Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2013 i Vanity Fair

At a Saturday-night dinner in Connecticut late last fall, Barry Diller asked me if I knew who Merv Adelson was. I said that I did. Everybody knew about Adelson back in the 70s and 80s. He was one of the co-owners of Lorimar, which in those days was a major force in television, with such hit series as The Waltons, Dallas, and Knots Landing. Adelson had also been one of the owners of La Costa, the swingy but shadowy golf resort near San Diego. And, almost more important, he had been married to the great Barbara Walters. Barry then said, “Do you know that Merv is broke and living in a studio apartment in Santa Monica?” That, I told him, I did not know. Magazine stories, the best ones anyway,…

Graydon Carter decided to shake things up in a big way this year at Vanity Fair for our 19th annual Hollywood Issue. Photographer Bruce Weber and his team—which included his own film crew—collaborated with the editors to produce “Bruce Weber’s Hollywood,” a very personal, idiosyncratic, 44-page portfolio, and a four-panel cover. The mantra of all involved soon became “It’s Bruce’s world; we just live in it” as we were transported on a joyful, spectacular, addictive ride filled with spontaneous moments that added up to a totally original environment. Just consider what it took, in terms of numbers, to complete the project, which stretched over a period of eight days in nine iconic locations in Los Angeles, including the Beverly Hills Hotel, Musso & Frank Grill, and the Hollywood Center Studios’…

So, did the Comedy Issue kill? Depends whom you ask. If, for instance, you consult Jill Yesko, of Baltimore, Sophia Matheson, of London, Gregg Lauer, of Atlanta, Catherine Gacad, of San Francisco, L. J. Ross, of Utopia, Texas, James MacLeod Carter, of Washington, D.C., or Elsie Hickman, of Lake Martin, Alabama, the answer would be no. Or as they put it, respectively, “a royal snooze,” “Worst. Issue. Ever,” “a total bomb,” “the worst Vanity Fair magazine I have ever read,” “boring,” “one comedy routine that bombed,” and “the worst issue in recent memory.” But Dan Aldrich, of Rockwall, Texas, Sue Papandrea, of Bonita Springs, Florida, Jade Thompson, of Sydney, Australia, and Becca Seamster, of Bedford, Texas, say yes—or, to be exact, “awesome,” “surpassed my high expectations,” “fabulous . . .…

G. Bruce Knecht has a Grand Ambition (Simon & Schuster). Mary Robinson declares that Everybody Matters (Walker). Rita Moreno knows Rita Moreno (Celebra). The prose is the star of Annapurna Potluri’s The Grammarian (Counterpoint). Ann Hood scripts the private life of The Obituary Writer (Norton). Cécile David-Weill presents The Suitors (Other Press). Thea Goodman shines in The Sunshine When She’s Gone (Henry Holt). Ned Beauman’s transporting novel The Teleportation Accident (Bloomsbury) is gobsmackingly clever. Nigella Lawson schools us in the art of Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes (Clarkson Potter). Benn Steil wages war in The Bat tle of Bretton Woods (Princeton).…

Everyone has some version of Hollywood Hair Envy—whether you’re dying over Gwyneth Paltrow’s golden tresses or Sofía Vergara’s warm espresso glow. Luckily for you, the masterminds behind these iconic looks—colorist Tracey Cunningham and hairstylist Neil Weisberg—have just joined forces to co-found Mèche (“lock,” as in lock of hair, in French), an elite full-service salon in the heart of Beverly Hills with an instant cult following, just in time for awards season. The pair’s roster of A-list celebrity clients could pave a road from L.A. to New York City. (The “J” section alone boasts Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Garner, and Jessica Biel.) “It’s going to be crazy during Oscar week,” says Weisberg. Despite the high-octane clientele, Mèche is a warm, welcoming social hub for lesser mortals as well. Twenty stylists are at…

