W magazine 2016 02

A BREAKTHROUGH YEAR FOR ROONEY MARA Brie Larson Carey Mulligan Eddie Redmayne Saoirse Ronan Alicia Vikander and 25 More

THE MOVIE ISSUE

BY LYNN HIRSCHBERG PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER LINDBERGH PLUS SPRING COLLECTIONS: THE NEW INDIE GLAMOUR

W FEBRUARY

96 Best Performances Photograph by Peter Lindbergh

Charlize Theron wears Dior Fine Jewelry necklace, bracelet, and ring. Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Hair by Enzo Angileri for Infusium 23 at Cloutier Remix; makeup by Francesca Tolot for Dior at Cloutier Remix.

Covers Fashion + Features 96

130

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BEST PERFORMANCES A year of breakthroughs, return engagements, and happy endings.

By Lynn Hirschberg Photographs by Peter Lindbergh FUNNY, WITH A CHANCE OF POLITICS Comedy put Adam McKay on the map, but his latest film, he Big Short, is no laughing matter.

By Lynn Hirschberg Photograph by Robert Maxwell

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DAY DREAMS A deconstructed dress and a pair of flats are the stuff of fashion fantasies this spring.

Photographs by Craig McDean

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STARS IN HIS EYES he artist Alex Israel tells his own L.A. story.

By Christopher Bagley Photographs by Matthias Vriens-McGrath

Photographs by Peter Lindbergh. Styled by Edward Enninful, Sarah M Richardson. Hair by Odile Gilbert. Makeup by Stéphane Marais.

Hair and makeup for Alicia Vikander by Martin Cullen for Bumble and bumble at Streeters, Mary Greenwell for Chanel at Premier Hair and Make-up. Grooming for Eddie Redmayne by Petra Sellge for Elemis. Manicures by Michelle Saunders for Essie at Forward Artists, Adam Slee for Rimmel London at Streeters. Rooney Mara wears Hermès jacket; Maison Margiela shirt. Beauty: Lancôme.

Carey Mulligan wears Prada jacket, sweater vest, and neck piece; Anita Ko earring. Beauty: Dior.

Brie Larson wears Marc Jacobs gown. Beauty: Marc Jacobs Beauty. Saoirse Ronan wears Chanel top; Mikimoto earrings. Beauty: Chanel. Vikander wears Louis Vuitton vest and jumpsuit. Beauty: Nars. Redmayne wears Burberry peacoat and T-shirt. Grooming: Burberry. For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/where-to-buyfebruary-2016.

Continued on page 44

W FEBRUARY

Who’s Next 75

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ON THE VERGE: French actress Lou Roy-Lecollinet is an accidental star.

Film progeny Zoey Deutch joins the family business.

A Hollywood talent agency is swooping in on the art world.

Inez and Vinoodh shoot the starstudded LACMA gala.

Beauty 84 86

Green is easy on the eyes.

JANE’S ADDICTION: What W’s Beauty Director, Jane Larkworthy, is hooked on this month.

What’s Hot 89 90 92 94

132 Day Dreams Photograph by Craig McDean Vetements hoodie dress, slip dress, and boots. Styled by Edward Enninful.

For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/where-to-buy-february-2016.

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Spring’s headlining accessories come in black and white.

Drop earrings are big this season— literally.

Author Anne Helen Petersen revisits Tinseltown’s juiciest scandals.

FASHION NEWS: Designer Racil Chalhoub gives the tux a makeover, stylist Camille Seydoux conjures an all-denim capsule collection for Roger Vivier, and more.

Departments 58

EDITOR’S LETTER

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MOST WANTED

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GIO’S JOURNAL

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CULTURAL CALENDAR

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INSPIRATION EQUATION

WHAT’S NEW ON WMAG.COM ROLE PLAY video.wmagazine.com

Have you ever thought that Clueless might have been funnier with Seth Rogen as Cher? Or that Drake’s “Hotline Bling” video could benefit from a cameo by Amy Schumer? We were thinking the same thing. Watch the stars from W’s Movie Issue as they take on some very unexpected roles in Editor at Large Lynn Hirschberg’s latest Screen Tests—and discover their favorite cinematic sex scenes and the movies that always make them cry.

JOEL EDGERTON

AMY SCHUMER

EDDIE REDMAYNE

BEHIND THE SCENES

BRIE LARSON

wmag.com/people

The photographer Peter Lindbergh (right, with Saoirse Ronan) traveled the globe to shoot the actors and actresses for W’s annual “Best Performances” portfolio (page 96)— featuring, above, clockwise, from top, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, among many others . Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the adventure on Wmag.com.

DIGITAL EDITIONS wmag.com/services/tablet

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Download current issues of the magazine for Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, Google Play, iPad, and Zinio.

W IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2016 CONDÉ NAST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 45, NO. 1. W (ISSN 0162-9115) is published monthly (except for combined issues in December/January and June/July) by Condé Nast, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Oicer; Robert A. Sauerberg, Jr., President; David E. Geithner, Chief Financial Oicer. Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Oicer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing oices. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 123242885-RT0001.

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BEHIND THE SCENES: STEPHEN KIDD; ROLE PLAY: EVAN COHEN; EDGERTON WEARS COACH JACKET; SIMON MILLER T-SHIRT. SCHUMER WEARS HER OWN SWEATER. REDMAYNE WEARS HIS OWN SWEATER AND OMEGA WATCH. GERWIG WEARS GAP T-SHIRT. LARSON WEARS HER OWN SWEATER. FOR STORES, PRICES, AND MORE, GO TO WMAG.COM/WHERE-TO-BUY-FEBRUARY-2016

GRETA GERWIG

EDITOR’S LETTER

I N T H E AGE OF T H E SELFI E, WHAT MAKES A MEMORABLE

Our six celebrity covers, shot by Peter Lindbergh, clockwise, from lower left: Saoirse Ronan; Carey Mulligan; Alicia Vikander; Rooney Mara; Brie Larson; Eddie Redmayne. Mara and Stefano Tonchi.

