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What Is Cinema?

The best movies feel as if they’d been born, not made. In a new series of articles and videos, Vanity Fair, in partnership with Rolex, starts a revealing conversation with—and among—filmmakers about their craft, their visions, and the art of paying inspiration forward. Technology and industry trends may change, but the drive to tell stories that mean something, and will last, does not. I think you’ll enjoy listening in.
—Radhika Jones, Vanity Fair Editor in Chief

Review

Sex and Tennis Make a Good Match in Challengers

Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist form the season’s most seductive triangle.
Movies

Bohemian Rhapsodies: Timothée, Leo, Selena, and the Boom in Musician Biopics

Why movies on everyone from Bob Dylan to Amy Winehouse to Air Supply—yes, Air Supply!—are suddenly headed to the screen.
slowly, then all at once

Against All Odds, John Green and Hannah Marks Made a Movie of Turtles All the Way Down

The pair on adapting Green’s follow-up to The Fault in Our Stars, living with OCD, and what’s next for the author: “I think I’ll return to writing novels. Maybe. I hope?”
EXCLUSIVE

The Jinx Part Two: Andrew Jarecki on Robert Durst and His Long-Simmering Sequel

The filmmaker previews the new chapter of his 20-year saga chronicling now convicted murderer Robert Durst, which premieres April 21 on HBO.
Still Watching

Dakota Fanning Thinks Ripley’s Marge and Tom Are More Alike Than They Seem

Andrew Scott makes for a captivating killer in the first four episodes of Netflix’s Ripley, streaming now. Dakota Fanning stops by Still Watching to talk about her new spin on Marge Sherwood and how she stayed grounded while transitioning from child star to adult actor. 
“There are ghosts on every corner…”

The Many Lives of Walton Goggins

The actor plays dual roles in Fallout—a monster and the man he used to be—prompting a look back at his own unlikely past.
Shot List

Inside the Stunning, Devious Cinematography of Netflix’s Ripley 

Director Steven Zaillian and cinematographer Robert Elswit reveal the methods, ideas, and secrets of their new series’ meticulous black-and-white visuals.  
Movies

Were Blockers and Game Night the Last Great Studio Comedies?

Directors Kay Cannon, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan Goldstein gather six years later to hash out what went right in their still-popular 2018 films—and why we might not see another one-two punch like this one in theaters again.
SPOTLIGHT

Callum Turner Takes Flight

The Masters of the Air and Boys in the Boat star has worked with Clooney, Hanks, and Spielberg—so yes, you could say it’s going well.
EXCLUSIVE

Inside Wicked: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Talk Glinda and Elphaba

Plus, Jon M. Chu reveals his vision for the feverishly anticipated musical alongside brand-new images of Erivo, Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, and more.
an enemy of the people

Why Is Vladimir Putin So Afraid of The Master and Margarita?

Five years ago, filmmaker Michael Lockshin embarked on an ambitious adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic novel. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, the movie became a hit, and Putin’s cronies went to war against Lockshin’s blockbuster.
Always Great

Inside Carla Gugino’s Singular Career, From Spy Kids Mothering to House of Usher Murdering

The veteran character actor, currently starring in The Girls on the Bus, believes her career choices have “confused” people. Now she reflects on her Hollywood plan, decades in the making.
OG RHONY

Tilda Swinton Embraces Her Inner Real Housewife in Julio Torres’s Problemista

Swinton and Torres, who star opposite each other in Torres’s debut film, open up about terrible bosses, wonderful communities, and the deeply damaged psyches of New York City’s chief Karens.
Exclusive

Christopher Walken Still Rules: On Dune 2, Star Wars, and True Power

After four years away, the legendary actor tells all about his emperor of the galaxy—and about missing out on Han Solo in another universe.
dune it again

Dune: Meet Loire Cotler, Whose Voice Powers the Film’s Propulsive Score

“Dune has its own rhythm,” composer Hans Zimmer previously told Vanity Fair. “So it’s obvious that I would find a woman who should know everything about rhythm and then give you the cry of a banshee.”
Exclusive

First Look: The Crow Flies Again With Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs 

More than 30 years after tragedy struck the Brandon Lee version, director Rupert Sanders launches a new incarnation. 
baton down the hatches

What Real Conductors Think of Bradley Cooper in Maestro and Cate Blanchett in Tár

Two professionals evaluate the Oscar nominees who embodied Leonard Bernstein and Lydia Tár.
Awards Insider!

