Innholdsfortegnelse for Aug-14 i Vanity Fair

The good people of New Jersey have historically had a soft spot for tough guys. This being the case, Chris Christie, a Republican, would seem to be their dream idea of a governor. Larger than life—or at least larger than most governors—he developed an image as a quick, straight-talking politician who could get things done and who, on the surface at least, played well with others. Even Democrats were expected to get behind him for reelection. His supporters were drawn to his no-nonsense way of governing and his combative style of negotiation, as when he shouted down teachers and other public workers in town-hall meetings—events that were filmed by his staff and then posted on YouTube. That sort of confrontational politics, though, could also be read as threatening and even…

An Irish-American family stumbles in their separate pursuits of love and the American Dream in Matthew Thomas’s masterly debut, We Are Not Ourselves (Simon & Schuster). Set in post–W.W. II Brooklyn, Elizabeth Gaffney’s wonderful, richly imagined novel When the World Was Young (Random House) cheers the power and resilience of a societybucking young woman. Jess Row sees the future in Your Face in Mine (Riverhead)—a provocative and exhilaratingly bold examination of race in America, where a white Jewish guy who feels black can undergo racial-reassignment surgery. Nick Davies further exposes indefensibly arrogant Rupert Murdoch’s spying in Hack Attack (Faber and Faber). Maximillian Potter sniffs out a vine-poisoning rogue in Shadows in the Vineyard (Twelve). Rick Perlstein’s The Invisible Bridge (Simon & Schuster) spans the fall of Nixon and the rise…

The ’90s: The Last Great Decade?,” asks the title of the National Geographic Channel’s three-part documentary special, premiering this month, the noisy capper to a 90s nostalgia craze that really got raring last year online, along the cable grid, and in the dense foliage of the fashion pages. Grunge; Friends; Seinfeld; Felicity; Dawson’s Creek; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; The X-Files; My So-Called Life; Beverly Hills, 90210; Clueless; Thelma & Louise; The Matrix; Saved by the Bell; Boy Meets World; Beavis and Butt-Head; Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation; Biggie Smalls; Tupac Shakur; the hoop-net arabesques of Michael Jordan— what a hit parade. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a 90s kids’ favorite, are set for a movie reboot, the songs of Alanis Morissette stream from the car speakers of the sporty convertible Steve…

AGE: 19. PROVENANCE: Westchester, New York. BREAKING THE ICE: Peltz, a self-described tomboy in her youth, was raised with seven siblings in a tight-knit, sports-enthused family. “I grew up believing I was going to be an ice-hockey player and then I got into acting and I liked that way better.” PLAYING ALONG: The actress, who got her professional start in an Off Broadway play at age 13, has appeared in a variety of proj ects, from the hit A&E series Bates Motel to M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy film The Last Airbender. “The reason I love it so much is because you get to play different people, and you get to experience things you never would in your everyday life.” ACTING HER AGE: Peltz recently appeared in Transformers: Age of Extinction,…

How best to think of The Expendables, that ever expanding meat locker of a movie franchise, surely the beefiest in cinema history, which will be offering audiences a third slab of well-marbled porterhouse this August? Sylvester Stallone, who co-wrote all three and directed the first, seems to have conceived the series not only as a throwback to the all-star action movies of the 1960s, films such as The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven, but also as a full-employment act for the blood-and-guts stars of the 80s and 90s. And, really, you can’t much argue with a movie like the first, released in 2010, which featured a core four of Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren, with Mickey Rourke on the bench as a tattooed Yoda figure and…

Margot Robbie was so outrageously seductive as The Wolf of Wall Street’s trophy wife, Naomi (a role that earned her Britain’s Empire Award for best female newcomer), that she managed to exceed the script’s hyperbolic requirement that she personify “the hottest blonde ever.” Richard Curtis, who directed Robbie in 2013’s romantic comedy About Time, compares the Australian siren to that other flawless goddess, Grace Kelly. And this summer Robbie is taking on the role of the ultimate irresistible Ur-female, Jane (opposite Alexander Skarsgård’s Tarzan). Martin Scorsese’s casting director, Ellen Lewis, who first brought Robbie to the master’s attention, said, “As beautiful as she is, that’s how talented she is.” Robbie is slightly baffled by all the over-the-top admiration. “In my big group of girlfriends at home,” Robbie insists, “I am…