The year 1933 was in some ways a last hurrah for America, but it also marked the dawn of a new age for Hollywood. It was the final year of “pre-Code” movies, before the studios began to implement their rules of self-censorship, first stated in the Hays Code. This month a 66-film festival at Film Forum in New York called “1933: Hollywood’s Naughtiest, Bawdiest Year” (presented in collaboration with the Library of Congress) celebrates that pivot al moment in movie history and provides context for a major 20th-century cultural shift. “It was not just the year of the most notorious of the pre-Code movies, it was the year that the sound film came of age,” says Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s director of repertory programming, who curated the festival. “Mae West…

INSPIRATIONS Known as “the Queen,” Pat McGrath is the most sought-after makeup artist in the world. Constantly in demand by celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson, and Jennifer Lopez, McGrath is also responsible for more runway looks than any other artist. She serves as the global creative-design director of P&G and is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential people in beauty. Herewith, her favorite things … Favorite discoveries Exhibitions at the Park Avenue Armory, and I’ve just taken up bowling. Shopping In Paris, Marché aux Puces Saint-Ouen de Clignancourt is the highest-quality flea market in the world. Necessary extravagance Massages at the Mandarin Oriental. Favorite place in the world Mount Street in London, where one of my favorite restaurants, Scott’s, is located. Favorite charity I was recently…

MAC Cosmetics is launching Archie’s Girls, a beautified love letter to comic-book darlings Betty and Veronica. Inspired by their vying roles in the celebrated love triangle with Archie, MAC’s senior vice president and creative director, James Gager, reached out across the industry aisle to Archie Comics, spearheading the flirtatious limited-edition collection. Featured items range from Betty’s Lucky in Love Shimmering Light Blue Green pigment to Veronica’s Boyfriend Stealer Deep Blackened Plum lipstick, confirming their decades-old blondeversus-brunette showdown is still very much on. ($16.50–$49.50; maccosmetics.com)…

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DARROW To look heroic on-screen, height is a definite plus. A tall silhouette on the horizon, a hulking presence in the doorway, a set of broad shoulders capable of carrying an entire movie across the raging rapids—stature is a statement unto itself that big things are at stake. Hollywood can jack up the illusion of looming presence for a vertically impaired star—add lifts to his shoes, stand him on boxes, shoot from low angles, surround him with hobbits and garden gnomes—but an action stud who fills the camera frame from top to bottom unassisted is a proclamation of physical prowess: a force of nature. Let’s climb the ladder and picture: Lee Marvin in his silver-gray sharkskin suit, all six feet two of him, bashing everything in view…

Few things are as cool for a 27-year-old as getting to participate in the most important film of the year, let alone being the person responsible for making it happen. This year that film is Zero Dark Thirty, from the Academy Award–winning team of director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, about the killing of Osama bin Laden. And the producer is Megan Ellison. Although distributed by Sony, it isn’t a studio picture. Bigelow and Boal weren’t interested in financing that had even the barest strings attached to the military, as has been the case with some studio films. Instead the couple made the rounds of independent financiers, many of whom found the project appealing. But Megan, the daughter of Larry Ellison, the co-founder of the Oracle software company and…

The baddest of the bad boys, the guy who goes all the way back to before the beginning, has been called many things: the Prince of Darkness, the Tempter, the Bringer of Light. As portrayed in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he was the most beautiful of the angels before he rebelled. Also the most arrogant. “Better to reign in Hell,” he taunts, “than serve in Heav’n.” Charisma incarnate, he gets all the good lines and almost all the girls. This fallen angel, a primal archetype, is undying: whenever men misbehave we think of him. Robert Lovelace in Clarissa, the Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Don Juan in print and in opera, the Willoughbys and Wickhams, wily and wicked, of Jane Austen. More recently, in real life, fabled Hollywood…

