The movie is stirring up a lot of controversy, which I anticipated when I agreed to work on it. I even considered it a side benefit that my mishpocheh, my family, an occasionally argumentative bunch, would have fresh subject matter for the discussion part of our next few Seders. Matzo balls might be flung, but arguing is good for the digestion.

While Munich's Oscar shot is looking less and less likely, Kushner can take some solace in knowing he will walk away from this experience with the award for Most Gratuitous Jewish References in a Single Paragraph. We get, it, Kushner. You're down with the Hebe homies.

• Defending 'Munich' to my mishpocheh [LAT]

"Stacey and her team believe BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is their winner this year," claims a well-placed insider. "The movie has been spoiled, spoiled and spoiled again, with endless promotion and support. MUNICH, on the other hand, has been horribly neglected. Steven has been thrown in the backseat. It has been painful." [...]

She says she loves all of her children equally, but Stacey [Snider] and her team have given every priority to BROKEBACK," charges the MUNICH source. "Gay romance is easier to sell to the academy than a complex study of an Israeli assassin."

If the sources are accurate, Snider might soon find herself bound, gagged, and thrown in the back seat of a black Mercedes, her bonds loosened only after arriving at a secret location in the Pacific Palisades. There, straining to make out the faces of her Jewish Mafia intimidators through the harsh flashlight beams aimed at her eyes, she'll be made to understand that no matter how many times the Velvet Mob competition threatens to redecorate her house completely in Ikea furnishings, a far more grisly fate awaits if she doesn't start campaigning a little harder for Munich.

• STUDIO EXECS PREFER 'BROKEBACK' OVER 'MUNICH' [Drudge Report via The Gilded Moose]

To a large extent, this is to be expected: Both movies are based on the same 1984 book, "Vengeance," by Canadian author George Jonas. But there are some scenes in the new movie that are staged similarly to those in the older movie. For example, in recreating the bloody last moments of the Munich crisis, when Palestinians fire on Israeli Olympians held captive in a helicopter, both movies use the same camera angle — from the perspective of the hostages. And both "Sword" and "Munich" feature a noteworthy scene that doesn't appear in the book: a shot of a pensive Avner picking up the tobacco pipe of a fallen team member in a London hotel room. (In the book, there's no mention of Avner picking up the pipe.)

Robert Lantos, producer of "Sword of Gideon," says some parts of the current film are "almost re-enactments" of his 1986 work. "It's a testament to the cunning and foresight of Spielberg's publicity machine that 'Sword of Gideon' has not made it onto anyone's radar," he says.

While a reasonable argument could be made that there are only so many ways to shoot a smokey room with fluorescent lighting filled with swarthy Israeli generals screaming bloody murder, a cursory independent Defamer investigation into the matter (i.e, the back-to-back viewing of both movies' trailers and some stills), the results of which are above (click the image for a larger view), indicates that Lantos may be onto something here. Nearly identical, brooding Golda Meir doppelgangers alone are enough to bring on an accute case of the Jewish assassin deja vus.

• The Other Munich Movie [WSJ]
• [Munich Trailer]
• [Sword of Gideon Trailer]
• Previously: Trade Round-Up: Directors Finally Embrace Spielberg [Defamer]

As the shooting began, we started to lighten up a bit. After all, one does have to accept a bit of "collateral difficulty" when so many people are working so hard (and spending so much!) to tell an important story. Even if, you know, it's likely to be just another big-budget B movie, like Spielberg's most recent effort. That is, until we took out our camera and tried to take a snapshot, and were set upon by a pack of goons. The censors - including a very rude man by the name of Alberto Boggiano (left) - who works for something called Westlake Films - told us we had no right to take pictures on the very street we live on, as Spielberg had "bought" it.

When we declined to put away our camera, the rent-a-thugs called in the police, who sighed and politely suggested that we move along.

So it is this sprit of openness, and friendship among nations that we offer you the following exclusive, unauthorized pictures from the Budapest set of "Munich," taken by a Pestiside contributor/informant from the top floor of a neighboring building. As for the great auteur (follow the red arrow), we'll just say this: Thanks for the memories, Steve, and we look forward to seeing your upcoming blockbuster - at home, on a pirated DVD.

See? The production and the locals are getting along swimmingly. Any confrontation that doesn't end in an exchange of tear gas canisters and Molotov cocktails is a promising one.

Also: Blogger Rick Bruner has some more pics of the Budapest shoot at Flikr.

• The Pictures Steven Spielberg Doesn't Want You to See [Pestiside.hu]
• MAKING GOULASH OF SPIELBERG [NY Post]