How The Holdovers Pulled Off Paul Giamatti’s Lazy Eye

Cristina Patterson’s custom contact lenses have transformed actors into all manners of monsters and zombies—but the curmudgeonly professor at the center of The Holdovers was a new kind of challenge.
Movies

The 37 Best Feel-Good Movies to Boost Your Mood

From silent-film classics to modern rom-com hits, the best feel-good movies have a timeless power to bring out smiles—and sometimes a few tears too.
Temporal Pincer Movement

With Oppenheimer Marching Toward Best Picture, an Overlooked Christopher Nolan Classic Gets Its Due

Tenet was released under pandemic restrictions and months before Nolan’s relationship with Warner Bros. reached an acrimonious end. But its acolytes never gave up the faith.
Dune: Part Two

Austin Butler: The Making of a Sexy Pyschopath

The actor and director Denis Villeneuve break down his Dune: Part Two role as the lethal Feyd-Rautha.
Review

Dune: Part Two Is Bigger and Better

Director Denis Villeneuve finally provides some meat for all that spice.
let’s get together and feel all right

The Real Story of Rita and Bob Marley

A closer look at the marriage at the center of the new biopic Bob Marley: One Love.
Awards Insider First Look

How Robert Downey Jr. Helped The Sympathizer Pull Off an Audacious, Ferocious Adaptation

A Pulitzer Prize–winning book, an iconic filmmaker, a beloved movie star, and a breakout young actor meet for HBO’s new limited series. You’re not ready for the results.
Exclusive

Adam Sandler’s Spaceman Took Him to a Deep, Dark Place

The actor drew on fear and loneliness for the drama about a far-off astronaut trying to escape himself.
Exclusive

Wicked First Look: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Costume

The stars talk for the first time about playing the unlikeliest of friends, Glinda and Elphaba. With the teaser dropping during the Super Bowl, Wicked is looking pretty…wonderful.
fine feathered friends

The Forgotten Swans: Truman Capote’s Society Friends Left Out of Feud

These women are every bit as fascinating as Babe Paley, Slim Keith, and the glamorous rest depicted on FX’s Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.
He Is Iron Man

Robert Downey Jr. Reveals the Surprising Roles He Almost Got—And Almost Lost

The Oppenheimer Oscar nominee was passed over for a DC villain, and says Tom Cruise nearly starred in both Chaplin and Iron Man.
exclusive

Brad Pitt and the Wild Making of Legends of the Fall

In an excerpt from his revelatory new book, Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions, director Ed Zwick goes deep on the pain, the glory—and the sometimes combative male energy on set. 
exclusive first look

Inside Ripley: Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning, and Johnny Flynn’s Bad Romance

The trio at the center of Steven Zaillian’s bold Netflix adaptation speak for the first time about the twisted triangle around scam artist Tom Ripley: “That’s the brilliant thing about a scammer story like this—you’re rooting for somebody who’s committing crimes.”
First Look

Steve Martin Gets the Documentary Treatment in Steve!—And He Doesn’t Hold Back

An exclusive look inside the ambitious two-part portrait of the comedy legend, which Morgan Neville structures as a documentary like no other.
Awards Insider!