AGE: 27. PROVENANCE: West Palm Beach, Florida. WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU: Beharie made it through Juilliard’s notoriously rigorous drama conservatory. “Those programs beat it out of you, but also something into you. They give you a sense of humor.” DRAMATIC FLAIR: Beharie landed her first movie role—in 2008’s The Express—before she even graduated from the world-famous school. “I thought I was going to do guerrilla theater in Central Park or be in my loft in Brooklyn, and it’s gonna be ‘cool artist chic.’ But I ended up kind of winning a great hand.” UNCOVERED: Beharie, who also studied Shakespeare at Balliol College, Oxford, gained international recognition and acclaim with her role in 2011’s Shame, the film starring Michael Fassbender as a sex addict. “When they tell you what part you…

NO SMALL CHANGE Curtis Jackson, more commonly known by his stage name, Cent, is a rapper, writer, actor, entrepreneur, and film producer. George Wayne chats up the icon about self-invention, making music, and getting shot. GEORGE WAYNE: Let’s start with the obvious, Curtis James Jackson III. How did your iconic moniker—“50 Cent”—come to be? 50 CENT: There was actually a guy from the Fort Greene projects who called himself 50 Cent. I used it as a metaphor for change. Musically, I had my own way of doing things. G.W. You haven’t had a new album in a while. In fact, it was fair to wonder if 50 Cent was ever going to release another record. 50 CENT It wasn’t my choice to wait; there was finance stuff that gave me…

One would grow up to become a noted bioethicist; another, White House chief of staff, then mayor of Chicago; and the third, a powerful Hollywood agent. But first they were simply the Emanuel boys, fighting and scrapping their way into adulthood, raised to be their best. In an adaptation from his memoir, EZEKIEL EMANUEL describes how he, Rahm, and Ari forged an unbreakable alliance—and how he discovered that “normal” in the Emanuel family wasn’t always normal in the outside world Rahm. That is my first memory in life. He looked harmless enough, bundled in a blanket and struggling to focus his eyes. My cousin Gary and I were impressed with his grasp reflex—all babies will grab on to a finger as it touches their palm. But since this was his…

In late 1992, Quentin Tarantino left Amsterdam, where he had spent three months, off and on, in a one-room apartment with no phone or fax, writing the script that would become Pulp Fiction, about a community of criminals on the fringe of Los Angeles. Written in a dozen school notebooks, which the 30-year-old Tarantino took on the plane to Los Angeles, the screenplay was a mess—hundreds of pages of indecipherable handwriting. “It was about going over it one last time and then giving it to the typist, Linda Chen, who was a really good friend of mine,” Tarantino tells me. “She really helped me.” When Tarantino met Chen, she was working as a typist and unofficial script consultant for Robert Towne, the venerable screenwriter of, most notably, Chinatown. “Quentin was…

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Peace of mind. What is your greatest fear? My wife going on The Real Housewives of New York City. Which historical figure do you most identify with? I wanted to identify with Abraham Lincoln, but Daniel Day-Lewis got the part. So I’ll take George Washington. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I’m certainly not going to tell it here. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Self-importance, arrogance. On what occasion do you lie? When I’m being polite. Like when Vanity Fair asked if I wanted to do the Proust Questionnaire and I said “Sure.” Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I hate it when people overuse superlatives. Everyone is “brilliant” or a fucking “genius.” Maybe…

Americans love movies! A given; a truism; in short, duh. And yet … Four in five of us can’t even name the movie that contains the line “I coulda been a contender.” When it comes to movies based on books, more than half of us say the filmed version is never better. (Have any among that 55 percent seen—or, for that matter, read—The Godfather or Gone with the Wind?) Our assumptions about our national movie-buffhood grow shakier still. We choose Clint Eastwood as our favorite leading man and Meryl Streep as our favorite leading woman. Fine choices, but how could a nation of supposed movie-lovers produce so few votes for the likes of Cary Grant and Bette Davis? Perhaps less surprising is the news that half of us have no…

Illustration by TIM SHEAFFER Stanley Donen, the last of a golden age of Hollywood directors, met me for a Japanese lunch at one of his favorite places, Bar Masa, near his apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “How are you?” I greeted him, glad to shake his hand. “I’m still here—as the song goes!” the 88-year-old Mr. Donen replied, and ordered a pick-me-up prosecco cocktail. Dressed all in black, this feisty, very engaging man—who began his professional life as a dancer—directed Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (1957), as well as Cary Grant and Hepburn in Charade (1963), and co-directed with Gene Kelly the eternal musicals On the Town (1949) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952). “You know,” he mentioned casually, “sound was still a fairly…