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celebrity portrait? That was the question in the back of my mind months ago when I started thinking about our annual Movie Issue. In years past, we have featured Inez and Vinoodh’s elegant portraiture, Juergen Teller’s raw imagery, and Tim Walker’s dreamlike scenes. Who was the right photographer to capture 2015’s stars in an impactful way?

As I started doing visual research, I felt overwhelmed by the endless stream of Instagram and Google images of dressed-tothe-nines (or barely dressed) celebrities. I felt the need to step back from all that glossy banality and return to the pure and simple drama of black and white photography. I wanted to allow the actors to be themselves, without props or pretense. The legendary Peter Lindbergh, whose authenticity I have admired for 30 years, was the man for the job. With his old-school approach to cinematic storytelling, Lindbergh created our 34-page “Best Performances” portfolio (page 96).

It was a great year for breakthroughs, as many of the newcomers Lindbergh shot can attest to. The year was also generous to female actors, thanks to a wellspring of challenging scripts and intriguing roles. Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett played lovers in conservative times in Todd Haynes’s Carol; Alicia Vikander dazzled as the wife of a transgender pioneer in Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl, as an android in Ex Machina, and as a war survivor in Testament of Youth; Saoirse Ronan was a young immigrant in John Crowley’s Brooklyn; Brie Larson stepped into the big leagues as a captive mother in Lenny Abrahamson’s Room; Charlize Theron took no prisoners as a one-armed badass in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road; and Jennifer Jason Leigh returned to the spotlight as a dangerous fugitive in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.

According to Editor at Large Lynn Hirschberg, who handpicks our cast from hundreds of films, a desire for authenticity was an undercurrent in many of this year’s best movies. The sober mood

on the silver screen mirrored the challenging times we are experiencing: Gender, politics, and immigration are hot topics. As the director Adam McKay, who, until debuting his latest film, The Big Short, was known for his comedic genius, tells Hirschberg in “Funny, With a Chance of Politics” (page 130): “There is too much going on right now to not try and say something important.”

To round out the issue, we highlighted the most romantic— and edgiest—looks from the spring collections (“Day Dreams,” page 132); perhaps just the thing for our breakthrough favorites to wear this awards season. And the writer Christopher Bagley caught up with the artist Alex Israel, who addresses L.A.’s manufactured seductions and issues like image and identity (“Stars in His Eyes,” page 146). Israel recently finished filming a teen movie titled SPF-18, and his newest exhibition—a collaboration with the best-selling novelist Bret Easton Ellis—will open at Gagosian Gallery, in Beverly Hills, during Oscars week. “In art, I don’t think we’re very used to earnestness,” says Ellis about Israel’s work. “So it can be confusing to some of us.” One could also argue, especially in the context of Hollywood, that earnestness can be a wonderfully clarifying thing.

Stefano Tonchi, Editor in Chief

COVERS BY PETER LINDBERGH; ROONEY AND TONCHI: DONATO SARDELLA/GETTY IMAGES

Authentic Selves

STEFANO TONCHI Editor in Chief ARMAND LIMNANDER Executive Editor

LYNN HIRSCHBERG Editor at Large

EDWARD ENNINFUL Fashion and Style Director

JANE LARKWORTHY Beauty Director

ALIX BROWNE Features Director

RICKIE DE SOLE Fashion Market and Accessories Director

CLAUDIA MATA Jewelry and Accessories Director SANDRA BALLENTINE Beauty Editor at Large

KARIN NELSON Features Editor

FAN ZHONG Associate Editor

CAROLINE WOLFF Photography Director

ART & PHOTO

GIANLUCA LONGO Contributing European Editor

CAROLINE GROSSO Fashion Market and Digital Fashion Editor NORA MILCH Accessories Editor NATASHA CLARK Fashion Credits Editor TINA HUYNH Associate Jewelry Editor SAM WALKER Associate Accessories Editor RYANN FOULKE Assistant Fashion Editor SARAH ZENDEJAS Assistant Fashion and Market Editor MIA ADORANTE Assistant Beauty Editor

ERIN SIMON Bookings Director ESMÉ RENÉ Senior Photo Editor

LINA WAHLGREN Art Director

TIFFANIE GRAHAM Photo Research Editor

HANNA VARADY Senior Designer

JESSY PRICE Associate Photo Editor BIEL PARKLEE Assistant Bookings Editor

OPERATIONS

ERIK MAZA Digital Features Director

SUE WILLIAMSON Digital Editor EMILIA PETRARCA Associate Digital Editor

DIANE SOLWAY Arts and Culture Director

SAM MILNER Senior Market Editor and Manager

GIOVANNA BATTAGLIA Contributing Fashion Editor

DIGITAL SARAH LEON Digital Director

JOHAN SVENSSON Design Director

DIRK STANDEN Digital Creative Director

FASHION & BEAUTY

FEATURES JENNY COMITA Senior Features Editor at Large VANESSA LAWRENCE Features Writer

REGAN A. SOLMO Executive Managing Editor

ZACHARY ETHEART Community Manager

EVENTS & PR

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INTEGRATED MARKETING CELIA CHEN Executive Director, Partnerships and Events HEATHER H. GUMBLEY Executive Director, Integrated Marketing RACHEL SWANSON Executive Director, Marketing and Research ANTHONY CANDELA Associate Director, Integrated Marketing MARLEY ISRAEL Associate Art Director ALISON JAVORA Integrated Marketing Director ALEXA AGUGLIARO Associate Manager, Integrated Marketing MICHELLE BONDARCHUK Special Events Manager NATASHA BULLARD Senior Marketing Research Manager CHRISTINA FERNANDES Marketing and Research Associate ABBY SILVERMAN Designer BUSINESS CERENE C. JORDAN Director of Finance and Business Operations JILL CAREY Business Director LAURA LAFON Executive Assistant to the Publisher, Chief Revenue Officer ARADITH PEIKIN Sales Coordinator

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A Shining Moment

WHAT’S ON OUR WISH LIST THIS MONTH. 3

“Metallic pieces electrified the spring collections.