Barbie’s Dream Revenge: How Snub Fury Can Upend an Oscar Race

Greta Gerwig’s and Margot Robbie’s omissions might spark an outpouring of support. It’s happened before—just ask Ben Affleck.
spy vs. spy

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine on Mr. & Mrs. Smith: “This Is Actual Intimacy”

The stars of Amazon’s new spy-rom-com talk glamour, farts, and why Phoebe Waller-Bridge left the project: “Her whole process is very different from our process.”
Mojo Rising

Playing the Pretty Boy: Ryan Gosling, Jacob Elordi, and More Redefine the Himbo

Their latest characters are stunning, stunted—and in the awards race.
Awards Insider!

Oppenheimer’s Big Bang: A Surprisingly Hilarious Oral History

Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr. on making Christopher Nolan’s historical epic.
Love and Marriage

The Most Famous Couple in the World: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on the Set of a Classic

She was too young and beautiful for the role, in a tumultuous marriage, and had never been asked to rehearse before. An excerpt from Cocktails With George and Martha about the wild filming of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Awards Insider!

The History Woven Into Every Costume of Killers of the Flower Moon

For the first-ever live Little Gold Men podcast, Lily Gladstone, Jacqueline West, and Julie O’Keefe joined to talk about the Osage culture visible in every frame of Martin Scorsese’s film. 
old hollywood

Cary Grant and Randolph Scott’s Hollywood Story: “Our Souls Did Touch”

Hedda Hopper once asked of Grant, “Whom does he think he is fooling?” The star’s bond with Scott has been the subject of nearly a century of speculation, but the truth about their impact on each other’s lives has been hiding in plain sight.
Little Gold Men

How Julianne Moore Found the “Hysterical” Truth in May December

The Oscar winner gives another exceptionally complex performance in Todd Haynes’s Netflix melodrama, one that required a lot of preparation—and a willingness to take big risks.
Awards Insider!

American Fiction’s Subtle Secret Weapon: All About Laura Karpman’s Jazzy Score

Emmy-winning composer Laura Karpman takes Vanity Fair behind the music, how she envisioned Jeffrey Wright’s voice as a tenor sax, and more.
Character Building

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Put Everything Into Origin. She Hopes It Wasn’t in Vain

The Oscar nominee reveals all about her brilliant, emotional performance in Ava DuVernay’s awards underdog—and the effort to get folks to see it.
Q & A

Jodie Foster, Ascendant at 61, Reckons With Her Complex Mother’s Ghost

With magnetic roles in both True Detective: Night Country and Nyad, a legend looks back.
Reunited

Greta Gerwig and Natalie Portman on the “Cosmic” Connection That Still Links Them

The Barbie director and the May December star, who have been friends since No Strings Attached, have seen their paths cross multiple times over the years, with more to come.
Awards Insider!

Golden Globes 2024: See All the Nominations Here

Barbie and Oppenheimer reigned in the film categories, while Succession and Abbott Elementary continued their dominance on the TV side. 
Hollywood

Society of the Snow: The Real-Life Story That Inspired the Dark Oscar Contender

“It was the worst nightmare you can imagine,” a real-life survivor said of the 1972 Andes plane crash and the cannibalism that followed, an ordeal depicted in Society of the Snow.
Little Gold Men

The Year’s Most Surprising Golden Globe Nominee on Her Cinematic Cinderella Story

Meet Alma Pöysti, the Finnish star whose breakout performance in Fallen Leaves has netted international recognition—and placed her in the same league as Emma Stone, Margot Robbie, and more.
Reunited

Rosamund Pike and Chris Messina on Performing as “Two Assholes Playing Their Best Game”

The pair, who starred in 2020’s I Care a Lot, reveal the secrets to creating their scene-stealing Saltburn and Air characters.
TRUE STORY

The Iron Claw: The Real-Life Von Erich Tragedies You Don’t See Onscreen

Sean Durkin spent eight years adapting the story of the Von Erich wrestling family for the screen and found that there is such a thing as too much sadness.
Review

There Are No Winners in Wrestling Drama The Iron Claw

Zac Efron does his best to lend a brutal story some real humanity. 
Oscar Buzz

The Love Story of Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad

Batiste was being filmed for the documentary American Symphony when his wife learned that her cancer had returned. The result is full of beauty and pain.
Awards Insider!