As a child of divorce, Leigh Newman was forced to navigate two equally dangerous wildernesses. In Still Points North (Dial), she recalls landing salmon and hunting in Alaska with her pilot dad, living a life of privilege with her proper mom in Baltimore, and, scariest of all, trapping and taming her own demons. Other memoirs that strike a nerve: Christa Parravani powerfully transforms her anguish over the traumatic death of her troubled identical twin sister into the astonishing Her (Henry Holt). Domenica Ruta comes clean about growing up with an addict mom in With or Without You (Spiegel & Grau). As the mother of a son diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, Emily Rapp shares the pain and joy of raising a child who will die, in The Still Point of the Turning…

PALOMA FAITH ‘I don’t really feel that I’m of this time,” says British singer Paloma Faith, who brings a mad splash of color and pizzazz to the current music scene. “I don’t connect much with the present. I have more of an affinity for what came in the past.” The London native has been compared to Amy Winehouse and called “the next Adele,” but Faith’s timeless singing style actually has more in common with the brazen drama of Shirley Bassey and the emotional delivery of Etta James. She eschews the “neo-soul” label that gets put on her, and says, “I think soul is soul. I don’t see new soul as any different to old soul. I tend to think of music in terms of old R&B, and soul is definitely…

‘I didn’t write my first thank-you note until I was married,” admits Lisa Gaché, author of the forthcoming book 24 Karat Etiquette: Beverly Hills Manners (Skyhorse). She is also the founder and C.E.O. of the title’s Beverly Hills Manners, a decorum school she opened nearly seven years ago. “That was the household I grew up in. Manners, as I later learned, were not dusty rules but rather tools that help us feel more comfortable and help put others at ease.” Gaché started with a concierge service in Los Angeles; while doing that, she realized there was an etiquette vacuum that needed to be filled. Also, as the mother of two daughters, she wanted to instill in her children the confidence that comes with having good manners. She received official certification…

From the 1930s through the 1950s, 7000 Romaine Street, in Hollywood, was the headquarters of Howard Hughes. This is where the famed genius experimented with color film while transforming the airline business. Every detail of his crazy life went through this address. His fleet of Chevy sedans (dubbed the “Romaine cars”) ferried everything from starlets to secret memos. Today 7000 Romaine is headquarters for Just One Eye, a new fashion retail experience. The visionary behind the shop is the ever chic Paola Russo. Russo entered the fashion world working for Ann Demeulemeester in Paris and then moved on to be creative director at Maxfield, in Los Angeles. Her enthusiasm for the new venture is contagious. She commissioned the legendary Ed Ruscha to create a digital piece for her Web site…

‘The process of creating a fragrance was almost the same as creating a collection,” says 32-year-old Carolina Castiglioni. She, along with her mother, Consuelo, the creative director of the Italian fashion house Marni, helped bottle the brand’s elegant yet eccentric design aesthetic into its first women’s fragrance line, including items ranging from an eau de parfum to a purse spray, all in playful packaging. By combining unexpected elements—masculine notes of spice, wood, and incense paired with ultra-feminine rose oil—the duo created a scent with timeless appeal. ($50–$155; saks.com)…

Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream, $24.99. (olay.com) John Frieda Sheer Blonde Everlasting Blonde Colour Preserving Shampoo and Conditioner, $6.50 each. (johnfrieda.com) Chanel Poudre Signée de Chanel Illuminating Powder, $68. (chanel.com) SK-II LXP Ultimate Revival Essence, $250. (saks.com) L’Oréal Paris True Match Super-Blendable Crayon Concealer, $8.95. (lorealparisusa.com) Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia Eau Fraiche, $75 for 100 ml. (giorgioarmanibeautyusa.com). For details go to vf.com/beauty.…

