First of all, what the hell, Vanity Fair? This is the cover for VF’s January issue, with cover girl Amy Adams. That’s fine. I like Amy Adams, she’s super-talented and she might get some Best Actress nominations for American Hustle. That’s not the problem. The problem is… where is the Gwyneth Paltrow takedown we were promised? There is NO Goop headline anywhere on the cover. If VF was going to do a Goop Takedown in the January issue (as many of us thought they would), wouldn’t they have made it into a coverline? Hmph.
As for Amy, she’s promoting American Hustle, as I said, plus a supporting part in Spike Jonze’s Her. I’ve read the first half of the cover story from the scans (you can see them here at TFS), and Amy is just as nice as she can be. Amy Adams will never “pull a Clooney” or whatever and use a magazine cover story to complain or call out other people. The closest she comes to calling anyone out is this wonderful David O. Russell story:
Adams does the hard work and, increasingly, is invited to be part o the character development process early on. [American Hustle] was sold as a project with David O. Russell, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper attached. The next priority was casting the female lead. Russell wanted Adams from the start and reached out to her while editing Silver Linings Playbook.
“David was thinking it would be nice for me to hang out with the boys, to get to be a real player,” says Adams. “He said, ‘You know, I think you’re ready to be on that playing field.’” Adams pauses, then adds with feigned surprise, “I already thought I was.”
[From VF, print edition]
She’s right. While Russell probably meant it as a backhanded compliment, Adams has been playing in the big leagues for YEARS. Isn’t it interesting to think about how much she works and how diverse the work is? And she’s so good that even famously crotchety actors (coughChristianBalecough) want to work with her over and over.
From what I’ve read so far, the cover story is pretty cute – Amy loves to sing and dance with costars. When she and Joaquin Phoenix were doing Her, Amy got him to sing from Annie. When American Hustle was in preproduction, Russell caught Amy and Bradley Cooper dancing together in his office. She’s just that kind of (musical theater) girl.
Photos courtesy of VF.
That cover photo is HEINOUS. Why did they have to make her look like all toothy and vampire-ish?
And contorted and uncomfortable and SO unimaginative (red satin dress? SERIOUSLY?).
It reminds me of what they call “brokeback” art. This incredibly sexist thing that artists do in comic books to find a way to get a woman’s boobs and butt in the same shot. It literally looks like some creepy photographer was like, “ok…contort your body so that we can see your butt and your boobs at the same time.”
ITA Anna and Andrea.
Could be worse, tho. She could be wearing huge black-framed glasses and have her tongue hanging out, a la Terry Richardson’s photography. Eek!
OMG! It’s Sofia Vergara on the cover page.
That’s who that pose remind me of. She’s even doing the Tyra Banks booty tooch.
“Hollywood’s Red Hot Winter Wondergirl”? Puhleeeeze! Who writes for VF these days? High school senior interns?
LOL, that title is cringe-worthy but nothing compares to the writing on the Daily Mail celeb section, 99.9% of the writing style sounds like it’s from fanfiction.net™
The DM is in a league of their own awfulness.
Boo. Goopie has me all curious about that article she was trying so hard to kill.
I really like Amy but I just watched Man of Steel this weekend and my god she was one of the most terrible Lois Lanes ever. It’s not because her acting was bad, but because she simply didn’t embody the true character of Lois Lane, the way Teri Hatcher, Noel Neill, Margot Kidder, Erica Durance, and even Dana Delany by voice did.
Also, while I agree Amy’s been “in the big leagues” for a while now and is a supremely talented actress, people also have to realize she always goes for “Oscar bait” films. Kate Winslet did this, always choosing those types of movies/roles that would most likely get an Oscar nomination, until she finally did her get Oscar and now she’s leveled off on doing those sorts of movies/roles.
People like Julia, Nicole, Halle, Angelina, Gwyneth, Sandra, etc. would have many more Oscar nominations if they all chose only those kinds of movies/roles but they don’t really care anymore cause they got their statue and they’re done with it.
I’m a huge comic book fan and a huge Superman fan and honestly I think you are dead wrong. I also love all the women you listed above btw. I’m a huge fan of all of them as Lois, especially Durance. But I also think you are being limiting and uneducated about the history of who Lois is.
The “essence” of Lois Lane is a career woman who was working in a man’s job decades before that was ok to do so. The “essence” of the character is a woman who reached out her hand to someone who was “othered’ and “different” and wasn’t afraid of him. That they subsequently fell in love was secondary to the fact that she has been, since 1938, the one person to take his hand and essentially not react in FEAR.