Golden Globes Nominations 2024: The 10 Biggest Snubs and Surprises

Unexpected cheers for Beau Is Afraid and Slow Horses meet troubling misses for The Color Purple and Napoleon.
FROM THE MAGAZINE

The Talented Mr. Ripley at 25—Frank, Queer, and Ahead of Its Time

With Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law all at the peak of their star power, the thriller was an Oscar anomaly that became a touchstone.
FROM THE MAGAZINE

On Set With Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and More

Go behind the scenes with some of the year’s most celebrated Oscar contenders.
Awards Insider!

Nicolas Cage Is Almost Done Making Films: “I May Have Three or Four More Movies Left in Me”

In conversation with Vanity Fair, the Oscar winner reveals why he’s nearing the end of his big-screen career—and what he hopes to do next.
cover story

Robert Downey Jr.’s Third Act: “He’s Lived a Complicated Life. He Understands the Stakes”

Following an Oscar-worthy turn in Oppenheimer, Downey’s inner circle size up the man and his considerable legacy.
Year in Review

The Best Movies of 2023

Vanity Fair’s chief critic lists the best movies of 2023, from Past Lives and May December to Poor Things.
Awards Insider!

Saltburn Star Barry Keoghan on the Film’s Revealing Ending

“Without sounding cocky, it wasn’t the nudity. That was fine for me. It was the dancing.”
Exclusive

Fallout First Look: This Is How the World Ends—With a Smiling Thumbs Up

The globally popular video game has become an epic TV series from Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan.
IN CONVERSATION

Playing Murderous Alex Murdaugh Was Freeing for Bill Pullman

The actor knows it’s surprising to hear that he stars as the notorious killer in Lifetime’s Murdaugh Murders: “There was something that felt like, this is a challenge.”
Awards Insider Exclusive

Matt Bomer Takes His Dark, Sexy Turn: “I Got to Be the Bad Boy”

Between Fellow Travelers and Maestro, the Emmy nominee is having the biggest year of his career—and that’s after he walked away from Barbie. We discuss his enticing new chapter.
Reviews

The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Is the Rare Good Prequel

It’s possible, Francis Lawrence’s movie suggests, to do something as cynical as a brand extension with care and insight.
AWARDS SEASON

Sandra Hüller Steps—Cautiously—Into the Spotlight

With roles in two riveting films this awards season, the moral thriller Anatomy of a Fall and the Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest, the German actor is figuring out what to make of Hollywood’s sudden attention.
COVER STORY

After Barbie, Greta Gerwig Has No Plans to Rest

The director on her box office dominance, life with Noah Baumbach, and the grossest parenting story you’ve ever heard.
shot list

How the Warm, Elegant Look of The Holdovers Came Together

Director Alexander Payne and cinematographer Eigil Bryld needed a lot of snow, and actors up for the task, to tell the quiet, melancholy story of three people spending Christmas at a New England boarding school.
Character Building

How Cailee Spaeny Became Priscilla

Inside the endless fittings, giant wigs, intimate conversations, and single-take risks that went into the creation of an indelible heroine for Sofia Coppola’s new film.
Gobble Gobble

The 21 Best Thanksgiving Movies to Stream Right Now

Embrace one of Hollywood’s more undercelebrated holidays with Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Knives Out; or Spider-Man. Yes, Spider-Man!
Little Gold Men

Greta Lee on the High Stakes of Past Lives

“After 20 years of waiting for something like this, I didn't want to mess it up,” says the actor starring in Celine Song’s debut film.
Little Gold Men

With The Holdovers, Alexander Payne Faces His Admirers

The Oscar winner is back with his best-received movie in years. He’s still working out the reasons why people are responding to it. 
video