‘Platinum” tables went for $100,000 and “gold” for $50,000 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s sold-out Art + Film Gala in late October, and even at those prices, tables were packed so tightly into the mammoth tent set up in the museum’s central plaza that waiters had a hard time serving guests their Filet of Beef Wellington—not to mention the Laurent-Perrier champagne. The black-tie affair was co-chaired by Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow, the wife of restaurateur Michael Chow and a member of the museum’s board, and underwritten by Gucci. It honored the artist Ed Ruscha and the late film director Stanley Kubrick, whose epic career was the subject of an exhibition opening to the public the following week. Hollywood royals were there in force, including Jack Nicholson,…

The Lost Weekend—a novel about five disastrous days in the life of alcoholic Don Birnam—was an improbable success when it was published in 1944. Rejecting the novel, Simon & Schuster had assured its author that it wouldn’t sell in the midst of a World War (“Nobody cares about the individual”); within five years of its publication by Farrar & Rinehart, The Lost Weekend sold almost half a million copies in various editions and was translated into 14 languages. Its critical reception was no less impressive: “Charles Jackson has made the most compelling gift to the literature of addiction since De Quincey,” Philip Wylie wrote in The New York Times. “His character is a masterpiece of psychological precision. His narrative method … transmutes medical case history into art.” It was a…

CITY OF ANGELS lies spread out beneath us in all its splendor, like a bargain basement Promised Land. CAMERA SOARS, DIPS, WINDS its way SLOWLY DOWN, DOWN, bringing us IN OVER the city … —Opening of the screenplay for Lethal Weapon, by Shane Black. Monday mornings in Hollywood used to mean something. Back in the 1990s—before the weekend box office was entirely dominated by sequels, prequels, movies based on board games, and other pre-sold “franchises”—Monday mornings were when original screenplays hit the auction block, and here’s how it used to happen: A lit (literary) agent called a series of studio executives and barked, “We’re going out with a hot spec.” Within the hour, a phalanx of messengers descended on the agency’s front desk, took copies of the script, and dashed…

All too often, a writer, when profiling a notable person, becomes inordinately fixated upon the idea that his subject is “normal” and un-starlike—which, in addition to being patently false, occasions the unwelcome intrusion of star-apologist words. You know the ones: grounded, centered, and their ilk. Using them makes you sound like: (1) a behavioral therapist intruding upon the frothy, escapist fun that such a profile is supposed to deliver; (2) a yogi; or (3) a contractor. BANNED ADJECTIVES: grounded, centered, rooted, dressed down “Yet even with a new Tesla in the driveway and (whisper it!) a burgeoning romance with Harry Styles, she remains grounded and centered, greeting me dressed down in jeans and a ponytail.” Intolerable. As bad as when an ingénue claims her mother is her “best friend,” a…

HOLLYWOOD EDITION “The gift basket was SO LAME my housekeeper wouldn’t even take the stuff.” “SERIOUSLY, if I want to be alone, I have to go to the BEACH HOUSE.” “OH, NO, MY DRIVER has a brain tumor. It’s awards season—where will I find another driver?” “With the price of fuel, the cost of empty legs on A CHARTER JET is now unreasonable.” “You can’t get a pizza delivered in BEL AIR.” “I want to switch to another trainer at my gym, but I’m afraid I’ll hurt MY TRAINER’S feelings.” “UGH. We sent our kids to CURTIS, and they only made friends with the scholarship kids.” “I am TOTALLY gala’d out.”…

The 9/11 attack frightened some New Yorkers into leaving the city. It motivated Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas, to accelerate moving to Manhattan, where she spent most of the remaining five years of her life. She had become internationally famous at the 1988 Democratic National Convention and was a true celebrity, like a rock star. Ann was courageous and daring, and in four years as governor she got down to the people’s business. She met the Philadelphia Main Line actress Holland Taylor once. This Emmy-winning player of attractive, neurotic nymphomaniacs (Bosom Buddies, The Practice, Two and a Half Men) was awestruck by Ann: “She was brave, strong, and funny—Bill Clinton has said the wittiest person he’d ever met! … She ran as a liberal in conservative Texas, so…

