‘Between the Temples’: Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane’s Unlikely Love Story

There are few films that are quite like Between the Temples. Now in theaters, it’s a sparkling and distinctly Jewish comedy.

Written and directed by Nathan Silver, the film follows Ben (Jason Schwartzman), a depressed cantor who finds himself unable to do just about anything after his wife’s passing. There’s a looming hopelessness as he moves back in with his moms (played by Dolly De Leon and Caroline Aaron) and barely goes outside. And when he does, he usually pisses people off, like when he ends up getting hit in the face at a bar. But when he meets Carla (Carol Kane), everything changes.

Carla wants to achieve a lifelong dream of hers and finally have a Bat Mitzvah, a traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. She’s Ben’s childhood music teacher, and while he initially refuses, he agrees to help her, and the two form an unlikely friendship that blossoms into something far more serious. “I think the character of Carla gives him something,” Schwartzman said of Ben. “What makes their relationship so special is that it’s these two characters who don’t need permission, but give each other permission to live.”

Over Zoom, Schwartzman and Kane spoke to The Daily Beast’s Obsessed about their remarkable on-screen chemistry, the joys of working with one another, creating their unique characters, and filming the most stressful dinner party scene you’ve ever seen.

It’s immediately clear in the interview that Schwartzman and Kane immensely admire each other. When I joined the Zoom call, they were having a conversation about Jason’s plaid shirt, and there was a remarkable warmth to the tones of their voice. When Kane started talking about working with Schwartzman, she became immediately emotional: “I’m gonna cry. I just love him. I felt a complete trust,” Kane said. “If anything, the hardest part was just in the beginning: my character’s reluctance to want anything to do with Carla. It’s hard not to just do whatever Carol wants!” Schwartzman joked.

The pair have admired each other’s work for ages. Kane broke out in Hester Street in 1975, earning an Oscar nomination, and she’s enjoyed a vibrant career in film and television since, including major roles in Taxi, The Princess Bride, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Schwartzman debuted in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and has been in seven other Anderson films; in 2023, he was the most-watched actor according to Letterboxd users. Between the Temples was their first opportunity to work together.

“It’s so easy to work with Carol. She’s always listening; her heart is like an ear,” Schwartzman explained. “I think the same of you! Though I never could have articulated it in that way,” Kane responded. “We started from a liking and respect, which grew into trust, which grew into the relationship being very comfortable and natural for us,” Kane said. “The relationship that was in the movie seemed to be, for me, a perfect fit. Like finding the perfect shoes.”

When working together, what struck Schwartzman about Kane as an actor was her ability to pick up on every possible detail. There’s a scene in the film where Schwartzman makes a character choice to look down for a second, and Kane immediately responds, “Are you listening?” “That kind of moment is so wonderful, because her character is a teacher, and a teacher is sensitive to people. Carla—and Carol—are great teachers, Schwartzman said.

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Carla is the first distinctly Jewish character Kane has played in some time; her Oscar-nominated role in Hester Street was Gitl, an Orthodox Jew who recently moved to America from Russia. “In Hester Street, I had to speak Yiddish and Hebrew, so I had that experience of studying with the coach to be in a whole other world.” While Hester Street wasn’t at the forefront of her mind making Between the Temples, Kane brings everything in her past to every present challenge. “Gitl definitely informed Carla, even if it wasn’t deliberate,” Kane said.

Instead, Kane drew upon director Silver’s films about his mother, of whom Between the Temples is loosely based. That led her to use her own mother as inspiration. She spoke of her mother, Joy Kane, in hushed, amazed tones: “My mother fought her fear and insecurity and went on to do incredible things. At 55 she changed her whole life. She moved to Paris, began to teach in France, and became a master teacher of Dalcroze Eurythmics and Jazz improv—and then she did it again at 75 when she moved back to America after 20 years.”

Even though her character Carla wasn’t physically moving away, spiritually and emotionally she was pushing to do something she wanted her whole life—a Bat Mitzvah—but was always told she shouldn’t, and couldn’t, do. Kane channeled her mother’s bravery in creating Carla, who pushes herself: “It’s now or never; I have to do it.”

Schwartzman, who is used to playing more mannered characters, had a very different challenge in Ben. “He’s mopey, he’s heavy,” he said. “He’s lost a lot of the faith. He’s trying to figure out how to live in the present. He’s just blurred to a standstill.”

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The character, at first, feels like a total deadbeat, having given up on life and lacking direction. To emphasize this feeling, Silver gave Schwartzman a way to physically articulate it. “One thing Nathan suggested that was a first for me, was trying to slow down the tempo of the character. He’s like, ‘Slower, slower.’ He walks very slowly. It’s like Ben’s movements are saying, ‘What’s the rush? There’s nowhere to go.’” Schwartzman says. “Nowhere to go but down,” Kane chimes in.

Speaking of going down, you won’t find a more chaotic or stressful scene in cinema this year than in a pivotal dinner party sequence towards the end of the film. It’s a queasy blend of high anxiety and comedy—a tricky balancing act, but one that’s beautifully executed. But managing it was a big challenge.

“I had no idea what was going on!” joked Kane. “Everybody had their own idea about what direction it would take. And then Jason came up with this brilliant idea of the telephone thing, and that really meshed us together.”

That confusion is understandable—a lot is happening at this dinner party. Ben has invited Carla to his mom's home, and they’re about to meet her for the first time. He’s fallen in love with Carla, though nobody else knows it. That includes the Rabbi’s daughter Gabbi (Madeline Weinstein), who is attending with her parents and believes the dinner party has been put together to confirm her relationship with Ben—which it has. In a flurry of overlapping dialogue, it’s tricky to make out who’s saying what, and conversations twist around others. In the scene, Jason’s character Ben starts a game of telephone, which goes awry when he turns it into a chance to make a declaration.

“It had been very frenetic and chaotic and unsure and bossy at the same time. But somehow I think that telephone thing made us one,” Kane said.

“The other thing that’s fun about that scene, is how they played with sound. A lot of time in movies, the traditional way of doing things for sound is that when you’re not on camera, you don’t make as much noise as people on camera,” Schwartzman said. Not so with the dinner scene in Between the Temples. Silver encouraged everyone to talk and have their own conversations, and that the camera would find you at the right time.

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“In other words, when I saw the movie, I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh, that’s what they were talking about at the other end of the table!’ Schwartzman said. “No one was making room for anyone else. It really felt like a real dinner.”

The result, like much of Between the Temples, is dazzling. Its energy is feverish and frightening. Just like at any real-life dinner party, and as Schwartzman and Kane proved together, there’s no way of predicting who will say what or what will happen.

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