From back-of-the-napkin deals made in the Polo Lounge to secret affairs in the secluded bungalows, the Beverly Hills Hotel has for over 100 years been both proving ground and playground for Hollywood’s elite 1938 When Vivien Leigh was at the hotel to see her lover, Laurence Olivier, he took her to meet agent Myron Selznick. Soon after, she was cast to play Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. 1942 Eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes moved into Bungalow 4, where staff delivered his roast-beef sandwiches by leaving them in the crook of a tree. 1960 While campaigning, John F. Kennedy kept a bungalow to entertain young starlets. 1960 While filming Let’s Make Love, Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand had an affair in Bungalows 20 and 21. 1960s In the cabanas by…

Unlike America, which has a habit of turning the daughters of its social registry into reality-show starlets, England is a place where girls from good families apparently become supermodels. Look no farther than Georgia May Jagger, Alice Dellal, and Cara Delevingne, or Stella Tennant and Jacquetta Wheeler before them: although they may not always dress the part—as soon as these girls were old enough, they all turned in their debutante frocks for dungarees and combat boots— they were all familiar with an opulent life prior to roughing it in the fashion industry. In recent seasons, we welcomed a new one: Westbourne Grove–born Edie Campbell, 23, who caused a sensation when she opened Marc Jacobs’s historic final show in Paris for Louis Vuitton wearing nothing but a G-string, embroidered bangles, and…

What is your idea of perfect happiness? A perfect meal. What is your greatest fear? Not getting into heaven. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Saint Patrick. Which living person do you most admire? My grandson, for taking such wonderful care of me in my old age. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I’d rather name one for someone else. I’m egomaniacal. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Rudeness. What is your greatest extravagance? I think milk chocolate is particularly gorgeous. What is your favorite journey? A ride to Bray for a swim. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Frugality. You can cheat yourself out of the most rewarding experiences by pinching the penny too hard. On what occasion do…

Moscow’s mighty Bolshoi Ballet is here again—this time at the Lincoln Center Festival, starting on July 15, for two weeks. For this engagement David Hallberg, a native of Rapid City, South Dakota, will dance the role of Prince Siegfried in three performances of Swan Lake. Three years ago he became the only American ever invited to be a premier dancer in this venerable company, which was founded in 1776. Hallberg now divides his time between the Bolshoi and American Ballet Theatre. —WAYNE LAWSON…

A PANOPLY OF ECCENTRIC BIOGRAPHICAL DATA RE: THE CULINARY WORLD’S BUSIEST C.E.O. Do not use the word “empire” to Danny Meyer: it makes the hair on his arms stand up, he says. He’s happy to be called a humble restaurateur, thank you very much—despite being the C.E.O. of Union Square Hospitality Group and founder of an almost indecent number of James Beard Award–winning and Michelin Star–earning New York City restaurants. A maestro of high-low dining, Meyer also conjured up Shake Shack, the ever-expanding hamburger-and-fries chain that now sates cravings from Saudi Arabia to Citi Field. After “minor[ing] in the study of trattorias” during college in Rome, he founded the now fabled Union Square Cafe, at the tender age of 27. Successive hits included Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, and Eleven Madison…

Eyes are everywhere in I Origins, the arty new science-fiction thriller from writer-director Mike Cahill. They are analyzed by scientists in a molecular-biology lab, they gaze disembodied from billboards, and they deflect evil on a string of blue malocchio beads. But Cahill’s camera lens (a kind of Cyclops in itself) lingers especially intently on the gold-flecked, blue-green orbs of Paris-based actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey. When Cahill first saw Bergès-Frisbey, during an introductory Skype interview, he informed her that her eyes matched “exactly what he had described in the script,” she recalls. “It was crazy.” With her two-tone irises (the result of a condition called sectoral heterochromia), delicate bone structure, and foreign accent (she grew up speaking French, Spanish, and Catalan), Bergès-Frisbey was a natural for the role of Sofi, the ethereal…