Michael Haneke’s acclaimed Amour which is about nothing less than life and death and love, would be unimaginable without the presence of its two legends of the French New Wave, Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Put simply, in their utter naturalness and restraint, they have given two of the finest screen performances we could wish to see. Ms. Riva plays Ann, an elderly Parisienne music teacher who suffers a terrible destiny after a stroke, and Mr. Trintignant is her stoic husband, Georges, who cares for her. It is as if fatality has suddenly intruded and violated their ordered, companionable lives. Emmanuelle Riva is now 86, and Jean-Louis Trintignant is 82, and neither had starred in a movie for years until Haneke shrewdly cast them in Amour. The beautiful, tender Ms.…

1 Bruce Weber This issue marks contributing photographer Bruce Weber’s first time shooting the magazine’s annual Hollywood Portfolio. Among his highlights, one in particular stands out. “Before shooting Michael and Kirk Douglas, Kirk called me over to say, ‘Bruce, I just want you to know before we start that I am extremely photogenic.’ I can’t help but agree,” says Weber, who also wrote an introduction to the portfolio, on page 318. 2 Bryan Burrough How TV producer Merv Adelson squandered a $300 million fortune was supposed to be the subject of special correspondent Bryan Burrough’s article “Remembrance of Wings Past” (page 254). That is, until Adelson volunteered details of his role as a front man for the Vegas Mob. “The incredible story Merv tells opens a very rare window into…

Just read your Comedy Issue. Kudos to Judd Apatow for including a long article on Martin Short [“The Cat’s Meow,” by David Kamp, January], one of the genuinely great originals. If anyone belongs in the pantheon with the likes of Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, and Ernie Kovacs, it is, hands down, Martin Short. When he returns to perform in New York City, we will be right there in line (and a line there will be) for tickets. HOWARD KOPELSON New York, New York A FUNNY THING HAPPENED A longtime subscriber to your fine magazine, I save all of my Vanity Fairs in a back-issue library in a shed behind my house. The January Comedy Issue, guest-edited by Judd Apatow, will be saved to a bookshelf inside the house—that’s what a…

In 2004 we watched as the southern shore of Sri Lanka was wiped out by a 30-foot tsunami. Among the dead were the parents, husband, and two young sons of Sonali Deraniyagala. She, by some miracle, was spared. Deraniyagala begins the unforgettable and dreamlike Wave (Knopf) with the moment she spots the killer wave. “I thought nothing of it at first,” she recalls. What is left for her is nothing, save trying to survive in a world where all that she loved has been lost. Page by page, we witness Deraniyagala, daughter, wife, mother, being pulled farther and farther into the depths of grief, caught in the undertow of rage and guilt and madness. As years pass, the memories she’s fought so hard to keep at bay begin flooding in.…

Rap music—originally the domain of the outsider and the outrageous—has long since been a staple item in the world of pop. But every so often, someone comes along and shakes things up. Fifteen years ago, producer Dr. Dre signed Eminem to his Aftermath label. Now, Dre’s newest protégé is the 25-year-old Compton, California, native Kendrick Lamar—who was introduced to Dre by Eminem’s manager Paul Rosenberg. Lamar’s critically acclaimed, socially conscious album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, entered the charts at No. 2, and has been hailed as the most dazzling major-label rap debut of the last two decades. In addition to appearances on that abum from Dr. Dre and Drake, Lamar has collaborated with his friend and fan Lady Gaga. (Because Lamar’s album was released several weeks after eligibility for this…

