Vanity Fair's "Hollywood Issue" Cover 2015 - A Discussion
Friday, February 6, 2015 at 2:28PM Yes yes, the latest Annie Liebovitz cut & paste beauty --like everyone is there at the same time! Puhleaze (check out that photoshop shadow behind Benedict's shoulder) -- of shiny celebrities with really good PR teams has arrived and we haven't yet discussed it. My bad. Not from lack of interest, mind. So here it is...
The lucky celebs who made it this year: Amy Adams, Channing Tatum, Reese Witherspoon, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sienna Miller, Oscar Isaac, and Miles Teller.
You may recall that last year's VF cover was unusually diverse in terms of ethnicity but we're back to the usual collection of whiter shade of pale beauties. But I don't want to get hung up on that issue again. Awards Daily already covered it anyway. Let's talk numbers before we dig in to each fold.
Average Age: 34
Oldest to Youngest: Adams (40), Oyelowo (38), Witherspoon (38), Cumberbatch (38), Isaac (35), Tatum (34), Miller (33), Redmayne (33), Jones (31), and Teller (27)
Most Obviously Missing: Where is ubiquitous Jessica Chastain?
Extremely Arguable Rough Length of Stardom: Witherspoon (24 years), Miller (11 years), Adams (10 years), Tatum (9), Cumberbatch (6), Redmayne (5), Jones (4), Isaac (4), Teller (3), and Oyelowo (2)
Cumulative Oscar Tally: 10 nominations and 1 win -- Half of the nominations are Amy Adams. Hee!
Not Virgins: Reese Witherspoon (1999), Sienna Miller (2005), Amy Adams (2008), and Felicity Jones (2012) have all been on the Hollywood Issue cover before.
This magazine cover is dedicated to anyone who ever dreamed of hauling Amy Adams around on their shoulders like a sack of flour. Since Amy needs and Channing both need to be in a musical poste haste this image is doubling as a pitch meeting for a reboot of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. But problem: Amy and Reese are a few years older than Channing Tatum so it's totally easier to imagine them being cast as his mother rather than his love interest. Oh Hollywood. Never change.
(There is something weird about Reese's boobs in this image like they're two high and round and I'm only thinking this because they looked so great and natural in her nude scenes in Wild.)
Amy, Chan and Reese are all at the top of their careers so this is obviously one of those Hollywood covers that's not trying to predict the next wave but to illustrate the now. And that's even more true of the fold since all four of these actors have basically just come into their full star power
Eddie Redmayne and his screen wife Felicity Jones are doing a little swinging on this cover because you'll notice it's Benedict Cumberbatch getting cuddly with the Mrs.
David Oyelowo is nearly as shoved into the background on this cover as Miles Teller is (sigh) but at least he gets to touch Eddie Redmayne. Redmayne has played so many gay roles in his career that when I look at this photo of Alan Turning holding his wife I keep imagining that it's just a Savage Grace situation and they'll carry on without her once Felicity joins the Star Wars and Comic Book film franchises.
I'd be most worried about David Oyelowo's career of everyone on this cover except for the fact that somehow Sienna Miller is still kicking around Hollywood and she made the cover again. After years of being a "rising star" she's still more famous for being famous than for any role. Even American Sniper, as huge a hit as that is, can't change that since she's stuck with the ever dull "longsuffering wife" role.
Remember when Oscar Isaac's hair was so super short when we first got really familiar (Drive / W.E.) and who knew it was so curly? You KNOW that Sienna Miller ran her fingers through it at least once while they posed. If they were in fact in the room together. Miles Teller is so isolated in the background (he's the only one not touching anyone) that maybe he wasn't in the room with anyone.
What do we think of the Errol Flynn mustache? From a distance it's cute but I don't think I'd like to see it up close. He's too young for it (the moustache and the Reed Richards role)
AND NOW I'M JUST BABBLING. Let's predict whose career will still be just as healthy in ten years time. I'm going to say Cumberbatch and Tatum as "Most Likely To Keep Succeeding" (and not because they're my favorites of the ten... though I do love Chan and have since She's the Man). I'm not going to predict whose career will be over because that's mean. But maybe you won't be as cuddly in the comments.