Celebrating his first birthday, this month, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge is noisy, ravenous, and destructive. He’s also a media star, a style icon, and a P.R. triumph. Reporting on how their son has upended William’s and Kate’s lives, KATIE NICHOLL chronicles Christmas at Sandringham, the arrival of a new nanny, and the family’s New Zealand and Australian adventures When His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge turns one year old, this month, there will be no official marking of the milestone. There is talk of a low-key family gathering, possibly a small birthday tea at home in Ken sing ton Palace. The future monarch will be the center of attention, surrounded by his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and most likely his maternal grandparents,…

presidential prospect on September 9, 2013, when the orange safety several toll lanes. The massive, four-day traffic nightmare that resulted may investigates one of the craziest political scandals in recent history Monday, September 9, 2013, was the first day of school for the children of Fort Lee, New Jersey, as it was for many throughout “the Garden State.” The day dawned clear and bright in this tired little city of 35,000, across the Hudson River from the northern reaches of Manhattan, as the roughly 30 tollbooths that span the western entrances to the George Washington Bridge awaited the morning rush hour. Of the two levels for the toll plaza for the world’s busiest bridge, which channels an average of 37,000 cars and trucks from New Jersey to New York every…

Whenever I think about my chef friend Thomas Keller—of the French Laundry, Bouchon, and Bouchon Bakery—I think first and foremost about one meal in particular. This meal, which took place some eight years ago at Per Se, his New York outpost, was one of the great dining experiences of my life. Though I had been wanting to go to Per Se since it opened, in 2004, it was thanks to my daughter, Fanny, that I finally managed to make the pilgrimage. Because Fanny lived so far away, in New York, I saw a meal at Per Se as an opportunity to spend unmitigated time with her, to just hang out us two—our version of a mother-daughter trip to a day spa, if you will. Around the time that we began…

A glittering mainstay of the British establishment, Claridge’s was an irresistible trophy for two self-made Irish tycoons, Derek Quinlan and Patrick McKillen, who formed a partnership to buy the London hotel a decade ago. Their triumph was brief. Rocked by the 2008 crash and targeted by a pair of identical-twin billionaires, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, Quinlan and McKillen are now in a bitter feud, with the future of Claridge’s again up for grabs. DANA VACHON reports The British Empire, such as it is, can claim Derek Quinlan as a minor conquest. Sitting in a private Mayfair club one afternoon, he is tall, bald with a rusty fringe, sunspotted from wanderings beneath the Arab sun, great-bellied in a tailored blazer sprouting a white pocket-square. The red silk walls are…

Arriving in New York in 1968 with a black eye from a lover, Italian known for cocaine-fueled scenes at Studio 54 as well as for her revolutionary JAMES REGINATO finds that Peretti, 40 years into a partnership with Tiffany model Elsa Peretti was soon part of fashion’s in-crowd, becoming jewelry designs. Unlike her best friend, Halston, she made it out alive. that made her a household name, is in a very different world—one she created She was an Italian beauty who moved to Manhattan and became the poster girl for Studio 54–era decadence, alongside her best friend, Halston. So it’s a bit startling when Elsa Peretti swings open the thick wooden door of her new home, an ancient stone manor in Sant Martí Vell, a tiny hamlet in Catalonia, north…

A brand synonymous since 1967 with creating revolutionary mascaras—Lancômatique, Hypnôse, Ôscillation—Lancôme does it again this August, with Grandiôse. Perpetuating the French tradition of effortless chic, the ergonomic Swan-Neck™ wand design takes lashes to new heights and will forever change the way women apply mascara. The innovative curved stem is designed to coat every lash from root to tip without any fuss. The mascara also serves as a conditioning treatment with Lancôme’s exclusive Native Rose Cell Extract. Lancôme ambassadress Penélope Cruz, the face of the new campaign, proves that eyes can be weapons of mass seduction. –SUNHEE GRINNELL…

AMERICA’S YOUNGEST-EVER U.N. AMBASSADOR NEGOTIATES PLAYDATES AND POWER Samantha Power, at 43 the youngest person to be appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations— it’s her first anniversary in the job next month—arrived at her lunch spot of choice, the unpretentious Crave Fishbar, in Midtown Manhattan, boxed in at the entrance by her wary security team, like some rock star. But she proved delightfully approachable, and perhaps her Irish roots account for her transparent warmth, a fierce articulate intelligence in support, a certain humor. “It’s good to get out of the office,” she said as if released for a while from the impossible cares of saving the world. “Guys,” said our friendly waiter. “I’m really hungry,” she announced, adding incongruously, “My husband loves this place because he hates white tablecloths.”…

