THE CLI-FI REPORT

What's with all the 'Blooms' in Hollywood movies?

by a Mr. Dan Bloom in cyberspace


http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3615003648/tt0283096?ref_=tt_ov_i
''all of life in a single day''


What's with all the Blooms in Hollywood movies?

I never paid much attention to this until I began seeing so many
characters in Tinseltown movies named Bloom. And then it dawned on me:
Bloom is perhaps the default name for movie character names in the
scriptwriting process, with some of them even making the grade and
becoming the surname in the final cut.

Of course, I have a small take in this angle of inquiry, given my ownlast name, but that's neither here nor there. But let's take a look at
some of the Blooms in Hollywood so far.

In ''The Brothers Bloom,'' a 2008 American caper comedy about two
orphans. the Jewish actor Adrian Brody plays one of the Bloom brothers
and Mark Ruffalo takes the role of the other Bloom brother. Ruffalo's
character gets named Stephen Bloom in the movie credits, but Brody is
just called Bloom throughout the movie and viewers never learn his
first name, although presumably he had one.

Then there's the British actress Claire Bloom, once married to
novelsit Philip Roth. And don't forget Orlando Bloom, the handsome
actor from South Africa whose father was a well-known social activist
named Harry Bloom.

In a recent movie titled "Nightcrawler," Jake Gyllenhaal's character
is named Lou Bloom, and the well-received crime thriller explores the
dark side of the news business in Los Angeles.

And don't forget the 1968 film ''The Producers,"' the Broadway musical
based on it, and the later 2005 film adaptation of the musical. Mel
Brooks created the movie and came up with calling one of the main
characters Leopold "Leo" Bloom, a mousy, nervous and fearful
accountant prone to panic attacks who keeps a security blanket to calm
himself.

Bloom was played by Gene Wilder in the 1968 film and by Matthew
Broderick in the Broadway musical and 2005 film.

And who can forget ''Big Fish,'' a 2003 movie based on the 1998 novel
of the same name by Daniel Wallace. In the story, Albert Finney plays
Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman with a gift for
storytelling, and in the movie confined to his deathbed.

When I saw "Big Fish" at a quiet movie theater in Taiwan in 2004, I
was happy to hear the name of Finney's character called Edward Bloom,
because that was the name of my beloved New Jersey toy salesman uncle
Eddie Bloom. Yes, my Uncle Eddie was a travelling salesman, and Daniel
Wallace's movie touched me so much that I wrote an email letter to
Wallace telling him so and that the Edward Bloom name resonated with
me for personal reasons.

In my email, I asked Wallace why he called the character in his novel
Edward Bloom and while I can't find his email in my files now or
remember what his exact answer was, it was something like, to
paraphrase it: "I just liked the name, that's all."

I lked the name, too. Very much.

Then there was the 1973 comedy titled "Blume in Love" starring George
Segal as a lawyer named Stephen Blume who specialized in divorces, and
yet even after his divorce is still in love with his ex-wife. The
spelling of Blume, of course, doesn't follow the exact curve of the
Bloom name, but it's close enough and when it's said out loud in the
movie, it's good enough to fit the meme.

In "Bloom," a 2003 movie adapted from James Joyce's novel "Ulyssesm"
Stephen Rea played the role of Leopold Bloom, with
Angeline Ball taking the part of Molly Bloom. The movie was the story
of June 16, 1904, which is the day the novel took place. Posters for
the film carried the tagline "All of life in a single day."

Well, like I said, what's with all the Blooms, from Edward Bloom to
Leopold Bloom to Lou Bloom and Stephen Blume? I suspect there is a
default button in some long lost Hollywood playbook that notes in fine
print somewhere that when you need a name for the common man, who ya
gonna call? A Bloom, that's who!

I can already see a long list of future characters with the Bloom
surname in the next 100 years of Hollywood history. Bloom, Blume,
Blum, Bluhm, they'll all be there. It's in the cards. Watch.

But still, all the above said, I have no idea why Hollywood movies use
the Bloom surname so much. It's hardly a common name. At least, not
where I live.

And by the way, you don't have to be Jewish to be a Bloom. Although
most of us are.