Do you like the cover? Don't you wish they would really switch it up one of those years. Like having everyone in bed together a la Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice or in action or group dance pose or something. It's very much the same each year and the only thing they do as variations is whether its co-ed or all girls and whether it's established or "Future Stars". The only radical departures are those awful years when they just put like 3 people on the cover.
No! Ensembles Forever.
My dream cover of the moment (it changes monthly) is all Gallic divas: Deneuve. Binoche. Ardant. Seydoux. Cotillard. Huppert. Etcetera. With honorary Frenchies Scarlett Johansson (she married in) and Jodie Foster (she's fluent). Last months' dream (in honor of Luise Rainer) was an all double Oscar-winning beauties cover: Streep, Blanchett, Foster, Jane Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Sally Field, Maggie Smith, Jessica Lange, and Dianne Wiest. If I'm forgetting someone, don't feel the need to remind me.
Reader Comments (84)
I LOLed at "don't feel the need to remind me". I sure don't feel the need.
I reject this cover on grounds of taste. Annie Liebovitz must be stopped. No, thank you, ma'am.
BTW Sienna Miller's agent should be there instead of her. Would make more sense anyway. ;)
Huge step-down from last year's peak fabulosity and not just for the obvious reasons.
Amy Adams must have the BEST PUBLICIST EVER TO WALK THE EARTH. She gets the Vanity Fair covers, the HR roundtables (every fricking year) even when she's not nominated for an Oscar, despite being a very bland/boring celebrity and not really a household name.
I swear to God, Amy Adams' agent/publicist needs a hefty raise because she's been included in seemingly everything regarding the Oscars in the last 5 years.
whoops, Jase beat me to it. We're on the same page. lol.
Oh you didn't forget anyone. You clearly stated double Oscar winning BEAUTIES, so that last qualifier excludes Swank anyway.
Just keeping it real people.
Awful choices for this cover, in my opinion. Seems like they filled their "minority quota" last year or something. You could include Chadwick Boseman last year for 42 last year, but couldn't include Carmen Ejogo or Tessa Thompson this year...? No, of course Sienna Miller makes much more sense.
Also, I will gladly join the "over Amy Adams" conga line. Geez louise. I hope she wins the Oscar for the Janis Joplin biopic and then fades into obscurity for years.
Just to be clear, I think Amy Adams is a fantastic actress (her performance in American Hustle was a thing of gymnastic beauty) and I have no problem with her multiple Oscar nominations. But as a public personality, she's just so vanilla. The only interesting thing she's ever (unwittingly) shown through her 50000 interviews and appearances over the last few years is how clearly THIRSTY she is for Henry Cavill.
Steph - Come on now. No matter how old the Swank hate is becoming, dogging on her for her looks is not cool.
For me, there are quite a few double Oscar winners who don't deserve them. Jodie Foster didn't deserve an Oscar for The Accused. Haven't seen Places in the Heart but doesn't seem like Sally Field is a versatile enough actress to warrant another Oscar past her iconic turn in Norma Rae. The only way I'd be okay with that is if Bette Midler had won for The Rose (my choice) and Places in the Heart was a makeup Oscar. And Elizabeth Taylor... I mean Virgina Woolf, no doubt, but BUtterfield 8? Nah...
Swank 100% deserved her Boys Don't Cry Oscar. Obviously didn't deserve the second one, but at least Million Dollar Baby is a better film than something like The Accused...at least for me.
And Swank did great work in The Homesman that would've been nomination worthy. She's trying. It's been a decade. Give her a break.
No idea why I'm defending lol but I hate to see someone dragging a woman because of her looks. And at this point hating on her feels like an incredibly stale notion.
LOL @ Jase for a caveat that's even more insulting. "I have no problem with her work...just with HER."
@Philip: I think La Swank deserved both of her Oscars, and she's certainly not ugly, but I'm not going to pretend she's a greta beauty just because she's famous. Words have meanings. Even shallow words like "beauty" (and please don't start with that inner beauty crap. Save that for Shrek).
In terms of Amy Adams, I think she's fantastic in Junebug and The Fighter, her American Hustle was interesting but flawed, Doubt was bland and one note, and I haven't seen The Master and have no idea how I'd feel considering the divisive things I've heard.
But five nominations?????????? I just don't consider her to be an actress of the five nominations caliber. I don't understand what makes Hollywood so infatuated with her. As a person she irks me. She seems extremely boring and uninteresting, and kinda entitled too. I don't think she's an awful person but you just need a break from people after a while.