Forty years ago this month, President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. The first president since Andrew Johnson to be seriously threatened with impeachment, Nixon, along with an inner circle of advisers, had orchestrated a cover-up to hide his administration’s and campaign staffers’ roles in a 1972 scheme to install hidden microphones in the offices of their rivals at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee—located in the Watergate, a Washington, D.C., office-and-residential complex. In time, more than 30 individuals would be convicted for their parts in the scandal. Ironically, the most damning evidence of their criminal activity came from clandestine audiotapes that the president himself had amassed. In 1971, near the middle of Nixon’s first term, he approved a plan to install a White House taping system as a way…

Were it not for a dare from his highschool girlfriend, Scott Haze, a varsity basketball star, might never have become an actor— and would never have met James Franco. “There was a school play, and she said, ‘You couldn’t do that,’” Haze says. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I can.’ I got cast and it just started from there.” Haze also realized he was “probably not going to be the next Michael Jordan.” It was after a show at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre, in Hollywood—where Haze, a native Texan, was studying—that he first encountered Franco. “He came up to me and was like, ‘I loved your performance,’” says Haze, who went on to found the experimental Sherry Theater, in North Hollywood. “We’ve grown close over the…

Harambee is Swahili for “Let’s pull together.” And the flourishing Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance lives up to its credo. The brainchild of 31-yearold Okendo Lewis-Gayle (second from left)—born in Costa Rica, raised in Italy, educated at Southern New Hampshire University—the organization targets African-born twentysomethings from elite schools who have dreams of starting business ventures and socially responsible projects in their native lands. Discouraged by the frequency with which foreign executives tend to swoop in to run new companies, Harambe persuaded large firms such as McKinsey & Company, GlaxoSmithKline, and Standard Chartered Bank to provide grants, pro bono services, and expertise to its members and their start-ups. The result: a 31-country assembly of 225 bright young entrepreneurs, a handful of whom will participate in events surrounding a presidential summit for young African…

After the Sultan of Brunei, owner of the fabled Beverly Hills Hotel, imposed strict Sharia law—which calls for stoning gays and adulterers—last May, Hollywood activists began a boycott of the hotel and his other luxury properties. Lunch at the Polo Lounge was out. But has the protest, ramped up by Elton John, Ellen DeGeneres, and other stars, hurt the hotel’s workers more than their employer? As a backlash begins, MARK SEAL checks in There once was a palace of movie stars and swimming pools, painted in shades of pink and green. A benevolent sultan with unfathomable riches from a faraway land bought it and lorded over its storied domain, while his managers and staff ensured that all within its doors were treated as royalty. For 102 years, the Beverly Hills…

The South had its challenges,” admits the 31-year-old actor Manish Dayal, who was born and raised in the small town of Orangeburg, South Carolina. “A lot of the stereotypes are true.” He belonged to one of the very few Indian families in the area, but, he says, “I would never trade that experience. It fueled my interest in stories and books and movies, and gave me a different perspective. It’s why I am doing what I’m doing today.” Since graduating from George Washington University, in 2005, Dayal has been busy climbing the Hollywood ladder. In August he takes the lead opposite Helen Mirren in DreamWorks’ The Hundred-Foot Journey, directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape). The story centers on two restaurants in the South of France: a traditional…

I think he’s peculiar,” Andy Warhol once said of Jamie Wyeth, the ever boyish scion of America’s first family of art. “Maybe even more peculiar than I am.” Starting July 16, Wyeth’s peculiarity will be on full, panoramic display when “Jamie Wyeth,” the first retrospective devoted to his career, now in its sixth decade, opens at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Wyeth would seem to concur with Warhol’s assessment. “I’m an idiosyncratic and strange kind of painter,” says the artist, whose bestknown portraits happen to be of Warhol (Wyeth was a Factory fixture for a brief time in the 70s), John F. Kennedy, Rudolf Nureyev, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a 1,000-pound pig named Den-Den. For more than a century, the Wyeths of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania (and of various islands…