But it was the way they were worn— as part of cool, casual looks that work just as well for day as evening— that made them especially alluring.”

Rickie De Sole Fashion Market and Accessories Director

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1. Paco Rabanne dress, $21,750, and boots, $990, Barneys New York, New York, 212.826.8900. 2. Solange Azagury-Partridge earrings, $64,000, Solange Azagury-Partridge, New York, 212.879.9100.

3. Roger Vivier bag, $3,345, Roger Vivier, New York, 212.861.5371.

4. Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane dress, price upon request, ysl.com. 5. Prada shoes, price upon request, prada.com. »

Photograph by SIMON ROBERTS EELES Styled by PATRICK MACKIE

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HAIR BY BRAYDON NELSON FOR BUMBLE AND BUMBLE AT JULIAN WATSON AGENCY; MAKEUP BY MAKKY P FOR DIOR AT STREETERS; MANICURE BY ERI HANDA FOR DIOR AT MAM-NYC; SET DESIGN BY TODD WIGGINS AT MARY HOWARD STUDIO; MODEL: ALECIA MORAIS AT THE SOCIETY MANAGEMENT; DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: NIC ONG; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: KRIS SHACOCHIS; FASHION ASSISTANT: KARLY GRAWIN; MAKEUP ASSISTANT: YURIKO; SET DESIGN ASSISTANT: JUSTIN DAVIS; 1, 4, 5: GORMAN STUDIO, STYLED BY JOHN OLSON; 3. COURTESY OF THE DESIGNER

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6. PHILIPPE MALOUIN PENDANT $28,000, rollandhill.com

“Hand-assembled from thousands of tiny raw-brass parts, this Gridlock light is so glamorous, I’d be tempted to wear it as jewelry—if it didn’t weigh 80 pounds.”

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Alix Browne Features Director

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7. DE GRISOGONO EARRINGS $8,100, De Grisogono, New York, 212.439.4220

“I’m all about sleek, graphic earrings right now. These, in white gold with diamonds, feel very Last Days of Disco.”

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Tina Huynh Associate Jewelry Editor 8. BUCCELLATI RING $12,000, buccellati.com

“Though I’m not in the least bit blingy, I can surely appreciate this stunning diamond band.”

Esmé René Senior Photo Editor

“The teeth-whitening system, which includes this elegant applicator, is surprisingly easy to use. I even tried it at the office, and no one noticed.”

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Jane Larkworthy Beauty Director 10. DAVID BOWIE: BLACKSTAR Pricing varies, davidbowie.com

“Bowie may be nearly 70, but he just released another album, which fuses a jazz-band sound with the Kraftwerkiness of his ’70s heyday. The Starman just keeps going.”

Fan Zhong Associate Editor

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11. LOUIS VUITTON WATCH $4,800, Louis Vuitton stores, 866.VUITTON

“Another Louis Vuitton item to covet: The LV Fifty-Five watch, inspired by the locks on the French house’s aluminum trunks, hits stores this month.”

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Claudia Mata Jewelry and Accessories Director 12. COURREGES PANTS $1,950, courreges.com

“I can’t wait to wear these party pants as if they were a pair of everyday jeans.”

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Sam Milner Senior Market Editor and Manager

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13. BALENCIAGA BAG $2,595, Carla Martinengo, Dallas, 214.739.7076

“I love the romantic charm of this chain-mail wristlet—and the practicality of having two free hands all night.”

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Nora Milch Accessories Editor 14. KIMORA LEE SIMMONS SKIRT $650, kls.com

“This silver mini will make me feel like a yé-yé girl!”

Sarah Zendejas Assistant Fashion and Market Editor

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7, 8, 14: GORMAN STUDIO, STYLED BY JOHN OLSON; 10: BOWIE/BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL 1972 © MICK ROCK, 1972, 2015; 12: INDIGITAL; 6, 9, 11, 13: COURTESY OF THE DESIGNERS

9. APA WHITE PEN $150, apabeauty.com

GIO’S JOURNAL

FOR W’S GLAMOROUS GLOBE-TROTTER, GIOVANNA BATTAGLIA, IT’S A FAB, FAB WORLD.

“While on set at a skate park in Venice, I spotted this amazing skateboard [left, top], covered in luxury fashion-and-car motifs—it actually makes logos look cool. After work, the model Ming Xi and I got these futuristic sunglasses [left] from a street vendor.”

“The artist Sheila Hicks had a show in New York at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. gallery that included colorful sculptures [above]. They would go nicely with some lightbulbs [left] I spotted at a store in the East Village.”

“This Rob Pruitt tire-and-panda-erasers piece [below] at the de la Cruz Collection, in Miami, reminded me of a dress from the Chloé spring 2016 collection [right]. My favorite color right now is ‘rainbow’!”

“At the Christie’s and de Pury A Visual Odyssey auction, in London, this Gaetano Pesce lamp [below] was one of the lots. It also doubles as the ultimate hat.”

