Vanity Fair has released their March cover – their annual “Hollywood Issue”. I remember when VF’s “Hollywood Issue” used to feature really amazing actors who everyone was talking about – but it’s felt really subdued lately, right? I guess last year’s VF Hollywood Issue had some talked-about actors with Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal and James Franco and all. Last year’s cover also featured Noomi Rapace, but she only got featured on the very back panel of the fold-out cover. This year’s (budget) Lisbeth Salander gets front-and-center on the main panel – Rooney Mara has arrived! As for the other girls, I barely recognized some of them. And did they seriously give Paula Patton that hairstyle?
In the first-ever Hollywood Issue cover shoot from Vanity Fair contributing photographer Mario Testino, a bevy of Hollywood’s most precocious beauties lounge across a three-panel foldout—including two new Oscar nominees. The Art Deco set was designed to evoke the all-white, Jazz Age interiors of English decorator Syrie Maugham, whose clients included Bunny Mellon, Elsa Schiaparelli, and the Duchess of Windsor; V.F.’s fashion and style director, Jessica Diehl, put the 11 cover starlets in pastel satin dresses and frothy feathers to lend a 20s and 30s boudoir feel. Across the panels are actresses Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye, Shailene Woodley, Paula Patton, Felicity Jones, Lily Collins, and Brit Marling. Mara and Chastain—both featured on the front panel—were nominated for Academy Awards in January, Mara for her portrayal of cyberpunk hacker Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Chastain for her supporting role in Tate Taylor’s Oscar heavyweight, The Help. (The Julliard grad also had starring roles in Take Shelter, The Tree of Life, and Coriolanus in 2011.)
[From Vanity Fair]
Should we talk about race? VF managed to feature two “women of color” on the cover fold-out cover, but a woman of color still can’t make it onto the front panel. Plus, it kind of feels like they just threw in Paula Patton for no particular reason, really. Is her career really that hot?
Here’s the VF interview with Rooney Mara. HER VOICE. She’s so bored and entitled. And yes, she’s SO HARDCORE that she only had photos of Thom Yorke on her wall. Of course.
Full VF cover – click to enlarge!
Photos courtesy of Vanity Fair.
You know it’s bad styling when you have to look twice before recognizing anyone on the cover. Bad, bad, bad. And women of colour? The big magazines hardly use any and when they do they pat themselves on the back. But basically they use the same ones on each cover. How many times do we need to see Beyonce on a cover with her wig blown-out and a tight short dress on? How about putting Alek Wek on a cover? She’s gorgeous! There’s also hardly any Latin or Asian models on covers.
That, as well as Conde Nast(y)’s reluctance in putting women of colour on the cover.
Yeah, I couldn’t recognize anyone. Too much satin.
Who are these people? I only know Jessica Chastain and Rooney Mara(for all the wrong reasons obvs).
I agree, Asli. I had to think hard which one might be Mara, even knowing she has black hair. Rough ‘shopping.
Also, you know it’s a bad interview when the public can barely hear and discern what the actress is saying.
Rooney, sweetie, you’re an actress now, do try and speak clearly, yes?
I totally agree, I thought I was the only one who couldn’t make up what the hell she was saying.
The question I have is the following:
Why is it that the non-white women are not on the front cover but on the inside cover?
Seriously. That Adepero Oduye girl is VERY pretty and could have easily been on the cover sitting where Mia W. or standing in Jennifer Lawrence’s place or Rooney Mara. There is no reason she couldn’t have made the cover. Vanity Fair is SO tone deaf. Year after year. I’m not buying their issue even though I see a MICHAEL FASSBENDER interview is included.
SERIOUSLY. I can’t believe they did that again. At this point they’re just like, “yeah, we know we’re doing it. We don’t care.”
not enough famous!
every year,VF hollywood issue is disappointed in my opinion
(NB : i dislike VF because all is the title,it’s so vain)
i remember a paper on a french ex-bad boy (i’m french)with his successful new life (now,he’s in jail)
Well Adepero Oduye isn’t as famous as the girls on the cover. I only know about her because VF featured her in their “Vanities” section a month or two back. Rooney is nominated for an Oscar and was just in a big movie (GWTDT). Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for an oscar last year, and was in XMEN : first Class (big movie) and will be in the much anticpated movie The Hunger Games. Mia Wasikowska is still very well known for Alice in Wonderland. Jessica Chastain, also nomnated for an Oscar this year. And was labeled “It Girl” by many sources. She was in The Help, Take Shelter,Tree of Life, Coriolanus…shall I say more? Did any of you really knew who Adepero Oduye was before this cover? I suppose they could have put Paula on the cover. But, i don’t think she is as deserving.