Last year's cover was SO much better. Nothing beats Julia's gams and teeth.
The lighting is off across the board. It's almost as if their heads were photo shopped onto different bodies or at the least "adjusted."
Steph, I'll admit I laughed out loud when I read your post, but that *was* very catty.
@Sgt Pepper: This is the comment section of a blog post about a silly Vanity Fair photo shoot on a film/Oscar site run by a gay man. If we can't be catty here, where can we?
I would have bet money on Gugu Mbatha-Raw making this cover considering her breakout year. Put her in place of Sienna Miller and we'd all be a lot happier.
Oscar Isaac is KILLING me with those curls and those bedroom eyes.
Nathaniel, regarding your remark about Amy's age I feel the need to remind everyone that she's almost 10 (!) years older than her romantic interest in Man of Steel. I don't wanna be obnoxious, I'm just really happy that this decision was made in today's Hollywood, even though I don't necessarily think she was right for that part.
About the cover... meh. It's not just that it's too white (Gugu Mbatha-Raw was right there, you guys), it's that insisting on Amy, Reese, Cumberbatch, etc, seems unimaginative. I have no problem with Sienna Miller, I've alway liked her, inexplicably.
Fold 1 (main cover): We rule.
Middle fold: Rule Britannia.
Fold 3: Messy hair.
Only five of this year's nominees, but under other circumstances it could/should have been nine. (Or was Sienna actually a dark, dark, dark horse?)
John T - Omg yeah, how could I forget Gugu??? She should have for sure made it, no doubt.
I like ensemble formats but I agree with Nathaniel that it should be something they are doing as a group. Croquet, badminton, yoga, dancing?
I wasn't overjoyed by the cover but I loved the short films on Brit invasion, particularly Keira Knightley doing the orgasam scene from Harry Met Sally, and Jeremy Irons taking a try at being Bruce Willis. Films are fun, and the cover needs shaking up.
As for Amy Adams I think during years where she does not have a performance of her own in the running she should donate the services of her amazing publicist to the most deserving female who is a first time nominee. This would count as a humanitarian effort, and possibly result in an Oscar winner we would cherish. I think this would improve relations all the way around.
I am a fan of her work, but we need a little more diversity when it comes to VF covers and roundtables.
Tina Fey on Sienna Miller: "I have never seen a picture of Sienna Miller where I didn’t say, “That girl’s pretty. Who is that?”
Just happened to me. I thought it was Kate Beckinsale
LadyEdith -- this is brilliant. Amy as humanitarian giving back to the business that's been so good to her and the struggling artists who haven't had her luck. And lord knows she'd relate since she kicked around in the background for years until Junebug changed everything.
Amy for the Jean Hersholt ;)
Dull cover, but as always, these comments are so fun and snarky. Paul Outlaw--you rock! A hilarious observation.
The only thing I paid attention to was the text re Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer on 50 years of friendship. Huh? I thought they hated each other, and only reconnected when the Today Show forced them to at some silly televised "reunion".
The Film Experience makes me appreciate Amy Adams' more.
I thought this was supposed to be "young Hollywood" or basically newcomers? Where is Gugu Mbatha-Raw? Kind of seems like a ripe cover for her, no?
Also, Nathaniel, you're WAY too nice. I thought that mustache was a smudge on my screen. I feel like technically Miles Teller is the only one who should be on that cover but not with facial hair like that.
I swoon at Oscar Isaac, meow..
Where is Rosamund Pike?!
Afterall, this cover looks dull.
LOL at Steph.
I second Arkaan.
My favorite cover is the one with Deneuve, Streep, Redgrave, etc, that was so classy.
second favorite is where Winslet, Blanchett and Thurman gave their full-on model mode.
It's not always 'young Hollywood' though that is the theme a lot of the years.
Wow. Thought this was one of the few websites where you could safely read comments - but the misogyny is becoming a bit prevalent and ugly. Or maybe this usually happens and I miss those posts.. Not saying that simply disliking a woman is sexism but the hate for certain actresses is seeping through in ways that would clearly not for a man. It's just a cover, not indicative of anyone's personality or the full reality of the entertainment business.
By the way Amy Adams - 5 nominations in 8 years. Bradley Cooper - 4 nominations in 3 years.