“After a month of sitting through fashion shows, I needed to let off some steam. What better way than to go clay shooting in the English countryside [right]? I was wearing a Saint Laurent sweater and bomber jacket, so I kept joking to everyone, ‘You know, this is a real fashion shoot.’ ”

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“I was in Venice, California [above], working with Michael Kors. The palm trees there reminded me of John Baldessari’s photograph from the ’70s in which a woman looks like she’s kissing a tree. I tried to re-create that scene but, instead, ended up with the tree growing out of my head like a giant topknot!”

HICKS ARTWORK: THE RIGHT OF ENTRY, 2014–2015; PRUITT ARTWORK: PANDA ERASERS (SPECTRUM), 2002; PESCE ARTWORK: AN IMPORTANT FLOOR LAMP, 1971; RUNWAY: INDIGITAL; ALL OTHERS: COURTESY OF GIOVANNA BATTAGLIA

Point and Shoot

CULTURAL CALENDAR Merry Pranksters Among the first works that the Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss made together, in 1979, was a series of pictures called “The Sausage Photographs,” one of which depicts a family of cornichons examining piles of pancetta and stacked slices of mortadella, while a white radish lingers nearby. Until Peter Fischli and David Weiss’s death, in 2012, Fischli/Weiss, Weiss’s The First Blush as the duo came to be known, played of Morning, 1984. up this sort of childlike humor, making art from everyday objects. But they were not merely teasing. “Banality is just a first impression,” says Nancy Spector, the Guggenheim Museum’s deputy director, who has organized their first New York retrospective, “Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better” (February 5 through April 20).

The two had a way of elevating the ordinary: They turned amateur photography into high art and crafted painstakingly hand-carved sculptures of mundane objects, like pizza boxes.

For their 1987 film, The Way Things Go, widely recognized as a masterpiece, they used the detritus in their studio—tires, trash bags, old shoes—to create a long causal chain in which objects burned, dissolved, and slid down ramps. “On one level, they’re tinkerers,” Spector says. “But the work is quite profound.” fan hong

Designers on view in “Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial,” clockwise, from right: Richard Niessen, Francesca Franceschi, and Ana Rajcevic.

Making Noise

Having organized the last triennial around the weighty question of design’s role in saving the planet, the curators of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s fifth edition were hungry for “that other side—in other words, beauty,” says Ellen Lupton, the museum’s senior curator of contemporary design. This time, sensation and astonishment trump function and systems. Traversing genres, “Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial” (February 12 through August 21) showcases more than 250 works by 62 innovators from around the globe. Look for the jewelry-like typography of Richard Niessen and Homa Delvaray; the transgressive iconography of Studio Job’s ornamental wallpaper; the Haas Brothers’ beaded creatures (made in collaboration with female artisans from a South African settlement); and Ana Rajcevic’s weirdly elemental “Animal” headpieces, which were inspired by the ways in which animals use their horns both to attract and repel.

One section is devoted to designers who employ digital means to create forms that mimic nature. There, visitors will have the chance to stand inside a computergenerated pavilion fashioned for the show by the architect Jenny Sabin. Says Lupton, “We want to celebrate that aspect of design that can’t be boiled down to ‘Oh, it’s a service; it’s a button on a phone.’ This is more for the spirit, the body. It’s a visceral experience.” d.s.

With their imperiously titled 2013 debut album, Silence Yourself, the all-girl hard-rock quartet Savages stormed the pop landscape, earning both raves for their blunt sound and backlash for their abrasive style and pushy politics. (Songs like “Hit Me” and “Shut Up” only added fuel to the fire.) Now the London-based foursome—singer Jehnny Beth, guitarist Gemma Thompson, bassist Ayse Hassan, and drummer Fay Milton—is back to give us something to argue about with a sophomore LP, Adore Life, out January 22. f..

The members of Savages, and their album Adore Life.

BOLD FACE

ARTS AND CULTURE DIRECTOR DIANE SOLWAY’S MUSTS FOR FEBRUARY.

Wonderland A work in “Fairy Tale Fashion”: Kirsty Mitchell’s The Storyteller, 2010, from her series “Wonderland.”

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The power of dress to beguile, transfix, and transform is nowhere more evident than in fairy tales. Just consider those coveted glass slippers or that little red riding cape worn by a certain young lady. Their inspiration on 21st-century designers like Alexander McQueen,Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy, and many others is the focus of “Fairy Tale Fashion,” an exhibition at the Museum at FIT, in New York, which runs through April 16. d.s.

NIESSEN ARTWORK: ANDRE WITKAM; FRANCESCHI ARTWORK: COURTESY OF VLISCO NETHERLANDS B.V.; RAJCEVIC ARTWORK: FERNANDO LESSA; THE STORYTELLER: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST; THE FIRST BLUSH OF MORNING: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST; SAVAGES: COURTESY OF MATADOR RECORDS (2)

Transformers

HAIR BY VALENTIN FOR SHU UEMURA AT JUDY CASEY INC.; MAKEUP BY CAROLE COLOMBANI FOR NARS AT JED ROOT; DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: YOHAN BUREL; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: BRYAN MONACO; FASHION ASSISTANT: MELINA BROSSARD

WHO’S NEXT

ON THE VERGE

Lou Roy-Lecollinet When she was cast in Arnaud Desplechin’s My Golden Days (out next month), Lou Roy-Lecollinet may have lost a friend, but she found an occupation. “I didn’t want to be an actress. I wanted to direct plays onstage,” says the 19-yearold Parisian, who accompanied a high-school drama-class pal to an open call for moral support and happened to catch the eye of the renowned French director. Despite having no interest in being in front of the camera, she landed the part.

“It wasn’t my first idea for a future career, but now I’m thinking about cinema.”