Why do you think?
Adding one black woman and a mixed race woman is not diversity at all. Where are the Asians and Latinos? Rooney Mara is the most overrated star of 2012. I hope she fades away after filming the Millennium trilogy.
Rooney sort of looks like Miss Swan’s skinny sister. Whether or not she has talent, there is some comfort in knowing that Rooney can’t be as glamed up with her Lisbeth hair.
I don’t really recognize anyone on the back panel. The styling is just so heavy handed.
LOL @ Miss Swan’s skinny sister!
Absolutely LOATHE the pastel color combo for they chose for the dresses.
I know, my first thought was “Easter basket.” Ick.
Jennifer was on the cover last year. Why she on it again?
VF needs to retire the 40s theme and pastels for a while.
Also the problem here is that none of these women have earned this spot yet. They are all still do fresh and new. The 90s Hollywood issue featured actors who had paid their dues and then some. Vf should have a new Hollywood issues bc that’s where most of these girls belong.
It says right on the cover “introducing Fresh Young stars”…That’s why these lasies were chosen.
*ladies. God my proofreading sucks.
Yep looks about right
Jennifer Lawrence, bless her, is toying that line between genuine unHollywood personality and Katherine Heigl-esque annoyance. Rooney and Mia were pretty subdued in their interviews (Rooney’s like an awkward and introverted kitten; it becomes obvious when you watch the video) and Jessica C. is a breath of fresh air.
Why was Paula Patton even present? She’s so MEH. It’s a spot that should have gone to Emma Stone/Imogen Poots/Andrea Riseborough.
I completely agree with everything you said! Rooney comes off as bitchy but now that I’ve seen the video, I think she’s just very shy. Jessica looks gorgeous, but these pastels – yuck!
What is the general vibe on Elizabeth Olsen? Is she a good actress? Did anyone see Martha Marcy May Marlene? There is a feature on her at Style Quotidien for her ASOS Magazine cover.
truth fairy, olsen is fantastic in that movie. the movie itself was one of the best last year. gotta love so much john hawkes screen time:)
I read that Olsen’s role in “Liberal Arts” (which screened at Sundance 2012) will reinforce the view that she’s a legitimately talented actress and that MMMM was not a fluke. Can’t wait to see that one, I love coming-of-age, talky dramas.
Speaking of John Hawkes, he’s also supposed to give an Oscar-level role in The Surrogate. Love John Hawkes!
interesting, watching the video made me feel the opposite about about her. There’s just nothing about her that seems warm or sincere at all (and I don’t think she came off as being introverted either)
HELLOOO? Elizabeth Olsen was one of the best things has happened at 2011. Rooney stole the nomination from her unfairly. Been on a David Fincher movie helps a lot
OK now I’m definitely going to have to check out the film since it comes so highly recommended 🙂
@ol cranky – She kept wringing her hands and moving around in her chair, touching her dress, her hair, etc. Usually people (esp who are shy) do this when they are uncomfortable talking to someone.
@dontcallmesherly: some of that blame rests with Fox Searchlight. They didn’t have an awards campaign/$$ to promote Olsen, and so she got left out on the riverbanks. But all that critical acclaim is definitely not for naught, and it’s putting her on all the lists for leading actress roles for her age demographic. That’s phenomenal for a newcomer.
Imogen Poots? I like her but she’s hardly on anybody’s radar…
Probably the same level as Brit Marling? (maybe a bit less)… Let’s give it a few years, they’ll probably pop onto the scene à la Evan Rachel Wood.
Oh yeah, Emma Stone seems like a glaring omission. Maybe she’s considered past the point of “up and coming?” Anyway, it would have been one more white chick…
Yeah, it’s very white.