Man of Steel had a ton of flaws. It had way too much action over substance and didn’t spend nearly enough time on relationships or have enough quiet moments. All of the actors were hampered by a really underwritten script. But I’m sorry to say that Amy didn’t “embody the true character of Lois Lane” is dead wrong to me because she did. She played a strong, no nonsense woman who was focused on her job. She followed a lead across the world and used her skills as a journalist to track Clark down. She put the pieces together and followed her gut and the facts and eventually decided to show him compassion even being willing to go to jail to protect him. And when he felt entirely alone and “othered” she was the first and only person other than his own mother to reach out her hand and tell others that it was ok to trust him. Not only does that embody Lois Lane….that’s the whole freaking point of the character. She can have any hair color and be any race. She’s the human touchstone in a world of weird and super. She’s extraordinary in ordinary. I hope all the actors involved get a better script in the sequel but this comment is totally off-base.
@Andrea,
You have the right to your own opinion, but I have to point out that on superman forums (general ones and even specific ones like Smallville (where they do love people like Teri Hatcher, Margot Kidder, so it’s not like they’re biased for Erica Durance) the general consensus is not in her favor. Again, they don’t think she’s horrible, but they don’t think she was “Lois Lane”.
I agree, Gossy. I really like Amy, but she didn’t pull it off in my opinion. Henry Cavill is not the greatest superman either, but the weakest part was definitely Amy. It wasn’t about her acting, but like you said, she’s no Lois Lane.
@Gossy, that is not even remotely accurate. I follow all the Superman forums. The Superman/Lois tumblr loved Amy and she and Henry have a huge following on tumblr and blogs devoted to them.
In general, the response to the whole film is mixed in comic circles but there are plenty of Superman fans and specifically Lois fans who liked her and thought she did well with a poor script.
As for the Smallville forums—yes, I follow those too. And yes there is an absolute bias towards Durance. (Who I love btw.). That said, some of the most popular and prolific posters on those forums were huge supporters of Amy and post regularly about her on tumblr and twitter.
Frankly, I think the reaction towards her is ridiculously unfair. Female characters are always treated more harshly and judged more harshly let alone iconic figures with 75 year legacies. I’m sick and tired of it.
Also, it’s more than a little unfair to shame a woman for going after roles that are going to get her respect and longevity in an increasingly ageist and sexist industry for women. She’s allowed to choose roles that challenge her without being shamed for it.
That also ignores that she’s made Enchanted, Julie and Julia, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Man of Steel and Night at the Museum AND the Muppets in between all these other movies. None of those are Oscar Bait roles.
You make a good point. I forget she “broke out” kind of late in her career whereas the others were established by about age 30.
However, Julie & Julia definitely was an Oscar bait film in a non-traditional way and she HAS to make all those other movies like MoS and Night at Museum because unless you’re a solid A-lister (which is only Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence (who still needs to prove people come to see HER as a star)really at this point) you need to participate in these films like MoS and Night of Museum that are guaranteed successes and don’t depend on you. All actors need box office hits on their resume.
Notice how Kate Winslet has really geared up on those money earning movies recently like Contagion (A-list cast to help box office draw), Movie 43 (yes I know it was a bomb but it featured like 20+ famous stars), and Divergent (based on the popular YA series).
Amy Adams was terrible in Man of Steel. She looked old and haggard and a poor choice to play Lois Lane. It truly was cringe worthy. I hope she’s not in any sequel they might make.
Old and haggard? Wow. You’re disgusting. She’s 39 (37 or 38 when she filmed MOS) and looks at least 5-10 years younger than her real age. I’m guessing you like Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane if you think Adams is “old and haggard.” What a rude and frankly, untrue, thing to say.
@Tanzina, you are disgusting and this is a disgusting comment. It’s also laughable. But thank you for contributing to the horrible sexism and ageism women face in media.
“People like Julia, Nicole, Halle, Angelina, Gwyneth, Sandra, etc. would have many more Oscar nominations if they all chose only those kinds of movies/roles but they don’t really care anymore cause they got their statue and they’re done with it.” –> that’s not true at all… those people you mention (with an exception of Nicole and SaBu this year) HAVE tried to chase Oscar bait post-win but have failed miserably. I.e. Halle = Frankie and Alice, GOOP = Possession, Sylvia, Country Strong (lolz), Julia = Duplicity, Angelina = The Tourist, A Mighty Heart (and to be fair, she was FAR better in this film than her Oscar nominated role in Changeling)… so, let’s be real- Amy isn’t any more Oscar hungry than her counterparts but the difference is, she’s a versatile and deeply talented actor who seeks out great projects with great directors (i.e. Paul Thomas Anderson, Tim Burton, Spike Jonze, DOR, etc). Her attempts actually land, whereas the women you mentioned above, have a much harder time finding good projects for one reason or another.
