CONTRIBUTORS

OTTESSAMOSHFEGH

"THE PEOPLE'S PRINCES," P. 82

The award-winning writer behind Eileen, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Homesick for Another World, Death in Her Hands, Lapvona, and McGlue has written extensively about women. "Working on this piece for the Hollywood Issue, I realized that I don't think about men very often—this man or that man, sure, but rarely the collective," she says. "To generalize about any group of people feels dangerous. Writing about these actors was an extravagant experience in that way."

THEO WENNER

THE HOLLYWOOD ISSUE

For Wenner's first Vanity Fair cover, he traveled to Malibu and London, from sandy beaches to slick stages, to photograph 12 leading men. "I thought it would be more difficult shooting all these great actors together in the same room as opposed to on their own. Big personalities in a small space," says the New York-based photographer. "But in fact it was much easier. No one wanted to be the person slacking amongst such great company."

MICAIAH CARTER

"37 HOURS IN HOLLYWOOD," P. 138

Carter, an LA-based photographer and director, known for his use of cinematic lighting, says "composing one single image for each subject was such a rewarding challenge. It meant a lot to capture family like Law [Roach], collaborate with new friends I'd been wanting to work with like Parris [Goebel], and create something completely new for me with Gustavo [Dudamel]," he says. "Each scene felt like its own world, pure fun to build out."

TOM GUINNESS

THE HOLLYWOOD ISSUE

Guinness, who styled the cover, says he found inspiration in the locations. "We were especially fortunate to get access to Ealing Studios"—the legendary British studio facility—"which allowed us to place today's biggest movie stars in a historical context," he says. "That sense of spanning time informed the entire mood of the shoot, from the photography to the styling."

PAUL GOLDBERGER

"MIDCENTURY MAISON," P. 132

"Nicolas Ghesquiere has an infectious warmth and curiosity; he really is interested in everything, which is not true of most people in the fashion world," says Goldberger, a Pulitzer Prizewinning architecture critic, author, and VFcontributing editor, who interviewed the fashion designer at his Hollywood home. "It was fun discovering how many things we both like: Los Angeles, midcentury architecture, him, and of course, John Lautner," he says.

DEREKC. BLASBERG

"CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR," P. 128

VFspecial correspondent Blasberg revisited what he calls "the hedonistic Hollywood nights of the noughties" to compile an oral history of early-aughts nightlife in Los Angeles, with interviews from Brent Bolthouse, Lisa Love, Carlos Lopez, and Rachel Zoe. While the era is long gone, eroded by camera phones and social media, it "still sparkles in my mind like a digital camera hash on MAC Lipglass," he says.

JEREMY O. HARRIS

"37 HOURS IN HOLLYWOOD," P. 138

Harris is a writer, playwright, and producer. His Slave Play earned 12 Tony Award nominations. His previous works include "Daddy": A Melodrama, Water Sports; or Insignificant White Boys, Black Exhibition, and Yell: A Documentary of My Time Here. This year, he became the creative director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival's Creative Collective. Harris holds a master of fine arts in play writing from the Yale School of Drama.

ISABELLE BROURMAN

"WORLD ON FIRE," P. 112

Artist Isabelle Brourman first met Olivia Nuzzi while both were covering, in their respective mediums, Donald Trump's civil fraud trial. A collaborative friendship was born, yielding an interview with the president—"We both needed to see the ear," says Brourman—and, eventually, How to Disappear, Brourman's painting of Nuzzi, on view at Art Basel in Miami in December. Brourman says the work represents the body "as symbol, as myth, and as an agent of authorship," and for the subject, a "sense of return."

LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT

"CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN'," P. 68

Cartwright, the founder of Breaker Media, spoke to more than 20 people in California, New York, and Australia for his column on the LA news wars. "Having grown up in Australia [where the editor of the California Post is from] and then moving to London at 22 and really starting my career at The Sun in London [a Murdoch paper], and then on to the New York Post, I was uniquely positioned to dig into how the California Post plans to disrupt the incumbents in Los Angeles."

ETHAN JAMES GREEN

"MIDCENTURY MAISON," P. 132

Green is a New York-based photographer whose work often explores themes of identity, sexuality, and style. He traveled to Los Angeles to photograph longtime Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere and his partner, Drew Kuhse, at their sleek midcentury modern home in West Hollywood. He previously photographed the cover of Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue in 2020 and has also published two photo books, Young New York and Bombshell.

MICHELLE RUIZ

"DREAM WEAVER," P. 118

When Ruiz, a VFcontributing editor, visited Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao at her home in Los Angeles, her new rescue dog, Foxy, crashed the party. "Chloé is in the process of training her, and while she was supposed to be lolling on her dog bed during the interview, she was slowly but surely creeping over to get in on the conversation," Ruiz says. "While tearing to shreds a Lamb Chop toy."

CAZZIE DAVID

"DEER DIARY," P. 64

For this issue, Los Angeles-based writer David wrote about how her routine has been upended by an unexpected distraction: adorable deer outside her home. "It was nice to write about the thing that had been keeping me from writing," she says. "Maybe that's the only way anyone ever writes." Her second book of essays, Delusions, is out in March, and her directorial debut, I Love You Forever, is available to stream on HBO Max.