WHERE IS KEIRA KNIGHTLEY SHE HAD AS EXCITING AND DIVERSE YEAR THAN MOST OF THE MEN AND WOMEN HERE.
When I first saw the cover I literally told my friend that Gugu should have been there instead of Sienna! I mean I know she's not very Oscar-y but they usually bring in a couple into the fold who themselves were breakouts rather than their movies. Would have also been lovely to see her with Oscar Isaac instead--did anyone else see them interview each other for a Variety thing? So charming.
When I saw the cover, I also thought for a moment that Sienna Miller was Juno Temple. And yes, I did think of the Tina Fey quote.
OSCAR THOUGH. The thirst is real. omg. Those luscious locks. By the way, the mustache is there because he just finished shooting the new David Simon miniseries for HBO, "Show Me A Hero." So excited for that. Just hours and hours of the opportunity to gaze at him...I mean the show will be great, too, but you know.
SIENNA MILLER'S upcoming and completed projects:
2016 - Live by Night (pre-production) dir. Ben Affleck
Emma Gould
2016 - The Lost City of Z (pre-production) dir. James Gray
Nina Fawcett
2015 - Krystal (pre-production)
2015 - Untitled John Wells Project (post-production)
Helene
2015/I - Black Mass (post-production)
Catherine Greig
2015 - High-Rise (post-production)
Charlotte Melville
2015 - Unfinished Business (completed)
2015 - Mississippi Grind
HATERS / FUCK OFF.
Love the idea of the double Oscar winner cover. This one is awful.
I want to have sex with Oscar Isaac.
All of these people have talent, so I can't see anyone not working at any point. They may not be hot forever, but they will work.
"Cumulative Oscar Tally: 10 nominations and 1 win -- Half of the nominations are Amy Adams. Hee!"
It's even funnier that just a month ago, 5 of the 6 cumulative nominations were Amy's. But she and Oscar Isaac are, in general, by far my two favorite actors of that bunch, so it's sad that she's letting her publicist pimp her so aggressively all the time, which is turning people against her.
About the double Oscar-winning actresses cover: I know you "forgot" Swank, but wouldn't it be nuts if they somehow managed to talk Glenda Jackson into it?
This is a cute video of behind the scenes cover shoot. http://instagram.com/p/ypcmBEED8K/ I love the cover! Old Hollywood glam. Reese's boobs are photoshopped Haha.
the oscars this year are so uninteresting. no acting category brought the comments craze (well, generally it's best actress, or best supporting actress like last year lol). keane vs. redmayne fights won't do.
oops, keaton.
San FranCinema, cosign...Oscar...OSCAR!!!! Sigh.
Steph - Are you implying that gay men are naturally catty? Are you also implying that because Hilary Swank doesn't fit into your conventions of what's considered "beautiful" she shouldn't be celebrated for her work? I know you're joking (I guess) but it's really not cool.
Kareem-take a number.
My pics for the cover; keep Cumberbatch, Oyelowo, and Teller, substitute the rest with; Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessica Chastain, Rosemunde Pike, Keira Knightley, Carmen Ejogo, Patricia Arquette, Laura Dern, J.K. Simmons and Michael Keaton.
The video is fun. Reese looked beautiful. No idea why they needed to "augment" her natural assets. Photoshop is the root of all evil.
Reese is channeling some Meryl Streep from the Oscars when she won for The Iron Lady
I know one has to look at these covers tongue-in-cheek. But I don't like the way the women are being caressed/handled. I find Amy-Channing-Reese photo most appalling. How can the two established female stars aged 38 and 40 agree to such a pose? I doubt if Meryl Streep or even Jessica Chastain would have agreed to this.
Amy should have said no to that pose......but since it is a bad photo on so many levels, it's a small point.
I find it interesting that Jones gets the prime spot, prime dress and most elegant pose. It's as if it was all designed to make her look best. Everyone will open this up and your eye automatically goes to her (and she looks beautiful).
glad no one tried to say isaac is nonwhite.
Henry, you're right about Jones getting the prime spot...but with that dress and that hairdo, I ssimply didn't recognize her at all.
As for the Miles moustache...a bit NO.
;-) thanks Pam.
Add me to that Oscar Isaac line. I took a number.
Folks, Rosamund Pike got her OWN VF cover all to herself last month.