Oh I definitely agree with you on Goop, when she did Country Strong. Especially when she went to the CMA’s and played the guitar and sang—lolz, indeed.
How was ‘The Tourist’ Oscar baity?? That’s what I’m confused on–I thought the general consensus was that they wanted the Brange there very badly–especially since they were nominated in the (snort) musical or comedy category. And from what I read (in her Vogue interview) that she did it because she wanted to work on a movie before Brad did Moneyball–and she wanted a nice location i.e. Venice.
Duplicity was—ooh. I think Julia just thinks she should win an Oscar for everything she does. If people dispute JLaw getting nominated and winning an Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, then they should side eye Julia for getting nominated for ‘Pretty Woman’–I liked it, don’t get me wrong. But that was just……not Oscar worthy. Plus I have a feeling that she married that camera man so she can be the STAR in that relationship.
“Oscar bait” films are quality films made by quality film makers!
WHY would any actor who cares about quality avoid that kind of film? Blockbusters make you a lot of money, but they are incredibly time consuming with promo and are considered soul crushing by those that work on them!
The Goop/vf story Smells like a big publicity stunt to me.
+1
VF just can just leak all sorts of rumors month after month about it and never put anything in print. Far WORSE and torturous for Goop and nothing legit to be disputed for VF
+3
It sent the message to celebrities and their publicists that VF would play “hard ball”, without ever having to really deliver the goods.
Yeah, it’s not coming out. Story was killed and it’s lost momentum, anyway. There were SO many leaks, we basically know the story. VF downgrade BIG TIME in my book.
This is the most sexy Amy Adams has ever looked. She’s usually as vanilla and bland as they come. The second pic is the best.
How can one be so gorgeous and talented at the same time? That’s so unfair.
the cover is so boring
I’m over the Goop takedown, it’s taking too long and it won’t be worth it. I love Amy Adams, but that cover is not good..
Amy’s first VF cover was better.
I think Vanity Fair’s ‘takedown’ was just going to be the usual stuff about GOOP being out of touch, probably some stuff about her friendship break-ups with Madonna, Winona etc.
Then people got all excited about it, GOOP basically called their bluff (you know she could have turned it into a fluffy piece if she’d talked to them instead of going on the attack) and it took on a life of it’s own. Now they need something big but it’s not forthcoming. The problem is that most of the GOOP gossip is already out there. She’s out of touch, she’s privileged, she’s a bitch to her friends, she has some issues with food, she and her husband had a rocky patch and they both fooled around with other people…none of this is new information, a lot of it is stuff GOOP happily talks about. At this point VF can’t possibly live up to the hype unless they reveal GOOP’s a serial killer. I think they’re just hoping people lose interest and forget about it or somehow a massive bombshell just drops in their laps.
Kate, you just wrote the expose on Goop. Hopefully someone will pay you handsomely for your concise story! 😉
I think, at this point, there is virtually nothing VF could publish that would live up to the “hype” of what we were promised. And it makes me wonder if that was the point all along. To just create hype. Maybe we were all played for fools.
I feel so lame. You’re right.
Kate – I agree with you.
But I will say that while most of Goop’s Poop* is already out there for all us gossip hungry folks, most of the public are not really aware of it.
I have a group of girl friends who would be shocked to learn all the stuff we already know about her. And these women are in Goop’s high-income lifestyle brand target market.
So if anything ever does get published, I agree we here at CB will all likely be disappointed. But it would be a very good read for lots of other people.
*I’m trademarking this term if in fact, no one has used it before
Yikes!…that VF cover is not good. It’s kind of in your face and….scary. I like Adams but not that cover. Anyway, agree that the Goop thing was a publicity stunt or, VF realized that they didn’t really have anything earth shattering to reveal.
The ‘poses” women are asked to do in magazines are SO ridiculous and makes the women look somewhat “special” and not in a good way. Can you imagine men posing like this?
Ppl only blame Snyder and Goyer for Adams’ horrible portrayal of Lois Lane, but i’m sorry Adams just didn’t have the spunk or the edge to play the character correctly. She was too sweet, to cute, to princess-y with the character. If this is how she dreamt to play Lois Lane then i wished it would just happen in her head. She thought ppl would be praising her performance and call her the best Lois ever because she has Oscar nominations and most didn’t. Margot Kidder is still the best movie incarnation of Lois Lane.
