Vanity Fair January 2014

1 Marie Brenner The stories of personal tragedy that writer-at-large Marie Brenner uncovered while reporting “Danger in the Ring” (page 56) horrifed her. “What is the chance that two classmates, both in their mid-20s, could suffer—within months of each other—life-threatening events allegedly from the same birth-control device?,” Brenner wondered. “Were these young women adequately warned by their doctors about the hormones in NuvaRing?” 2 William Friedkin Even Academy Award–winning director William Friedkin envies the achievements of Tracy Letts, the subject of this month’s V.F. Portrait (page 94). “As a Tony Award–winning actor and a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, Tracy has reached the peaks of each profession,” Friedkin says. Unlike Letts, his frequent collaborator, Friedkin has been content writing and directing. “Michael Mann asked me to play Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter,” he…

AN OLD FRIEND WRITES . . . At this time of year it’s always a comfort to hear from old friends. I was in a particularly seasonal frame of mind when I received a letter from my well-known chum Donald Trump. “Admiration” is too mild a word to describe my feelings toward him and all that he has achieved, and all that he has, indeed, endeavored to overcome—the hair, the fingers … I won’t go on. I should explain that our relationship is one of gentle thrust and parry. “I just heard you are trying to put yet another ‘hit’ on me through writer William Cohan,” he said in the recent letter. “You’ve been trying since the terrible GQ cover story you wrote in May of 1984. After that, with…

THE DIRECTOR AND MS. FARROW I found your article on Mia Farrow [“Momma Mia!,” by Maureen Orth], in the November issue, both compelling and deeply disturbing. How is it that with such a questionable personal life Woody Allen is still so highly respected, with people lining up to both work with him and watch his movies? I find myself wondering: if it had been Mia accused of sexually abusing one of her sons and then going on to marry another son, would she have continued to have such a successful career? It is so sad to me that we live in a world where people accept this behavior. EIMEAR MORHAN Dublin, Ireland Is Maureen Orth’s “Momma Mia!” a strange ode to Halloween? Here, instead of a complex portrayal of two…

In a VF.com exclusive, “FRIENDS WITHOUT BENEFITS,” Nancy Jo Sales wrote about the new SEXUAL POLITICS of Snapchatting, OVER-SELFIED TEENAGERS. Let’s just say it caused quite a stir . . . @JMECHNER Why can’t humanity just use the Internet wisely, like we did the wheel and splitting the atom and … OH. RIGHT. @ COLINSEILER I’m always wary of sky is falling profiles about TEENS AND SEXUALITY, but this Vanity Fair piece is frightening. @NITASHATIKU Nancy Jo Sales developed a super strain of MORAL PANIC @ROWANEVA This @VanityFair article on social media’s effect on American teens makes me want to MOVE TO SIBERIA. @RYANPBRODERICK I feel like even without social media *gasp* being a teenager a terrifying PSYCHO-SEXUAL NIGHTMARE @ANDREWPHELPS Social media is TERRIBLE and children are ruined forever @ALIEMARTELL…

AVALANCHE OF COLOR Best remembered for his stirring black-and-white images of 20th-century conflict, photographer Robert Capa also captured color pictures of postwar leisure in the mountains of Zermatt, Switzerland; Zürs, Austria; and other international ski resorts. In the new exhibition “Capa in Color,” at the International Center of Photography, in New York City (January–May 2014), bright and buoyant images of Europeans at play, which Capa shot for magazines such as Holiday and Collier’s, will be on display. From the stormy beaches of Normandy on D-day to the tranquil mountaintops of the Swiss Alps, Capa’s lens captured it all.…

New year, new beginning. Whether you’ve committed to hiding a secret or telling all, or are still recovering from the news, Jane Isay’s handbook, Secrets and Lies (Doubleday), can help. For artists, the only upside to suffering is the work it sparks—Jessica Handler’s Braving the Fire (St. Martin’s Griffin) is a wise and encouraging guide to putting one’s grief on the page. In Cut Me Loose (Nan A. Talese), Leah Vincent shares the tale of her harrowing plunge into promiscuity and depression after being cast out of her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. The ever charming Gary Shteyngart’s achingly honest, bittersweet comic memoir, Little Failure (Random House), is a winner. Is the strange young woman abandoned to a Shaker community under mysterious circumstances really a vessel of God, or is The Visionist…