CONTRIBUTORS

Tom Ford

A large part of this year's Hollywood Issue rested in the hands of Tom Ford, the former creative director of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, who took on the monumental task of overseeing the portfolio, which begins on page 285, and the cover. "I wanted to put the glamour back into Hollywood," Ford says. "There are two Hollywoods: the reallife Hollywood, where people go to work and do their jobs, and the mythical Hollywood, which is defined by the films and images you've seen." Focusing on the latter, Ford set out to capture the vibe in today's Tinseltown. "It's one of those New Hollywood years," he says of performances that produced a fresh wave of luminaries, such as Heath Ledger's and Jake Gyllenhaal's in Brokeback Mountain, Reese Witherspoon's in Walk the Line, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's in Capote. "The buzz isn't around the usual suspects. My main criteria in considering which individuals to include were 'Am I tired of seeing them, or do I want to see more of them? Am I still hungry for this person?' and 'Are they part of the New Hollywood?'" Once the list was narrowed down, Ford came up with a concept for each photograph—everything from how the star should be dressed to where the shoot should take place. "I focused on personalities," he says, "or the perception of personalities." The result is a 47-page, starstudded study of contemporary glamour, an area Ford is particularly familiar with. Born in Austin, Texas, and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Tom Ford is among the most highly respected and successful designers today. With the creation of influential fashion collections and provocative advertising campaigns that pushed the envelope, Ford is widely credited with reviving the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent companies, and instituting a new industry archetype: the businessman designer. Upon his arrival at Gucci, in 1994, he turned the then nearly bankrupt label into a multi-billiondollar empire, and, in 1999, he re-invigorated YSL when the Gucci Group bought a controlling stake in its brand. In 2004, after having won numerous design awards over the course of a decade, he parted with the two fashion houses and began his foray into film, forming the production company Fade to Black in 2005—it now has several films in development. Ford lives in London, Santa Fe, and Los Angeles and is working on his new brand, Tom Ford, which launched a beauty line with Estee Lauder and an eyewear line last year. A Tom Ford menswear collection will debut in the fall.

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Annie Leibovitz

Contributing photographer Annie Leibovitz, whose pictures have defined Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue since its 1995 debut, captures images of a talented new generation of actors in this year's portfolio, including Dakota Fanning, Sienna Miller, Joaquin Phoenix, and Camilla Belle.

Leibovitz (pictured here with Tom Ford) has been documenting the construction of Renzo Piano's New York Times building, on the corner of Eighth Avenue and 41st Street in Manhattan, and large photographs from the project function as an evolving display on the walls around the site. Her next book, A Photographer's Life—a. collection of personal pictures and work done on assignment—will be published in the fall.

Jim Windolf

This month, contributing editor Jim Windolf profiles screenwriter Zach Helm ("Leaving Schmuckville," page 250), who is directing his upcoming film, Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Windolf, who has interviewed such intriguing writing talents as George Lucas and Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G), was fascinated by Helm's insistence on maintaining control over his work.

"He had sat down and written up a list of rules about how he was going to conduct himself in business and in his personal life," says Windolf, who also wrote all the captions that accompany this year's Hollywood portfolio. He believes that Helm will continue to direct his own projects: "The way to maintain control of your script is to direct, like Woody Allen and Paul Thomas Anderson."

Peter Biskind

Warren Beatty's sets are generally closed to journalists, so Peter Biskind was thrilled when the director allowed him to watch the filming of Dick Tracy, in 1989. But after numerous takes of a particular scene, a frustrated Beatty "took a piece of chewing gum out of his mouth, flicked it at me, and kicked me off the set," Biskind says. "He gave me a million reasons why I shouldn't write about Dick Tracy, but said he'd tell me whatever I wanted to know about [his 1981 movie] Reds." Seventeen years later, Biskind and Beatty finally talked about that film ("Thunder on the Left: The Making of Reds," page 344), the DVD of which will be released in November. Biskind is currently working on a biography of Beatty.

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Sara Marks's Team

Director of special projects Sara Marks, our own James Bond-meets-Superwoman, heads a remarkable crew who are the brains behind Vanity Fair's most prestigious events, from the parties at the Cannes and Tribeca Film Festivals to our annual Oscar bash, in L.A. Architects BASIL WALTER and BRENDA BELLO conceptualize and oversee all design elements, while PETE BARFORD and VICTORIA SWIFT direct and coordinate logistics and production. Whether supervising scaffolding, tweaking table settings, or decking out restrooms, this dedicated and close-knit team finds no job too big or detail too small. With vim, vigor, and a wicked sense of humor, they often work around the clock, come rain or shine, technical problems or hangovers. It would not and could not be the same without them.

Punch Hutton

When planning "It's Oscar Time!