Jesus people are so hateful to a talented, lovely woman.
People blame Goyer bc the script was terrible and they blame Snyder bc the movie has very few quiet moments.
I saw plenty of spunk from her. What I also saw was humanity and not a characiture. I think people are completely unfair to this woman. She has an extremely hard job and people like you have been nothing but hateful, close minded and sexist towards her.
And when did she ever way she would be the best? She never said that. It’s a 75 year old character. Its ok to like and enjoy more than one. Haters to the left.
And it’s also ok to not like a portrayal if it’s not good, doesn’t mean i’m sexist. She has no spunk and i wonder where you saw it in the movie. In the scene, she was about to cry because Perry refused to publish her article ?
And there ARE ppl on Twitter and Tumblr that said they didn’t like her as Lois. There are critics that said she wasn’t good in the role compared to the others (except Bosworth, of course. They’re on par).You only choose to see the positive tweets and posts.
long time fan of Amy’s but I was hoping that Goop would be taken down a notch or two by now..
You ladies are all missing the point on that cover – she looks like a vintage 1950s Christmas advertisement – just google it and you’ll see what I mean. There are lots of ads from the 50s that look exactly like it. Personally, I love the cover – it’s beautiful, has a lot of energy and embodies Amy’s spirit. Shame on you haters…
I love to watch Amy Adams on screen, she is just lovely.
The jeffrey Soffer gossip was leaked (she cheated with the Miami billionaire now married to Elle McPherson).
I bet it was her own strategy to leak the major pieces of gossip, to undermine the entire cover story and make it no longer newsworthy.
Just love her, so talented, gorgeous and a nice person. Can’t wait to see American Hustle!
And yeah, I definitely miss the Goop takedown that’s been promised for so long!
Love Amy. She’s an ACTRESS, not a ‘celebrity’ and maybe not even a’ movie star’, but who cares…she can act and she gets roles. She’s lovely on screen and impeccable in her work.
Merrell Streep is fairly bland, too, in that regard. She does not seek the limelight, does her PR work with dignity and lives her private life. Amy is definitely as talented, in my view, and has the same tactic: Be a professional and work. She can act circles around most of the A listers mentioned in these comments-Bullock [who is hilarious in comedy but not the greatest actress overall, but she’s likeable, so there you go…], GOOP, even Kate Winslett-I’d give Amy the edge there, too.
Adams will have a long and fruitful hollywood career. She’ll continue to get roles as she gets older, just like Emma Thompson, Susan Sarandon, Streep, Angelica Huston….Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, etc.
I want to know what this yoga scandal is on the top byline.
Also, birth control: the Killer inside me?! Which one? I’ve thought they’re all AWFUL for years now. Is this about YAZ? Or Depo Provera? Or, Essure which Erin Brockovich is attempting to have banned in the US? There are so many to chose from…
She looks great!! I love Amy I hope she will get an Oscar sooner or later, she has been nominated way too any times without winning…
Friends were talking about this the other day. Huge rumors flying, most believe it’s coming but major blocking by Gwyneth’s people (paid for with Chris’s money) and parent’s old friends (NOT her alleged ones) are just slowing it down. VF very unhappy because it will not be able to include even a quarter of the dirt they have on her – much more than an affair – what they so is having to decide whether to go with watered down version, which would frustrate them no end or to wait and fight it out to the point of years and bankruptcy and even bringing up the whole Freedom of Speech etc. Just proving Gwynnie will DO ANYTHING for her perfect image, which is the total opposite in every single way than what she is. (Absurd but most people know this anyway but GOOP’s deluded). VF is absolutely stunned at the expense and number of people she has hired to stop them….they thought they had been through this before with other celebs but have NEVER seen anything the likes of her obsessiveness over this. Either way, she is spinning out of control so fast no it is frightening for her children. Because there is nothing more scary than to see a control freak start losing their control over others, and Gwyneth has…gonna be interesting. The one good thing that is coming out of it, is that the children are surrounded by people that genuinely love them and put them first, something that Gwyneth never has …. to an extent that is unnatural. Good luck VF, hope they aren’t at a stalemate but Goop’s a master manipulator that will stop at nothing – hence pretend marriage, etc.
Hi Dorothy
This take down if it happens, do you expect many causalities ( would others go down with her )
Goop take down if it happens will be the Hollywood issue
Vanity Fail