Like many a handsome and charismatic Israeli after October 7, actor Yadin Gellman, whose pretty face you can watch in “Image of Victory” on Netflix, joined a global “hasbara”effort — the Hebrew word for “explanation” used to talk about public relations efforts on behalf of Israel, made by both country officials and independent individuals. He toured college campuses trying to find sympathy for his embattled country when hate against it was at an all-time high.
He may be the only one of those people, however, who is turning that experience into a rom-com! And he’s getting some help from legendary American comedian Amy Schumer, who joined on to be the script editor and producer of the rom-com. The film is titled “Now More Than Ever,” a very familiar slogan for those who have been speaking up on behalf of Jews and in support of Israel.
The premise of the comedy is pretty great. According to Mako, the film, which will hopefully start production at the end of the year, will “tell the story of an Israeli wounded soldier who become a national ‘poster boy’ and goes on a hasbara journey to New York.” In the Big Apple, our hero gets partnered with a Jewish American escort who feels that “if she hears the words Israel or Zionism again, she will join the protests against him herself.” It’s a premise that, if done well, sounds like it could be truly hilarious and very relatable to those of us who have ambivalent feelings about “hasbara,” a term used derisively by many a critic, and its efficacy. It’s most certainly a project that needs to be in deft, sensitive and perhaps also irreverently funny hands — and I do feel hopeful knowing that Schumer, someone who is so good at making comedy out of life’s painful moments, is helping to steer this comedy ship.
Gellman is known for playing quite a few military TV roles (including a recent role in a drama about the IDF’s unit 8200 starring Michael Aloni) and is himself an injured veteran. He was shot multiple times while fighting with his team from Sayeret Matkal (one of the special forces units in the IDF) on October 7, as they tried to protect civilians from Kibbutz Be’eri. He had his finger blown off, a bullet punctured his lungs and he lost function of his elbow and hand, having to undergo. He also saw the carnage from the attack firsthand: bodies of families killed in their cars and on the road into the kibbutz, a young toddler whose body was badly burned by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fired at them, families killed together in their homes, burned alive in their safe rooms. Gellman’s partner, TV investigative journalist and news reporter Adva Dadon, discovered his injuries while reporting about the horrors of October 7 on live TV, keeping her cool until the end of the broadcast then rushing to the hospital to be by his side. After his long recovery, Gellman toured the world, going to colleges like Harvard to speak about what he had witnessed and endured. In between all that, Dadon and Gellman also welcomed their first son.
In a post on Instagram, the actor called this latest film project — an international co-production which will be co-written by Yotam Knispel and Tehila Peter-Dansker — a “dream come true.” He described it as “a romantic comedy inspired by my personal story,” and wrote that “we still have a long way to go but we are off to a good start.”