Very white and very satin and just ugly all-around. So they put Patton (who is admittedly, incredibly beautiful) who was in what….MI? Has she done anything else this year? Where’s Octavia Spencer?
Actually Paula Patton was in both ‘Jumping the Broom’ as ‘MI 4’ this year.
I’m sure none of you saw it since it was a ‘black film’ featuring her, Angela Bassett, and Loretta Devine. It was a nice movie about an uptown girl (Paula)and a blue collar guy (Laz Alonso) getting married. And I guess Octavia Spencer isn’t young enough. I’m happy to see Adepero Oduye,whose getting great reviews for ‘Pariah’.
Oh thanks, Shazza. I checked IMDB but I guess I missed “Jumping The Broom”. I hate how studios don’t work to promote films that feature mostly black actors/actresses. *sigh* I guess this applies to most independent/small budget films but still..pretty lame if you ask me.
celeb blogs often talk about a celeb being too vanilla in style of personality. a.k.a. boring, bland, sickly sweet and too safe.
this cover is very very vanilla
Bleh. A whole pile of mediocrity.
Yeah, and why did they make Patton look like Princess Leia? Fail.
“Luke, I am not your sister” lol
Thought the same thing about the Leia look!
I have no idea, Asli. It’s like all the other women have this dramatic make-up, old-school Hollywood styling and they just didn’t know what to do with Patton? She’s probably the most beautiful of the bunch so it’s a shame they gave her two cinnabuns sticking out of her head.
”Luke I am not you sister”
Bahahahahahahhahah. I was literally laughing for 5 minutes because of this! 😆
Kitten – Usually I find Patton very beautiful but here I just want to pull her out of the picture. And then they give her a dress that practicaly blends in with the wall paper and a fur that govers her whole left side. All you see of her is one arm, collarbone and face. Weird.
If I had to do the cover again I would choose Jessica Chastain, Adepero Oduye, Rooney Mara (yes she deserves her spot for bring in a $100 Million boxoffice), and Michelle Yeoh (The Lady). A diverse spread of beautiful women. So easy to do why must Vanity Fair keep pretending their are no beautiful women of color good enough for their cover?
Mia Wasikowska was amazing on “in treatment”. she was great in “the kids are alright” and did well as”jane eyre” this year. i hope she has a long career and doesn’t end up on the cover of maxim with implants and lip injections.
also, funny that these actors are all quite young, and there’s an article entitled, “hollywood’s new fountain of your addiction”. hmm… wonder why.
“The Art Deco set was designed to evoke the all-white…” No kidding.
Here’s the problem…I barely recognize ANY of these actresses due to styling or photoshopping…
WHY in Vallhalla would you shoot with ALL THAT PALE SATIN?!?! IN COLOR?!?! Black & White…with someone who knows how to light…GORJUS!!! in color…EVERYTHING WASHES OUT!!!
I only recognize Lawrence, Olsen and Patton. The setting is so ‘ice queen’-y and bland. Hollywood need to stop with the 40’s at least move on to the 50’s or 60’s. Or hell, even the 00’s! Come on! We know you love ‘Old Hollywood’ but maybe it’s time to move on. Between these kind of shots and every starlet thinking they’re the next Marilyn Monroe it’s getting annoying.
Rooney was insufferable in her interview and seemed to be annoyed by the fact that she was being interviewed at all. She really didn’t answer the questions well and sounded pretty pretentious. I liked Mia and Jennifer’s interviews much better.
I mostly liked Jennifer’s interview because even though she is a phenomenal young actress, she still acts her age and doesn’t try to act above it all or too serious.
Paula Patton is annoying and a bad actress. I also wish she would go back to her curly hair.
if you had watch precious you would know she can act just fine.
But Precious was the only good thing she has ever done
I also thought she was good in ‘Just Wright’ and ‘Jumping the Broom’.
I wish they would do an ALL MALE cover for a change. They haven’t done an all dong cover since 2007.
So bored with the “lets try to predict the next A-list actress” format. They routinely get it wrong anyway.
I wanna see a line of hot men in the fold, not starlets!
Completely agree.
I will drink to an all dong issue. Bring it.
I can’t recognize half of them. The girl from the Descendants looks like Sofia Vergara in her photo. ?? Who is in the blue on the far right in the 3rd photo? She looks like Grace Kelly, she’s the only one the styling is working for.
