Last weekend in Manhattan a smallish stone was thrown at the great Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man, Call Me By Your Name, Boardwalk Empire) but apparently it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The stone hit Stuhlbarg in the neck but he “declined medical attention” — a potentially serious wound that welcomely turned out to be a bit of nothingburger.
Stuhlbarg nonetheless chased the guy who threw the rock, 27 year-old Xavier Israel, and grabbed him or something. This led to Israel being arrested and charged with assault. The incident happened in Central Park near east 91st Street.
When I first read the story Stuhlberg was described as having been “attacked with a rock,” which makes it sound like some guy viciously beat Stuhlbarg with an apple-sized rock in his hand.
Stuhlbarg was assaulted, of course, but stones were thrown at me when I was a kid (thrown by “friends”) and it wasn’t the end of the world. Kids assault each other all the time, but if the same behavior happens in the adult realm cops, district attorneys and lawyers jump in and it becomes a whole big thing. Especially and justifiably if bodily harm results. Alas, this wasn’t the case with Stuhlbarg.
Compare the Stuhlbarg incident to the moment in Wes Anderson‘s Rushmore when Jason Schwartzman‘s “Max Fischer” shoots Stephen McCole’s “Magnus Buchan”, a beefy Scottish blowhard, in the ear with a pellet gun. McCole howls in pain but the attack is history ten seconds later as he and Fischer have moved on to other topics.
Think about it — The Rushmore “assault” is the same kind of aggression that happened to Stuhlbarg, but it didn’t warrant much attention on the Rushmore campus, much less significant headlines in People, Variety and The N.Y. Times.
The pellet gun moment happens at the 3:25 mark.
Variety assistant: “Whoa…Michael Stuhlbarg was viciously attacked with a rock in Central Park!”
Variety editor: “Jesus, is he okay?”
Variety assistant (reading copy, energy dropping): “Uhm…yeah, he’s fine.”
Variety editor: “Was he treated at a hospital?”
Variety assistant: “Actually he refused medical attention.”
Variety editor: “Who was the assailant? Some Hamas sympathizer? Some Palestinian guy?”
Variety assistant: “Uhm…apparently a young Jewish guy.”
Variety editor: “Oh.”