwin Winkler who’s credited with Rocky, Raging Bull and Goodfellas among other hits. "I appeared in one of his films," Mortimer revealed. "I was so wooden that he sprayed me with Pledge." Liev Schreiber presented an award to director Edward Zwick who made such movies as Glory and The Last Samurai. Zwick’s next film, Defiance, starring Schreiber and Daniel Craig, opened in December. Zwick said he grew up in Winnetka, Ill., in a time when heroes were portrayed by such films as The Flying Fortresses. "When it came to Jews, the films were accompanied by sighs and tears. Jews were seen as victims. Later came the pictures of emaciated corpses and feelings of shame." "Defiance" focuses on three brothers who become resistance fighters against the Nazis in the forests of Belarus, and save 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust. "I thought Defiance was an opportunity to redress the perception of Jews as victims, that we went like lambs to the slaughter." | 