There’s some good actresses there, but the styling of this shoot is too much.
I agree the one in blue looks the best. She looks pretty but could not tell you who in creation she is though.
I didn’t recognize the girl from the Descendants, actually I could only recognize 4 of them.
Ugh Rooney is so very hard to listen to. I could not get through that entire video..”Um..I don’t know…” She cannot speak and has NO personality. How embarrassing for an Oscar-nominated actress. She will never impress me until she is in front of the camera again, reciting lines. /end rant
Those dresses look downright ugly.
Some people do genuinely admire Thom Yorke,given the man’s undeniable talent and some would say genius, so I don’t see how it would be over-reaching to express that admiration. This Ronney hate is getting kind of forced and starting to resemble envy. We all have irrational distaste for certain female actresses, but this is getting old…
I agree that this is over-reaching on the part of the CB site.
Liking Thom Yorke is not extraordinary or “HARDCORE.” LOTS of people enjoy Radiohead – they’re an incredibly popular. Even Miley Freaking Cyrus likes Radiohead.
RE: Rooney Mara
Before all the *Maranites* come out and protest “..but she’s such a great actress!”
First of all, she has done ONE movie in which she turned in a notable performance. “…but this is about talent, not personality!” WRONG. Hollywood is not nor has it ever been about talent only. Look, it takes more than just talent and a pretty face to make it in Hollywood, you need to have charisma and be able to at the very least, FUNCTION in an interview. This girl is probably the least charismatic woman I’ve ever seen. Shy? Sorry but she doesn’t seem shy to me, she just seems ungrateful and insolent. I just hope her PR team figures out how to make her more likable. I mean for her sake…Personally, I could care less if I never see her again.
Completely agree.
I second that. People are practically throwing their panties at Mara and calling her things like “a revelation” and she’s given ONE notable performance in what I, personally, am convinced was just an opportunity she snagged because Fincher had a VERY specific vision of Lisbeth Salander. Mara just happened to fit the bill. Does she have range? Will she prove to be versatile? No one knows yet, so people need to stop pissing themselves over her already.
This^! Completely agree with you. The box office, the personification of Lisbet, is all Fincher, Rooney was just a puppet
boring.
Rooney is one of those actresses like Gretchen Moll who is shoved down everyone’s throat but she never really happens.
I don’t know why she’s getting all of these covers. Yes, she’s very pretty but she’s always looking supremely pissed off, with the same awful hairdo. Greta Garbo perpetually PMSing. Or something like that.
The styling of the cover looks like a Kardashian Khristmas Kard.
OMG you’re right. LOL!
Hahah @ Paula Patton’s hairstyle. Poor thing.
Rooney Mara really sucks the life out of that otherwise dreamy photo. I thought she was great in Dragon Tattoo. But that video clip is painful! What a terrible interviewee. You can actually see her thinking, “Who is the ‘coolest’ choice? What choice will make me seem most authentic as a ‘cool, edgy’ girl” when asked about her teenage crush. Her “Thom Yorke?” answer shows how inauthentic she is.
The girl in pink looks like she’s in the throes of a painful back spasm.
Who in the wide world are most of these women? I recognize Jessica and the Olsen but the others?no.
I love love love the colour. And I love most of those girls. A couple I don’t care about, and one I have never heard of.
LOL at paula pattons hair!
BAD BAD BAD dresses. All the boobs look lifeless. Blech.
I can’t tell if she’s super snobby and entitled or just incredibly awkward and reserved. She seems so uptight and nervous, even in the clips where she was posing for the photographer.
Wow seriously can Rooney MAra be any more obnoxious and pretencious. She could not even name one actor she admires, really!? Oh and o course she only admired Radiohead when she was growing up. Ugh!
yawn.
magazines all around are losing it…
rooney looks like buster keaton
Did Rooney Mara really say “me and Jessica”?
Scandal!
Most boring VF cover ever.
Hollywood likes women of color in movies like The Help where they get to point out that the black chick is so much smarter than the rich white lady, and sci-fi where they get to pretend that in the future you won’t even realize that somebody is a different color than you.
