The magazine Vanity Fair has an annual tradition of an issue devoted largely to movies, released just before the Oscars. It's on the stands now.
The cover photo this time features young actresses Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoë Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin and America Ferrara.
The articles include "The Vietnam Oscars" looking back at what Cimino's The Deer Hunter and Hal Ashby's Coming Home accomplished back in 1978, "Here's to You, Mr. Nichols" on the making of The Graduate, "Killer Instincts" with George Romero, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and John Carpenter talking about the Horror Movie phenomenon they collectively started in the 1970s, "Mailer's Movie Madness" is a piece on Norman Mailer's film career, "Brideshead Re-Revisited" about the upcoming big screen version of the lauded 1981 TV mini-series now starring Emma Thompson, "Daughter Dearest" with an excerpt from an upcoming book about Joan Crawford from another of her daughters who paints a completely different picture of the star than the infamous bio by Christina, and "The Right Fluff: A Guy's Guide to Chick Flicks". There's also a nice (if brief) one-page spotlight on the great documentarian Albert Maysles and the final page is a Proust-style questionnaire with living legend Joan Fontaine, now 90-years-old.
The centerpiece is often the photo spread featuring icons and present-day Oscar nominees. This time there's a theme: they're recreating moments from Alfred Hitchcock movies. So there's Charlize Theron as Grace Kelly in Dial M for Murder, Scarlett Johansson & Javier Bardem as Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, Naomi Watts as Tippi Hedren's Marnie, Keira Knightley & Jennifer Jason Leigh as Joan Fontaine & Judith Anderson in Rebecca, Emile Hirsch & James McAvoy as Farley Granger & Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train, Renée Zellweger as Kim Novak in Vertigo, Gwyneth Paltrow & Robert Downey Jr. as Grace Kelly & Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, Tang Wei, Josh Brolin, Casey Affleck, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Foster, Omar Metwally and Julie Christie all adrift in the Lifeboat, Jodie Foster as Tippi Hedren in The Birds, Seth Rogan as Cary Grant in North by Northwest, and Marion Cotillard as Janet Leigh in the famous shower scene from Psycho.
The funniest is Rogan, about as far from Cary Grant as one can get, running from a plane in a cornfield with his gut hanging over his belt. Jodie Foster does look great, but the best of them is Naomi Watts as Marnie. As much as I abhor remakes, that photo almost makes me want to see it done with her. Almost.
Overall a good issue this year.
If you can't make it to the newsstand, some of the articles and a behind-the-scenes video of the Hitchcock photos are available on the Vanity Fair website @ www.vanityfair.com.
The cover photo this time features young actresses Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoë Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin and America Ferrara.
The articles include "The Vietnam Oscars" looking back at what Cimino's The Deer Hunter and Hal Ashby's Coming Home accomplished back in 1978, "Here's to You, Mr. Nichols" on the making of The Graduate, "Killer Instincts" with George Romero, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and John Carpenter talking about the Horror Movie phenomenon they collectively started in the 1970s, "Mailer's Movie Madness" is a piece on Norman Mailer's film career, "Brideshead Re-Revisited" about the upcoming big screen version of the lauded 1981 TV mini-series now starring Emma Thompson, "Daughter Dearest" with an excerpt from an upcoming book about Joan Crawford from another of her daughters who paints a completely different picture of the star than the infamous bio by Christina, and "The Right Fluff: A Guy's Guide to Chick Flicks". There's also a nice (if brief) one-page spotlight on the great documentarian Albert Maysles and the final page is a Proust-style questionnaire with living legend Joan Fontaine, now 90-years-old.
The centerpiece is often the photo spread featuring icons and present-day Oscar nominees. This time there's a theme: they're recreating moments from Alfred Hitchcock movies. So there's Charlize Theron as Grace Kelly in Dial M for Murder, Scarlett Johansson & Javier Bardem as Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, Naomi Watts as Tippi Hedren's Marnie, Keira Knightley & Jennifer Jason Leigh as Joan Fontaine & Judith Anderson in Rebecca, Emile Hirsch & James McAvoy as Farley Granger & Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train, Renée Zellweger as Kim Novak in Vertigo, Gwyneth Paltrow & Robert Downey Jr. as Grace Kelly & Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, Tang Wei, Josh Brolin, Casey Affleck, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Foster, Omar Metwally and Julie Christie all adrift in the Lifeboat, Jodie Foster as Tippi Hedren in The Birds, Seth Rogan as Cary Grant in North by Northwest, and Marion Cotillard as Janet Leigh in the famous shower scene from Psycho.
The funniest is Rogan, about as far from Cary Grant as one can get, running from a plane in a cornfield with his gut hanging over his belt. Jodie Foster does look great, but the best of them is Naomi Watts as Marnie. As much as I abhor remakes, that photo almost makes me want to see it done with her. Almost.
Overall a good issue this year.
If you can't make it to the newsstand, some of the articles and a behind-the-scenes video of the Hitchcock photos are available on the Vanity Fair website @ www.vanityfair.com.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Last edited by Holden Pike; 02-19-08 at 06:55 PM.