Vanity Fair's Guide to a Perfect Day in L.A.," Fanfair editor Punch Hutton wanted to break away from the standard "what to do in L.A." feature. "I tried to create a different, fun, interactive way of experiencing the city," she says. "There's great potential for crossover, so you can see where each person's path might intersect with the others'." While Hutton grew up in Los Angeles and expects that the locals will identify with the spots she highlights, she says the guide is "really a resource for people who are visiting. You can hold on to it and use it over and over." Working on Fanfair each month, Hutton enjoys bringing together a variety of material in what amounts to a mini-magazine on pop culture: "I work with a great team of people. We do things a little differently each month, and that's what makes it so much fun."

FOR DETAILS, SEE CREDITS PAGE

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Charlotte Chandler

"One must live in the present tense, but I have always lived in the present tensely,"

Bette Davis, who died in 1989, told Charlotte Chandler in their conversations for her new book about the movie star,

The Girl Who Walked Home Alone, excerpted on page 256. Chandler caught Davis's iconic eyes when the actress read the author's first book, Hello, I Must Be Going, about Groucho Marx. She decided to ask Chandler to write her story, the title of which, appropriately, comes from a Groucho joke: "I always take out two women. I hate to see a girl walk home alone." Chandler has also written biographies of Federico Fellini (I, Fellini), Billy Wilder (Nobody's Perfect), and Alfred Hitchcock (It's Only a Movie). Davis and Chandler, above, were photographed by the composer Marvin Hamlisch in 1983, with a camera that he had bought specially for the occasion.

Michael Callahan

The naughtiness of Grace Metalious's Peyton Place captivated Michael Callahan as a boy. On page 332, he delves into the story behind the novel. "I have a strong memory of my mom and my aunts talking about it in hushed tones," he says. "I finally read the book as a teenager, in the 1980s, and it's one story I've never completely forgotten." While working on the piece, Callahan—who frequently contributes to Men's Health, Vibe, and Redbook— discovered that Metalious's life, which ended abruptly in 1964, when she was 39, was just as complicated as her novel. "She didn't have the 1950s sense of propriety," he explains. "She was somebody who didn't know any other way to live but to be blunt and outspoken.'"

Joe Zee

In his first contribution to V.F., Joe Zee worked with Tom Ford in styling many of the shoots in the Hollywood portfolio. "I tried to facilitate his vision," says the Toronto native, "to make it cohesive and streamline the message." Throughout the process, Zee remained in step with Ford's aesthetic, which Zee defines as "very glamorous, very chic, but at the same time very sexy." Unaccustomed to L.A. traffic (he's lived in New York City for the past 16 years), Zee unfortunately left Topher Grace waiting in the Hollywood Hills as he made his way from the Zooey Deschanel shoot across town. Zee was the fashion director at IFmagazine for 10 years, as well as the editor in chief of both Vitals Man and Vitals Woman until last year.

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Julian Broad

For this year's Hollywood portfolio, photographer Julian Broad shot—among others—actor Viggo Mortensen, who hesitated when first given artistic direction by Tom Ford. "I think Tom was surprising everybody with what he was asking the subjects to do," Broad says. "He was very specific, and he had a vision, and most, including Viggo, fell in line." Compared with past Vanity Fair Hollywood portfolios, this year's, Broad asserts, definitely created the most buzz. "Before, my experiences were spread out over a period of time, a few subjects over a couple of months. This time it was a lot busier, and there was a lot of expectancy, chatter, and excitement about it in L.A.—it was a real pleasure to be involved."

Vicky Ward

For VF's August 2005 issue, Vicky Ward wrote about the feud and financial woes wreaking havoc at the Guggenheim Foundation. This month, she travels to the West Coast to report on the scandal rocking the J. Paul Getty Trust. "There are similarities between the two institutions in that the world of nonprofits tends to be dominated by very big personalities," Ward says. "In the case of the Guggenheim, it was Peter Lewis versus the board. At the Getty, it was Barry Munitz against a museum staff who were resistant to his changes." Despite the trouble at the Getty, Ward still thinks the museum is enriching. "The Getty may have had a very turbulent time, but there is something quite breathtaking about the architecture. No matter what the political shenanigans, it's very uplifting to look at the buildings."

Ingrid Sischy

Throughout her career—from working as editor in chief of Artforum to contributing pieces on visionaries Robert Rauschenberg and Jeff Koons to V.F.—Ingrid Sischy has established herself as an authority on the art world. For this issue, she shared breakfast with British Pop artist David Hockney at his hotel in New York. "Hockney seems to have come out of the womb drawing," Sischy says. "Aesthetics are such an integral part of his consciousness. And there he was, squeezed into this little room like a bird in a cage." Sischy, who is the editor in chief of Interview, says her interest in Hockney began when he incorporated the Xerox machine into his work. "He truly is interested in all mediums, immersing himself in them until he makes up his mind about what makes the most profound art."