That being said, Hollywood really only makes a big deal over white girls and the VF cover just reflects that. If you don’t think there’s enough diversity here, look to Hollywood, not the media that reflects it.
. . . or black women that can pass for something else, like Paula Patton.
People trash Tyler Perry, and his movies really aren’t too good, but at least he doesn’t portray black women as domestics, hootchies, welfare mamas, or helpmates/advisors/confidantes to white wimmens. Perhaps that’s why black women flock to his films.
HER ACTING IS NOT AS GOOD AS PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO MAKE YOU BELIEVE.
WILL NOT WATCH ANYMORE MOVIES WITH HER AFTER WATCHING GWTDT . . .
That movie was REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD!!!!! She fucking ruined the movie!!!!!
For me it isn’t the styling that has made some of them unrecognisable, its just that I don’t know who some of them are full stop. The girls on the front cover are that main ones I recognise as they are the most famous of this bunch at the moment.
As for the cover itself, well I kind of like it, kinda. I don’t hate it anyway, although Rooney looks pretty busted.
BORING
I’m curious to see if she receives the same reviews for her roles following GWTDT. I do think that her personality in real life served the introverted, borderline autistic, awkward character that is Lisbeth Salander well. Looking at previous performances such as Friday the 13th, I swear i can see the seeds of her performance as Lisbeth, just add the brilliant costumes of Trish Somerville, the fantastic makeup of Pat McGrath, and OZ behind the curtain David Fincher aaaaand…there is Lisbeth. More of a collaboration than just Rooney on her own. Her subsequent roles will give a clearer idea of her acting abilities. Right now I’m not so sure of her, unless she has a team of brilliant heavyweights, especially Fincher pulling the strings.
This
I love how Rooney’s career just keeps rolling along, with her confirmed Dragon Tattoo sequels, the Oscar nom, & now the Vanity Fair cover.
It’s not that I even consider myself a huge fan (though I think she was good in TSN & GWTDT). It’s just hilarious how much it annoys people who hate her.
Yeah, not having a woman of colour on the cover may look bad, but looking at all the other women and the four they chose, they chose people either doing loads of films, people getting huge parts in films, or a combination. Jennifer, Mia, and Jessica have done many in the past year. Rooney and Jennifer have both landed large parts for (I’m assuming they’ll do the whole series) multiple films.
Of the others on the foldout, Elizabeth has also done quite a bit, but she isn’t in the “mainstream” films that get her recognition with everyone.
As for the others…I can’t recognize a lot of them. Like, some look familiar, I see the Mirror, Mirror girl (best she’s ever looked, imho), but if some are TV stars…I’ve stuck to the same shows I’ve always watched, haven’t really watched anything new that hasn’t been canceled.
But I must add, they all look very nice.
Jennifer Lawrence is fabulous.
Her voice is annoying. She does sound board and entitled and horrible.
Radiohead doesn’t like entiled brats like Rooney Mara. I heard they told off that Hannah Montana brat because she got mad at the fact they did not want to meet her and she hoped to “ruin them” lol.
Yesh I don’t know who most of these women are either. It would be great if they brought on the men. Lots of famous men got nominated this year. I honestly have no clue who the females nomanies are execpt for Meryl Streep.
I think you, and a lot of others, confuse Rooney being shy and think she seems “bored and entitled”. She has said multiple times that she is a very introverted person and gets very nervous when the spotlight is on her, and that’s why in all of her interviews there are a lot of “umms” and “I don’t knows”, because she has trouble under pressure thinking of what to say. Just because you’re an actress doesn’t mean you have to be outgoing and bubbly. Actors who are shy in real life use acting as an outlet to put themselves out there and become another person. Cut her some slack.
RM comes across as someone with little poise or joie de vivre. She seems like someone who takes herself way too seriously. Watching her in interviews makes me wonder if she’s one of those obnoxious chicks who over-intellectualizes everything and thinks everything is overrated. Being shy/mellow is cool. Being shy/quiet is fine. Being shy/mysterious is interesting. She just seems plain ol’ dull. Granted she doesn’t need to pull a Vanessa Hudgens and be obnoxiously uber-excited about everything, but wow — show a little personality, Ms. Mara. She is getting overhyped at the moment like whoa.