Saturday, April 20, 2024

“Juno,” “Up in the Air” Director Jason Reitman on Death of Dad Ivan Reitman: “I’ve lost my hero”

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Jason Reitman, son of director Ivan Reitman, is not alone grieving his dad today. The “Ghostbusters” director is receiving hundreds of tributes on social media.

Jason writes: “I’ve lost my hero.
All I want is the chance to tell my father one more story.
He came from a family of survivors and turned his legacy into laughter.
Thank you for the kind messages. Enjoy his movies and remember his storytelling gifts. Nothing would make him happier.”

I know the feeling. I lost my dad a year ago December and it’s just terrible. Jason, sending all condolences.

I’m a little surprised that the Toronto newspapers didn’t make a bigger deal of this. The Reitman family has been hugely important up there. Ivan Reitman’s father Leslie and his mother Klara brought him to Toronto from Eastern Europe in 1950. They were Holocaust survivors. Klara was in Auschwitz. Leslie ran a dry cleaners and then bought a car wash in what was a run down warehouse district. They donated property to create a headquarters for the Toronto Film Festival. Neither the Globe and Mail nor the Toronto Sun mentioned that today, or that the corner is called Reitman Square.

Get with it, Toronto media.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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