And well she should. In My Golden Days, a three-part meditation on the early years of the life of the anthropologist Paul Dédalus, Roy-Lecollinet plays the bewitching Esther, a pouty, mature-beyond-her-years student with whom the teenage Dédalus (Quentin Dolmaire) has a prolonged, rollicking affair. “At first, it was a bit hard because I’m not at all

Photograph by WARD IVAN RAFIK Styled by AZZA YOUSIF

that kind of girl, that beautiful girl who’s cooler than everybody else,” explains Roy-Lecollinet, who will next appear in the short films Jeunesse, from Shanti Masud, and La Tortue,

by Thomas Blumenthal and Roman Dopouridis. “I’m really grateful to Arnaud. Without him, I don’t think anyone would think of me as the girl every boy falls in love with.”

Her innate talent clearly helped, too. Roy-Lecollinet effortlessly manages to portray both Esther’s hyper selfpossession and her crippling loneliness: Initially an aloof presence, Esther slowly reveals the chinks in her psychological armor. And, like her character, Roy-Lecollinet discovered a few new things about herself.

“It was very hard being naked in front of everybody,” she says about the nude moments in the film. “But it was easier than other, very emotional scenes—I felt more exposed in those.” vanessa lawrence

Roy-Lecollinet wears a No. 21 dress; Giorgio Armani hat; earrings from Dary’s, Paris.

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IT GIRL

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1. Deutch wears a Mary Katrantzou dress; Simone Rocha earrings, ring from Beladora, Beverly Hills; Nancy Gonzalez clutch; Mansur Gavriel heels. 2. Rodarte earrings.

3. Edgardo Osorio for Salvatore Ferragamo flats.

4. Chloé bracelet bag.

5. Deutch, with her parents, Lea Thompson and Howard Deutch, and her sister Madelyn (far right), late ’90s.

6. Rodarte dress and hair clips. 7. Etro skirt.

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Wild Rose

THE ACTRESS ZOEY DEUTCH IS ONLY JUST STARTING TO BLOOM. 16 12. Deutch and Maybelle.

13. Amelia Toro blouse.

14. Pomellato rings. 15. Mark Cross bag; Simone Rocha dress. 16. St. Vincent, a favorite musician of Deutch’s, performing in 2014. 17. Deutch, left, and her older sister, Madelyn, on the set of The Year of Spectacular Men, 2015.

18. What If?, by Randall Munroe, a recent book pick from Deutch. For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/where-to-buyfebruary-2016.

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“I HAVE A VERY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP

with my family—people are always confused by it,” says the actress Zoey Deutch, a Los Angeles native who grew up on a quasi-farm populated by rescue chickens, cats, dogs, horses, and birds.

Case in point: The 21-year-old stars in the upcoming film The Year of Spectacular Men, directed by her mother, Lea Thompson; produced by her father, Howard Deutch; and based on a screenplay by her older sister, Madelyn. That family production, in which Deutch plays an ambitious OCD-riddled movie star, is just one of the projects on her docket. She appears opposite Robert De Niro and Zac Efron in Dirty Grandpa this winter; in Richard Linklater’s 1980s college romp Everybody Wants Some, slated to open in April; and in the soon-to-be-released Vincent-N-Roxxy, with Emile Hirsch and Zoë Kravitz. And yet, Deutch dismisses the idea that she has her career all figured out. “It’s so strange to be in my 20s and talk about myself as if I have a real concept of who I am.” vanessa lawrence

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15 Portraits by MISHA TAYLOR Styled by ASHLEY FURNIVAL Edited by SAM MILNER

HAIR BY CHARLES MCNAIR AT JED ROOT; MAKEUP BY LOTTIE AT STREETERS LA; DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: CONNOR HUGHES; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: NATHAN STEPHEN; FASHION ASSISTANT: KENDALL FINZER; 4: COURTESY OF THE DESIGNER; 7, 8: TIM HOUT, STYLED BY RENATE LINDLAR; 2, 3, 13, 14: GORMAN STUDIO, STYLED BY JOHN OLSON; 5, 9, 12, 17: COURTESY OF DEUTCH; 10: PARAMOUNT PICTURES/COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES; 16: JASON SQUIRES/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES; 18: COURTESY OF HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT

8. Vilshenko dress.

9. Deutch, with her dog Maybelle, 2015.

10. Diane Keaton, one of Deutch’s style icons, in 1974. 11. Dries Van Noten coat and sunglasses; Nili Lotan dress; Michael Kors Collection flats.

ART AND COMMERCE

The Studio System

A HOLLYWOOD TALENT AGENCY IS BETTING BIG ON THE ART WORLD. ANDREA SCOTT MEETS UTA’S JOSHUA ROTH. ON AN EARLY EVENING IN LATE JULY AT THE LOS ANGELES

Above, from left: UTA’s head of fine arts, Joshua Roth, in his office in Los Angeles, 2015, in front of Alex Israel’s Self Portrait, 2014; Roth, with Luis Flores’s piece Whatever You Want It to Be, 2015, at L.A.’s Grice Bench gallery, 2015.

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County Museum of Art, Kanye West was on a rant. There to discuss the video for his song “All Day/I Feel Like That,” a collaboration with the artist and film director Steve McQueen, West said, “I feel like I’ve been abducted by aliens, just to be able to sit next to Steve right now in an art context. I’d give all, no, two of my Grammys to be permanently in the art context.” Then West shared a eureka moment from a recent trip to the Palazzo Fortuny, in Venice: “I didn’t even know about Fortuny. He was a painter, he was an opera designer, he was a clothing designer, he was a merchant. I was like, I feel like Fortuny. Twenty years from now, people will be so open-minded, like, ‘Oh, yeah, you do five things. It’s cool.’ But right now, people are so closed-minded.”