BMW 2002TII (1971–75) The limited-edition, high-output version of the car credited with creating the now ubiquitous category of “sports sedan” and launching the BMW brand’s “ultimate driving machine” identity in the United States. (bmw.com) BELL A FREUD SWEATERS The cool girls’ sweater of choice. (bellafreud.co.uk) ERNO L ASZLO SEA MUD DEEP CLEANSING BAR Tightens skin and draws out impurities. (ernolaszlo.com) THE TOOLS, BY BARRY MICHELS AND PHIL STUTZ The motivation book that everyone in Hollywood is obsessed with. (thetoolsbook.com) TRACIE MARTYN RESCULPTING BODY CREAM The trick here is that clients of Tracie’s use it on their faces (not just on wobbly body parts) for tightening and lifting. (traciemartyn.com) THE YASHICA T4 A cheap, compact 35-mm. camera from the 90s that has a Carl Zeiss lens. People still hunt it down.…

Octogenarian impresario Berry Gordy, whose autobiographical Motown: The Musical opens in April, knows exactly why Valisia LeKae was cast as Diana Ross. “Valisia is Diana Ross,” saysGordy. “She looks like her, sounds like her, has her instincts, personality, and work ethic. She’s so much like her it’s scary.” As for Brandon Victor Dixon—who embodies the lead role of the Detroit assembly-line worker turned super-mogul—Gordy observes, “His acting, singing talent, and brilliance are off the charts.” Gordy also sees his zealous younger self in prolific director Charles Randolph-Wright, who, he says, “was born to do this show.” In fact, the four exhilarating years Gordy dedicated to bringing Motown: The Musical to Broadway have been for him a back-to-the-future joyride. “It’s just like the old Motown days—great people, incredible creativity, fierce competition.”…

Ten years after the birth of his beloved first fragrance, For Her, Narciso Rodriguez impresses once again with For Her L’Eau. Rodriguez created an unpredictable twist on the usual, citrus-heavy eau de parfum by infusing it with a floral mosaic of jasmine, cyclamen, and peony—echoing the vivid botanical accents of his runway collection this season. For Her L’Eau is the embodiment of the modern sexy woman, and is sure to attract a well-deserved cult following of its own. ($104 for 3.3 oz; saks.com)…

LAUNCHING L’WREN An intimate circle of friends gathered for a private dinner party at the Carlyle hotel, in New York City, to celebrate L’Wren Scott’s new fragrance for the Barneys New York Designer Fragrance Collection. RUST AND BONE The Cinema Society, Dior, and Vanity Fair toasted the cast of Rust and Bone and its director, Jacques Audiard, at Indochine, in N.Y.C., following a private screening. MONKEY BUSINESS Richard Gere was honored for his performance in Arbitrage at a private luncheon held at the Monkey Bar, in N.Y.C. THE DARLINGS OF DOWNTON Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of PBS’s Masterpiece series, moderated a Q&A with the cast of Downton Abbey following a sneak preview of the premiere of the show’s third season at the Museum of Modern Art. Ralph Lauren and…

A HISTORY OF THE VANITY FAIR OSCAR PARTY I’d just smoothed my tuxedo and taken a sip of my first martini when I saw them. It was February 27, 2011, and as I began my initial tour of the Vanity Fair Oscar party, taking a quick inventory of the famous faces in my field of vision—Larry David, Cameron Diaz, Mick Jagger, Anjelica Huston, Sacha Baron Cohen and his wife, Isla Fisher—I noticed a group of well-turned-out guests forming a loose perimeter around two instantly recognizable men. A starstruck Justin Bieber, whose careful handling of his career suggests he understands the fleeting nature of fame, had sought out one of the wise men of the entertainment business and one of its biggest stars, Tom Hanks. As Bieber’s date, Selena Gomez, stood…

Down on the beach alongside the Santa Monica Pier, amid the crowds of toned young skaters and wandering tourists, you can sometimes see an elderly man walking his dog. He is 83 years old, lean and tanned, with a tangle of white hair and rheumy blue eyes. While he scuffles along in worn jeans and sneakers, no one has a clue who he is, much less who he was. He lives in a building just steps off the sand, in a tiny apartment, barely 500 square feet of space in all, with a kitchenette and a battered white futon. What none of his neighbors realize is that the old man once had walk-in closets the size of this apartment. In fact, he was one of the richest and most powerful…

