Add selfless and noble to the list of things we love about Julian Schnabel. The Schnab is going to Israel in June, partly to scout locations for a movie based on a book by Israeli-Palestinian author Rula Jebreal, but also to be an envoy of peace. "We need to fix things over there," Schnabel told an Israeli reporter in London the other day. "I'm going to work on it. That will be my next thing. Yes, I'm going to devote myself to try and make things better over there." So what if he gets sidetracked a little? "Are there any surfers in Israel?" he asks the interviewer. If there's anyone who can bring peace to that war-torn part of the world, it's a ruddy, pajama-clad painter from New York City by way of Brownsville, Texas. Or, at least, you know, it won't be as bad as when Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown went.

Next Direction: Paint It Peaceful [NYP via The Reeler]
The Diving Bell Director Coming to Israel [YNet]