Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue 2021: On With the Show!

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For our 27th annual Hollywood Issue, V.F. celebrates 10 creators and stars who showed us humanity in a surreal year, photographed by the renowned conceptual artists Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. And the cover fantasia is just the beginning. From the scandal at Hillsong to the true history of the Snyder Cut, the issue goes deep inside the world of entertainment, with its brightest stars as our guides.

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Hollywood Portfolio

On with the Show!

In a year of uncertainty, these stars cut unexpected paths and raised the bar on art, creativity, and innovation. A fantasia in ten acts.

See the portfolio

Portfolio by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari

Essay by Richard Lawson

by Editor in Chief Radhika Jones

Behind the Issue

Justice League Exclusive

The Wild True Story of #TheSnyderCut

A demoralizing battle with Warner Bros. A devastating personal tragedy. A fan base he couldn’t control. Zack Snyder tells V.F. why he quit Justice League, and why he’s returned to complete a cut that’s reached near-mythical status.

By Anthony Breznican

Career High

Amanda Seyfried’s Golden Age

Like Marion Davies, the classic Hollywood star she plays in Mank, Amanda Seyfried knows that the ingenue track is a dead end—but, unlike Davies, she's had a chance to grow beyond it on screen.

By Katey Rich

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Director's Chair

Calling the Shots

Regina King, Spike Lee, Emerald Fennell, Aaron Sorkin, and more on their passionate, genre-blending films.

Friends for Dinner

“Dr. Lecter, My Name is Clarice Starling”

Thirty years ago, a lionhearted FBI trainee went to a cannibalistic killer for advice. Together, they changed pop culture. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins talk with V.F. about the legacy of The Silence of the Lambs.

By Tananarive Due

XOXO

Instagram’s Accidental Gossip Queen

Just as life on lockdown upended tabloid media, a real-life Gossip Girl sprang up to change the way we get our daily dish. Ten months after @deuxmoi became Instagram’s juiciest account, things have gotten complicated.

By Maureen O'Connor

Stronger Than Fiction

Is This Real Life?

Dick Johnson Is Dead, Time, MLK/FBI, and more redefine what a documentary can be.

By David Ansen

My Desk

Visit Ruth E. Carter’s Studio

The Oscar-winning costume designer behind Black Panther and Coming 2 America on painting, progress, and her many, many screens.

By Keziah Weir

Scandal

Unmasking the Hollywood Con Queen

For years someone had been masquerading as Hollywood’s most powerful women to swindle unsuspecting gig workers. How two journalists tracked down the scam’s alleged perpetrator.

By Vanessa Grigoriadis and Josh Dean

First Person

STEVE McQUEEN ON HIS FIRST TV

The creator of Small Axe and 12 Years a Slave remembers “the glow in the corner.”

By Steve McQueen

Swan Song

Chadwick Boseman’s Grand Finale

Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, and more on how the beloved actor prepared for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom—and gave the performance of his career.

By Yohana Desta

Trending

Love Language

Take a petal from the swoony influences of Roman Holiday, Toulouse-Lautrec hues, Tchaikovsky ballets, and the surreal drama of Paolo Roversi’s dreamworld.

Shop Like a Star

A Fashion Fantasia

Recreate the colorful spirit of the cover and portfolio.

To the Nines

All Dressed Up

The designers behind Emma, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and more reveal they used vintage fashion archives, period-appropriate dyes, and incredible amounts of research to work their magic.

By Julie Miller

Face Time

War Paint

Carey Mulligan’s Cassie uses classically feminine beauty—and one Technicolor wig—to strike back at men in Emerald Fennell’s revenge tale.

By Joanna Robinson

On the Rise

BRINGING BLACK REVOLUTION TO THE MASSES

The breakout director of Judas and the Black Messiah on disguising Fred Hampton’s inspiring and tragic story in the cloak of a genre movie.

By Cassie da Costa

Flashback

Silence is Golden

Thirty years ago, Jonathan Demme’s shocking thriller swept the top Oscars and changed pop culture.

By Tracy Moore

Proust Questionnaire

Sophia Loren

The Oscar-winning legend and star of The Life Ahead talks whipped cream and self-acceptance.

Lost and Found

Promising Young Women

Women directors in the 1970s set the scene for decades of film and television breakthroughs. Now they’re finally getting their due.

By Joy Press

Watch

The Proust Questionnaires

Michael B. Jordan, Zendaya, and more stars from our 2021 Hollywood Portfolio answer 35 questions to reveal their true nature.

Watch

Scandal

The Trouble at Hillsong

Carl Lentz achieved fame as the New York pastor of celebrity-favorite global megachurch Hillsong. Then a cheating scandal blew up his life—and left his congregants questioning everything.

By Alex French and Dan Adler

Vanities

Hunter Schafer Makes the TV We Need

The actor on fame, Euphoria, and writing her own stories.

By Britt Hennemuth

Power Players

Agent of Change

The talent manager is on the phone with Michael B. Jordan right now—or maybe Idris Elba, Gemma Chan, Donald Glover, or Riz Ahmed.

By Britt Hennemuth

First Person

Will Woke Go Up in Smoke?

A TV writer-creator on what happens to virtue-signalling when people think the pressure’s off.

By Jenny Lumet

Streaming

The Warner Wars

Did one of Hollywood’s oldest studios kill moviegoing as we know it or drag us into the future?

By Richard Rushfield

See All of V.F.’s Hollywood Issues

Dive into nearly 30 years of photography, starring Hollywood’s most gifted and glamorous.

Off to the Races

The Frontrunners

Richard Lawson surveys the landscape and weighs the odds for films like Nomadland, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Minari, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Mank.

By Richard Lawson

Underdog

Cartoon Saloon’s Unlikely Oscar Journey

The independent Irish animation studio has broken into Hollywood while remaining committed to doing things its own way—and deep-pocketed investors are taking notice.

By Joanna Robinson

Beauty

Chasing that Hollywood Glow

Actor Betty Gilpin test-drives beauty products for the age of ruthless hi-def cameras.

By Betty Gilpin

The Writing Life

Super Powers

The journalist turned playwright Kemp Powers has written just two features, Soul and One Night in Miami... They’re both Oscar front-runners.