West’s appearance that night had been orchestrated by Joshua Roth, a Hollywood agent who has bet his career that artists are eager to branch out. Last February, Roth left a lucrative law practice to head up a new division of the United Talent Agency, UTA Fine Arts. When he learned that West, a UTA client, wanted to bring his music video to L.A.—it had premiered four months earlier at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, in Paris—Roth put in a call to Michael Govan, the CEO and director of LACMA. Just three weeks later, the installation, in the museum’s Renzo Piano– designed building for contemporary art, opened to a select audience of well-heeled patrons, art professionals, and reporters (not to mention the one-woman VIP section that is Kim Kardashian).

UTA Fine Arts had proved its clout with the event, which was a publicity coup, but it had yet to announce any clients. And despite Roth’s long-standing ties to the L.A. art community, click-bait headlines cropped up in the wake of the venture’s debut. In May, New York magazine’s Vulture site declared, meet the ari gold of the art world. A bright-eyed, boyish 37, Roth has a highbrow–Jerry Maguire vibe, and he responds to show-me-the-money demands by advocating for patience. “We’re meeting with artists, hearing their dreams, gauging their interest levels,” he told me over the summer. “There’s no expectation of a return on investment in the first 24 months.” Jim Berkus, a UTA cofounder and chairman, put it this way: “We want to take our first steps gingerly. Have our torches ready before we go into the dark game.”

One of the artists taking a meeting—or at least breaking bread—with the agency at that time was Urs Fischer, who has a house in L.A. He and his wife, the fashionista and filmmaker Tara Subkoff, joined Roth, Berkus, and his wife, Ria, for dinner one night at the Tower Bar. Berkus’s clients include Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers, all of whom he considers “true artists,” and he sees the foray into the art world as “a logical next step.” But the relationship between Fischer and UTA has thus far remained strictly social. As Fischer said drily, “In the art world, everyone is a friend.”

How do the needs of “artists” like Angelina Jolie and Channing Tatum (both UTA clients) dovetail with the “talent” represented by galleries, which have been in the business of career maintenance since before Vincent van Gogh signed on with his brother Theo?

Galleries are commercial enterprises, after all, and many are already helping artists extend their reach to fashion runways and movie screens. The difference may be a question of perception: What distinguishes commerce from commercialization? As the gallerist Barbara Gladstone, who has worked with Matthew Barney on almost all of his films, told me, “An artist has to have complete freedom.” That, she believes, will be the test for UTA. “It remains to be seen if they will succeed,” she said. “There’s a quote from de Kooning: ‘The important thing about art is that it’s useless.’ ” In July, over lunch catered by La Scala in a conference room at UTA’s Beverly Hills headquarters, Roth said, “People keep asking me about sneakers, about artists designing sneakers. But we need to think on a grand scale.” Art world gossip, meanwhile, had Roth’s former legal clients, the artists Sam Falls and Sterling Ruby, reading scripts, but when pressed for specifics, Roth pleaded the fifth: “I’m a lawyer. I pride myself on discretion.”

Still, given UTA’s core clientele, movies are an inevitable part of Roth’s strategy. Hollywood has placed artists in the director’s chair with mixed results. In the ’90s, feature films by Robert Longo, David Salle, and Cindy Sherman all tanked at the box office. More recently, though, Julian Schnabel was nominated for an Academy Award for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. And 12 Years a Slave—which won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best picture—earned Steve McQueen a nod for best director. By September, UTA Fine Arts had revealed two film projects, both of them documentaries: Maura Axelrod’s study of the prankster-sculptor Maurizio Cattelan, and an absurdist quest for a quite possibly fictional sculpture by Ed Ruscha, made by Pierre Bismuth, a French conceptual artist best known for co-writing the Oscar-winning screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

On the first floor of UTA, just beyond the reception desk, hangs a photograph of the Kuwait Stock Exchange, by Andreas Gursky.

It’s a witty choice for a company that deals in talent as a commodity, and a bit chilling for the same reason. The picture is owned by the agency’s CEO, Jeremy Zimmer. Works from his impressive collection of contemporary art (Ruscha, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Pae White)

Photographs by YE RIN MOK

MCQUEEN, BERKUS, WEST, ROTH, GOVAN, AND MITCHELL: STEFANIE KEENAN/GETTY IMAGES; HERHER: ALAN SHAFFER/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST; BENGSTON: MANFREDI GIOACCHINI; HAASES: JOE KRAMM/R & COMPANY; PLANE AIR III: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

UTA may be taking the biggest gamble on artists, but it isn’t the first agency to enter the game.

Above, clockwise, from far left: Steve McQueen, Jim Berkus, Kayne West, Joshua Roth, LACMA director and CEO Michael Govan, and Elvis Mitchell, at LACMA, 2015; Roth, at Katherine Bernhardt’s show at Venus Over Los Angeles, 2015; Billy Al Bengston’s Herher, 1990; Bengston, at home in Venice, California, 2014; UTA Fine Arts clients Simon and Nikolai Haas (from left), at R & Company, in New York, 2014; Roth, with the artist Peter Shire, at his studio in L.A.’s Echo Park; Shire’s Plane Air III, 2007.

are installed throughout the building. Conference rooms are named for the art that hangs near them, as in “meet you in Crewdson in five.” Zimmer sits on the board of the Hammer Museum, as does UTA director and cofounder Peter Benedek. But an agency doesn’t expand its business based on philanthropy.