Jacob Elordi’s Elvis Voice Stunned Priscilla Presley

“What struck her the most was how much his voice sounded like Elvis,” Priscilla filmmaker Sofia Coppola says of her real-life subject’s reaction to the film.
The Power of Christ Compels You

The Truth Behind the Hidden Demon in The Exorcist

A deep investigation into a single frame of film—and a bizarre mystery that’s lasted for decades.
Shot List

Inside Todd Haynes’s Twisted, Ingenious Vision for May December

The director and his cinematographer, Christopher Blauvelt, go deep into the images behind their Netflix dark comedy—and showcasing three of the best performances of the year.
Awards Insider First Look

Why Anthony Hopkins’s Whole Career Led Him to Freud’s Last Session

Hopkins plays a Sigmund Freud in deep reflection over his extraordinary life and impending death—an experience that compelled the actor to look inward himself.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Ari Aster Still Wants You to Consider Beau Is Afraid

The writer-director gets frank about the “stunted” release of his polarizing film: “You’re very excited by the idea of dividing people, but then it comes out…and you realize, ‘This is also functioning as a deterrent for people to even go see it.’”
onward

Nyad Is a Love Story

Screenwriter Julia Cox on structuring her sports movie like a romance, controversy around its real-life subject, and “the unbelievable tenacity and athleticism of Annette Bening.”
Awards Insider!

Leonardo DiCaprio Cements a Thrilling New Era in Killers of the Flower Moon

The Oscar winner’s insidious portrayal of a bystander to genocide fits the recent theme of his filmography—and marks perhaps his most interesting stretch as an actor.
The Sooner State

The Strange but True Story of the Pioneer Woman’s Link to Killers of the Flower Moon

Ree Drummond’s family hasn’t been directly implicated in the Reign of Terror depicted in Martin Scorsese’s new movie—but their present-day dynasty has an unmistakable connection to that years-long killing spree.
Little Gold Men

Behind Jamie Foxx’s Brilliant, Wild Performance in The Burial

“He’s almost frighteningly talented,” director Maggie Betts tells Vanity Fair. She reveals how Foxx’s all-timer performance in the new Amazon film came to be.
Cover Story

Malibu Barbra: Inside Barbra Streisand’s World

On the eve of her memoir, the legend invites VF to her home to talk music, dogs, pickup lines, and the movies she still wants to make.
COVER STORY

Barbra Streisand on The Way We Were and Her Fight to Get It Right

In an exclusive from her memoir, the legend talks about Robert Redford (“great teeth”) and the scenes Sydney Pollack should never have cut.
Witchy Women

How Practical Magic Pissed Off a Real-Life Witch

Twenty-five years later, the film’s director talks that famous midnight-margaritas scene—“Everybody got shit-faced”—and the magic consultant who threatened to sue Warner Bros. over the production: “They said, ‘Fuck this,’ and wrote her a check.”
Shot List

How The Royal Hotel Pulls Off the Most Potent Cinematic Tension of the Year

Kitty Green’s second feature explores everyday terrors on a scale so believably familiar you never know if she’s going to turn the screw into a full horror movie. Here’s how the film maintained its pressure-cooker tone.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Christine Vachon, Hollywood’s Greatest Anomaly

The legendary producer broke Hollywood barriers, changed American movies, and is behind two of 2023’s best films in Past Lives and May December. Her first Oscar nomination is finally in sight: “It would mean an extraordinary amount to me.”
Exclusive

Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa Steam Up the Spy Thriller Argylle

Actually, it’s all fake. Bryce Dallas Howard stars in director Matthew Vaughn’s send-up of his own action movies. “We’re having fun destroying these tropes.”
history

The Outsiders: Why Black Audiences Love Italian American Screen Icons

Tony Montana. Michael Corleone. Rocky Balboa. Beloved film tropes illuminate a history of race, whiteness, and the fallacy of the American dream.
Exclusive Excerpt