There are approximately 6,500 miles of streets in Los Angeles, but by far the most popular one is private, closed to traffic, about an eighth of a mile long, running down the middle of an outdoor mall called the Grove. The mall, which last March had its 10th anniversary, has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of California, with 18 million visitors a year, outpacing even Disneyland. One of the shortcomings of L.A. is its lack of pedestrian culture, so the idea of people flocking—by car—to experience an artificially created retail thoroughfare is simultaneously ironic, rich, and maddening. The developer Rick Caruso, who conceived of the Grove and built it (he owns 12 retail and residential assets in California), studied streets around the world and, working with…

1 SEAN PENN “That Shanghai Surprise features Penn—who many over here are calling the new Marlon Brando—can also do the film no harm.” —The Courier-Mail PERIOD OF CONTENTION: Mid-1980s. BRANDO-ISH BEHAVIOR: Chronic paparazzo abuse; patrolling New Orleans with a shotgun post-Katrina; moving to Haiti after the earthquake. MITIGATING FACTORS: Still loves to party; still makes great movies. OVERALL BRANDO-NESS: 4.0/5.0 2 JOHNNY DEPP “Marlon was passing the torch to Johnny. You could feel it in your bones. It was so obvious. [He] was giving Johnny the room to be the next Marlon Brando.” —Don Juan DeMarco director Jeremy Leven PERIOD OF CONTENTION: Early 1990s. BRANDO-ISH BEHAVIOR: Tropical-island ownership; Francophilia; penchant for drag and characters who slur, mumble. MITIGATING FACTOR: Is, by most accounts, sane. OVERALL BRANDO-NESS: 5.0/5.0 3 LEONARDO DICAPRIO…

Where the WILD THINGS Are An elephant named Tai, a University of Southern California cheerleading squad, Kirk Douglas and Michael Douglas, Tab Hunter in a golf cart, Bo Derek on horseback, Ewan McGregor flown in from the Oklahoma set of August: Osage County, male models dressed as gladiators and a knight in shining armor, Ernest Hemingway’s great-granddaughter and Walter Huston’s great-grandson, a professional flamenco dancer, the sons of Clint Eastwood and Jane Fonda, an Olympic-champion underwater swimmer from Spain, a Victoria’s Secret bombshell from Brazil, a mariachi band, a hip-hop D.J., rising stars Eddie Redmayne and Bella Heathcote waltzing with a bear, David Geffen at his mansion (formerly owned by Jack Warner), Godfather producer Al Ruddy lunching with Rush Hour director Brett Ratner at Musso & Frank’s, Emma Stone, Bradley…

Malibu 1993... There’s an old Hollywood saying that there are no new roles—just new faces to fill them. Eighty years ago, MIGUEL COVARRUBIAS caught the day’s brightest stars at play for Vanity Fair. Turn the page for a pair of sequels Malibu 1995... Next up—how those 62 years flew by!— was RISKO, who aimed his brush at the Clinton era’s reigning members of the Malibu players’ club. Remember what a splash—Roseanne! Keanu!—some of these characters made? ...and Malibu 2013 Now ANDRÉ CARRILHO takes an easel to the sand, where the next generation have staked out their spots. (Nice to see that Brad and Angelina brought the kids. And that cute Twilight couple are getting along!) Some things haven’t changed, though: the light is always golden and the summer seemingly endless…

Wikipedia says that Seth Mac Farlane is an actor, voice actor, animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and singer—and it would be great if I could just cut and paste the rest of their entry right here and go have a drink with Seth MacFarlane. Seth drinks Jack Daniel’s, and he does not become a mean drunk, which I think says a lot about a person’s character. I’ve seen him in crowds, and he literally suffers fools gladly. Seth was raised in Connecticut, and his allegiance to the spirit of New England is genuine. As a boy, Seth was a girl—and I mean that in a good way. Boys are usually immature and unfocused, but Seth knew what he wanted to do in life when he was two. By five he understood…