Recently, the European Fine Art Foundation, which operates the gold standard of art fairs in Maastricht, in the Netherlands, published a report stating that sales in the global art market in 2014 had exceeded $57 billion. Sitting in his large sunlit office, below a photograph of himself with President Obama, and opposite a pair of Robert Mapplethorpe prints, Zimmer, who has a clock’s ticking, no-nonsense air, said, “There has to be an opportunity here, but a lot of the ideas won’t be actionable,” putting a hard-nosed spin on Andy Warhol’s infamous adage “Good business is the best art.”

In Roth’s office hangs a large self-portrait by the art-market darling Alex Israel (whose next project is a feature-length film) and a small abstract canvas by Billy Al Bengston (“a hero of mine since I was kid,” Roth said). On his desk sits a vintage Asprey sign that reads, it can be done. It belonged to Roth’s grandfather, an early proponent of the self-service gas station. That business model—a wildly lucrative concept that was considered reckless at first— seems as relevant to Roth’s new venture as the fact that his father, Steven F. Roth, worked for UTA’s rival, Creative Artists Agency.

Steven F. Roth is on the boards of LACMA and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, where Joshua and his wife, Sonya, who met at Loyola Law School, recently started a patron group, aimed at what he calls “a critical mass of future philanthropists.” This fall, Sonya, a former state deputy attorney general, was named Christie’s managing director for Southern California. The couple live with their two young daughters in a 100-year-old house in Hancock Park that’s filled with work by local artists like Paul McCarthy, Jason Rhoades, and Sam Durant.

The small team Roth has put together at UTA has substantial art world cred. Lawyer Lesley Silverman, Roth’s project coordinator, is the sister of the San Francisco gallerist Jessica Silverman and the granddaughter of Gilbert and Lila Silverman, whose collection of Fluxus art, now part of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is considered the best in the world. And Lauri Firstenberg, who was Roth’s first curatorial adviser, has a Ph.D. in the history of art and architecture from Harvard and is the founder of the alternative space LAXART. In an era when Jeff Koons’s rabbit balloon floats behind Shrek in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Louis Vuitton sells ready-to-wear designed by Yayoi Kusama, Roth’s goal “to extend the reach of art beyond the museum wall” is already a reality. UTA may be taking the biggest gamble on artists, but it certainly isn’t the first agency to enter the game. William Morris Endeavor represents the Japanese Pop artist Takashi Murakami (who also has collaborated with Louis Vuitton, on a series of wildly popular

handbags) as well as the street artist Shepard Fairey. And CAA has long worked with McQueen and Schnabel.

“The contemporary model of an artist’s agent is revealing itself,” Andrea Crane, a former director at Gagsosian Gallery, told me recently. In addition to acting as a private art dealer, she is the agent of the painter Cecily Brown. (In September, Crane said she was in negotiations to represent several other artists.) With more than 20 years of experience as a gallery liaison working closely with museums—“artists are longing for institutional support,” Crane said—she is a bit skeptical of a Hollywood agency jumping on the bandwagon. In fact, in an art market so complicated that its specifics have sub-specificities, Crane prefers to think of herself as a consigliere, which is how the The Wall Street Journal described Roth in 2014, when he was heading the art-law department at the powerhouse L.A. firm Glaser Weil, where his clients included artists (Mark Grotjahn, the aforementioned Ruby and Falls) and galleries (Regen Projects, Andrea Rosen). When Zimmer first encountered Roth at a meeting, he recognized a rare balance of skills.

“There are two elements: You have to know the art business, and you have to be able to swim in the agency ecosystem,” he told me.

“After Josh left the room with his client, I said, ‘He’s the guy.’ ” By early autumn, brand-related deals were in place for a few artists who skewed more commercial than fine, like the tattooist-turned-painter Scott Campbell. Far more interesting was the news that Roth had signed the feminist sculptor Judy Chicago, the sculptor and ceramist Peter Shire, and Bengston. All three are older than 60 and cult figures to other artists but under the market-besotted radar. In particular, there was interest from an Emmy Award–winning show runner in Chicago’s autobiography. Roth was clearly delighted: “Judy is academically celebrated, but women have had a harder time accessing power structures.”

Still, what’s Hollywood without power players? By December, UTA Fine Art was throwing a party at the Basel Art Fair in Miami for Francesco Vezzoli, best-known for wrangling famous collaborators (Lady Gaga, Catherine Deneuve). The agency had also signed the post-conceptualist darling Rob Pruitt and the unsinkable Salle (with an eye toward licensing, not directing). Dennis Hopper’s art trust was on board for branded products and a possible biopic. Perhaps the most surprising client was the auction-house player Simon de Pury, betting that his memoir would translate to the big or small screen. Will Roth help a radical feminist and an art auctioneer cross over to the mainstream? That depends. As Kanye West put it at LACMA, “People in this town only see one color: green.”

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STAR MOMENT

Clockwise, from right: Artist John Baldessari; Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault; China Chow and Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott; Jared Leto; Dakota Johnson and Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele.

Ready for Their Close-ups AT THE LACMA GALA, INEZ AND VINOODH SET UP A POP-UP PHOTO STUDIO. TALK ABOUT INSTAGLAM.

THE LOS ANGELES COUNT Y MUSEUM OF ART ’S ANNUAL

gala may celebrate luminaries from the art world and Hollywood—this year, the honorees were the artist James Turrell and the filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu— but fashion is an increasingly big part of the picture.

Exhibit A: these portraits taken by Inez and Vinoodh, who were tapped by co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow to properly document the star-studded event.