Marvel Secrets Revealed: Alternate Castings That Would Have Changed Everything

Chadwick Boseman as Drax. Alexander Skarsgård as Thor. John Krasinski as Captain America. An exclusive book excerpt dives into the formative days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Helen Mirren Confronts the Complex, Challenging “Career Milestone” of Golda

In an exclusive chat, Mirren gets frank with Vanity Fair about the controversy around her casting, the experience of using heavy prosthetics for the first time, and the decision to portray a divisive historical subject.
FROM THE MAGAZINE

Marty Without the Mob: Killers of the Flower Moon Joins Rich Scorsese History

The iconic crime sagas made him a legend, but he’s given us gems of all kinds along the way. Remembering The Age of Innocence, Raging Bull, and more.
6 slides
New Directions

Nia DaCosta, Barrier-Breaking Director of The Marvels, on Navigating the Blockbuster Machine

“The thing I’ve been most surprised by lately,” says the filmmaker, who broke through with the horror hit Candyman, “is how much respect I’ve been getting from these middle-aged white dudes.”
Awards Insider!

The 14 Best Movies From the Fall Film Festivals

Venice, Telluride, and Toronto offered a wide range of titles worth anticipating. Our film festival correspondents pick their favorites.
Toronto Film Festival

Anna Kendrick Soars With Directorial Debut About True-Life Killer on a Game Show

Other actors turned directors have struggled to connect at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Patricia Arquette Makes a Bold Directorial Debut With Gonzo Girl

An aspiring writer falls into the chaotic world of a Hunter S. Thompson–like character in this coming-of-age tale.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Kate Winslet Embodies an Unsung American Icon in Lee

Winslet digs deep in her portrayal of groundbreaking wartime photographer Lee Miller. Inside the biopic that was two decades in the making.
Venice Film Festival

In Priscilla, a Complex True Story Is Gracefully Told

Priscilla Presley's marriage to the most famous man of her era is the subject of Sofia Coppola's measured film. 
Excerpt

How Madonna Turned the League of Their Own Set Into a Three-Ring Circus

In this excerpt from the new book No Crying in Baseball, Erin Carlson reveals how the pop star’s hiring made an A-list actor drop out, how Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell became fast friends, and how a $10 tip stunned a Madonna-impersonating drag queen.
Awards Insider!

2023 Fall Preview: 46 Films to Watch Out For

From actors making their directorial debuts to cinema legends pushing the form even further, the moviegoing landscape is as exciting as it’s ever been this season.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Welcome to Saltburn’s Twisted Gothic Tale

“There has to be an element of revulsion,” says Emerald Fennell of her sophomore film about desire and obsession, starring Barry Keoghan.
Awards Insider Exclusive

With Maestro, Leonard Bernstein’s Legacy and Loves Finally Hit the Big Screen

His daughter Jamie Bernstein speaks for the first time about Bradley Cooper’s transformation to play her father, and the “portrait of a marriage” at the heart of the film.
Awards Insider Exclusive

Inside All of Us Strangers, Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal’s Metaphysical Love Story

Andrew Haigh’s new film All of Us Strangers parallels a steamy romance between Scott and Mescal with an aching reunion of the dead and the living. Together, they make for an emotional epic.
scotchy-scotch-scotch

“That Escalated Quickly”: Inside Anchorman’s Epic Battle Sequence

An excerpt from Saul Austerlitz’s Kind of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century.
Awards Insider Exclusive

First Look: Annette Bening Swims Toward the Role of a Lifetime in Nyad

Bening and costar Jodie Foster reveal the intensive training, tight bonding, and mental endurance that their stirring biopic required: “I don’t know how she did it.”
Awards Insider Exclusive

First Look: Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan Face a Dangerous Future in Foe

This twisty, apocalyptic marital thriller takes the two Oscar nominees on a wild ride—one that will keep you guessing until the film’s final seconds. We go inside the intense collaboration.