The Devil’s Arithmetic is a Holocaust time travel drama based on the best selling book by Jane Yolen.

Brittany Murphy, left, and Kirsten Dunst in The Devil’s Arithmetic, 1999.

The script called for authentic Jewish characters and settings.

To aid the two young actresses I brought Offspring #3 to the meeting, a knowledgeable and adorable eleven year old yeshiva student.

Offspring #3’s job was to coach the actresses in, well, being Jewish. Offspring #3 taught the actresses a few Jewish songs, and helped their Hebrew pronunciations.

I watched as Kirsten and Brittany soaked up Offspring #3’s essence.

For a screenwriter—and this is my favorite part of the process—observing actors prepare their roles was a joy and a revelation.

Brittany and Kirsten laughed and poked fun at each other as they haltingly learned the difficult Hebrew words to a Passover song. But within a short time, their Hebrew was letter perfect.

Mimi, Brittany and Mimi were thorough professionals.

During a break, Brittany Murphy took me aside and posed a series of questions about Rivkah, the character she was playing. Her questions went to the core of Rivkah, a pious and innocent young woman. I stumbled a bit because there were aspects of Rivkah I had not considered. Brittany Murphy, so young, so not-Jewish, was drilling to the foundation of the character. I was deeply impressed and humbled. After about fifteen minutes of discussion Brittany nodded, smiled brightly—her smile was always tinged with anxiety—and said:

“I got it.”

I did not know Brittany, I just knew that she was an astute and accomplished young actress—she made a huge splash in Clueless—and I felt that the co-starring role of Rivkah was safe in this young woman’s hands.

The ShowTime production was shot in Lithuania. A former Soviet army barracks was converted into a Nazi concentration camp. It was freezing cold, and the conditions were primitive. Brittany and Kirsten were shivering and sick during most of the shoot.

Both performances are just amazing and as I watched dailies I knew that something very special was happening. Kirsten perfectly embodies bafflement yet gradual acceptance as Hannah, a modern suburban mall rat who is abruptly transported back in time to a small Jewish village in Poland and then to Auschwitz.

And Brittany, as her cousin Rivkah, gives a powerhouse performance as an Orthodox Jewish girl, on the cusp of adulthood, whose comfortable world is shattered by the Nazi onslaught. It’s a deeply nuanced performance, that is, for me, the best, most unexpected, of Brittany’s short career.

At the premier screening of The Devil’s Arithmetic, the film received a standing ovation.

After the screening, I thanked all the actors for their work.

I said to Brittany: “You did stuff with my script that I never imagined.”

An understatement, to say the least.

Brittany smiled and said: “Aw, well, it was all there.”

But it wasn’t all there.

It was inside her, as it is inside all great actors.

A magic, a G-d-given gift that is beyond the reach of most of us. An ability to become someone else for brief snippets of time. The ability to transform reality into a hyper reality.

Last night, I learned that Brittany Murphy died at the age of 32.

I looked at my wife Karen and shook my head in despair.

An hour later we called Offspring #3, a newlywed living in New York, and told her the news.

“Oh nooo, that’s so sad,” she cried.

No doubt Offspring #3 recalled how warmly Kirsten and Brittany hugged and thanked her for the lively Jewish tutorial.

In the middle of the night, I slipped out of bed, went downstairs and slipped a DVD into the player.

I watched The Devil’s Arithmetic for a few minutes. And then I stopped because it was just too painful.

Brittany and I were not friends. We were, for a brief time, just movie co-workers.

But for me, the supremely talented Brittany Murphy lives on in the character of Rivkah, who at a crucial point in the script urges:

“To remember. To remember who we are…”

My deepest condolences to Brittany’s family and friends.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that Jane Hamsher, the founder and publisher of the website who wrote the piece targeting Joe Lieberman’s wife, is … you guessed it … a Hollywoodist.

UPDATE: Huffpo posts call to target Lieberman’s wife.

The Wrap: Memo to Celebs: Get Lieberman’s Wife!

“A day after Sen. Joe Lieberman said he won’t vote for the Democratic health reform bill as currently written, a progressive public policy blog is trying to oust his wife Hadassah as global ambassador for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer group.

“And Firedoglake is hoping to enlist Hollywood stars that work with the group.

“Firedoglake contends that Hadassah Lieberman’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry — she once did public relations for a firm that handled Pharma clients and subsequent consulting for some drugmakers — should disqualify her.

“Among the stars it is contacting: Ellen DeGeneres, Christie Brinkley, Andie MacDowell, Christie Brinkley, Cynthia Nixon, Ellen DeGeneres, James Woods, Jennifer Tilly, Marcia Cross, Mimi Rogers and Neil Patrick Harris.”

Read the full Wrap piece here or hold your nose and go to Firedoglake – whatever the hell a firedoglake is.

And if you’re Tom Cruise, that means you are not only qualified to advise women on how to deal with postpartum depression, but you are also qualified to act as marriage counselor.

That’s right – Tom “Couch Commando” Cruise is, out of the goodness of his heart, David and Victoria Beckham’s new “relationship guru” – because you know with all of their money, they can’t afford a certified therapist:

After an evening with David, Tom decided to have a friendly chat with Victoria about the family’s future, saying it was because he cared so much about all of them,” revealed a source.

“They love each other dearly but Tom is a big believer in talking about issues . He could see they were both worried about the future and what it might hold.”

The Mission Impossible actor is understood to be concerned that the former Spice Girl – who runs a successful fashion empire from her home in the US – will want to stay in Los Angeles while her husband, 35, heads back to Europe.

“He talked to her about David ageing, his football career, the pressures of disgruntled fans, his loneliness when away from the family and how time apart is how marriages can fall apart,” adds the source.

That’s kind of creepy. Tom Cruise giving marriage advice? The man whose current wife is on such a tight leash she can’t even go to work without him there, watching her every move? The same man who, according to reports, rarely lets ex-wife Nicole Kidman see the children they adopted when they were married? The guy whose first wife, Mimi Rogers, reportedly split with him because he was seriously thinking of becoming a monk and felt he had to remain celibate?

Wow, that’s the man I want giving me marriage advice, for sure.

But Cruise is more than just a good friend; he’s a big cheese in the strange world of Scientology and is given credit for the “conversions” of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett. He’s also planning a big recruitment drive while he accompanies Katie on a four-month movie shoot in Australia, which begins this month. (There he goes again, not allowing Katie out of his sight. What, is he afraid she might find someone her own age?)

Remember the Scientology recruiting video starring Cruise, where he claims that Scientologists have “the ability to create new and better realities and improved conditions”? Is this the guy you’d really want giving you advice on anything, let alone how to keep your marriage together?

Run, David and Victoria, run…before it’s too late.