John Baldessari, Jared Leto, and Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele (who dressed Gwyneth Paltrow, Dakota Johnson, and Salma Hayek) all took turns in front of their lens. “They capture people’s insides!” exclaims Chow of the legendary duo. The benefit’s success—in the year of LACMA’s 50th anniversary—underscores the resurgence of Los Angeles as a cultural capital. “Every decade has its time,” Chow proclaims. “London had the ’60s, New York had the ’80s. Right now, it’s L.A.” gillian sagansky

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Clockwise, from right: Director Gia Coppola and her mother, Jacqui Getty; Chloë Sevigny; Naomi Campbell and Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci; artist Catherine Opie; Asia, Michael, and Eva Chow; the evening’s honorees, artist James Turrell and filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu.

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Sprites of Spring At the recent collections, the peepers were really popping. There were swipes of pink zinc at Giambattista Valli; sunbursts of orange and aqua at Issey Miyake; and strips of sky blue and Kelly green at Monique Lhuillier. But perhaps most stunning were the shimmery blue and green shadows on the goddesses at Diane von Furstenberg.

“Green is such a happy color,” says the makeup artist Jeanine Lobell, who used the verdant shade from Dior 5 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palette in Rose Garden to create the look here, accented at the inner corners with lemon yellow from the same kit. “Yellow works like white pencil does, opening up the eye,” she notes. “Keep it clean, or smudge it up a little. With these colors, you can’t erase the happy.” jane larkworthy Beauty note: Embolden lashes with Diorshow Mascara in Pro Black.

Photograph by KENNETH WILLARDT Styled by ETHEL PARK

HAIR BY DENNIS LANNI AT ART DEPARTMENT; MAKEUP BY JEANINE LOBELL FOR DIOR; MODEL: ANAIS POULIOT AT THE SOCIETY MANAGEMENT; DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: ALEX VERRON; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: ZACH FERNANDEZ; FASHION ASSISTANT: LUCY GASTON

LOOK OF THE MONTH

JANE’S ADDICTION Au Naturel The natural-beauty world seems to be making itself over. These new releases (below, from left) not only look good—they also work!

Yves Saint Laurent Beauty is launching special versions of its wildly cult-y highlighting concealer (above). Each pen in the Touche Eclat Slogan Edition ($42, yslbeautyus.com, available in March) features one of three sayings: no need to sleep, all lights on me, and, my favorite, i am not a morning person.

Now I can broadcast my sleepiness even as I’m hiding it.

Soup It Up If I lived in L.A., I’d be a regular at Soupure, Angela Blatteis and Vivienne Vella’s deliciously healthy soup joint. Thanks to their new cookbook The Soup Cleanse ($22, soupure.com), I can re-create some of the magic at home. It’s full of great detox and weight-loss tips, but I’m in it for the flavor. Eggplant Parmesan soup? That’s my kind of diet!

As You Like It Mascara fans tend to fall into one of three categories: those who want fullness, those who want curl, and those who want length.

I’m squarely in the final category, but I rounded up excellent new options for all of us (left, clockwise from top, left): Maybelline the Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara ($10, maybelline.com): The wand was designed to lift lashes (hence the name) as well as lengthen.

L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Superstar Mascara ($11, lorealparisusa.com): The primer end of this double wand sets you up for longer, fuller lashes.

Elizabeth Arden Grand Entrance Mascara ($24, elizabetharden.com): A peptide complex accentuates curl; olive extracts prevent flaking.

All Good!

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Shifa Brightening Ampoules ($90, shiffa.com): Apple extract helps brighten skin, while cucumber calms.

Juice Beauty Phyto-Pigments Luminous Lip Crayon ($22, juicebeauty.com): Eggplant extract provides the pigment in this moisturizing lip color.

Forager Woodland Eau de Parfum ($98, foragerbotanicals.com): This blend of cedar, lavender, and vetiver is like a forest in a bottle.

Ellis Brooklyn Excellent Body Milk in Raven ($55, shenbeauty.com): When the beauty editor Bee Shapiro was pregnant, she couldn’t find a phthlalate- and paraben-free body lotion that thrilled her, so she created her own. I love the new mandarin, peony, and patchouli scent.

True Nature Botanicals Dead Sea Bath Salts in Tranquility ($48, tnbotanicals.com): Lavender and chamomile make these magnesiumrich salts the ideal de-stressers.

Buck Naked Soap Company Lavender & Rosemary Bar ($8, bucknakedsoapcompany.com): This divinely scented, sudsy bar offers a moment of Zen in the shower.

Label M Organics Moisturizing Lemongrass Conditioner ($29, labelm-usa.com): The nourishing quince-seed extract and moisturizing jojoba oil left my hair feeling silkier than ever.

Farmaesthetics Nutrient Dense Fine Facial Oil ($58, farmaesthetics.com): Nine oils, including evening primrose and sunflower, join forces to protect and hydrate on cold days.

S.W. Basics DIY Skincare Essentials Lavender Essential Oil and Hydrosol Spray ($14 and $16, swbasics.com): I use these two lavender-based potions together to promote blood circulation, soothe irritation, and even heal breakouts.

ILLUSTRATIONS: SINE JENSEN; DELEVINGNE: SØLVE SUNDSBØ/ART + COMMERCE; BOOK: COURTESY OF GRAND CENTRAL LIFE & STYLE; STILL LIFES: JOSEPHINE SCHIELE

Bright Ideas

WHAT’S HOT High Contrast SIDESTEP THE GRAY AREAS. Proenza Schouler shoes. For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/ where-to-buy-february-2016.

Photograph by STEPHEN LEWIS Edited by RICKIE DE SOLE

HAIR BY SHINGO SHIBATA AT THE WALL GROUP; MAKEUP BY ASAMI TAGUCHI FOR CHANEL AT FRANK REPS; MANICURE BY DAWN STERLING FOR DIOR AT MAM-NYC; SET DESIGN

BY TARA MARINO; DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: ALONZO MACIEL; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS: JAMES GARRETT, GEORGE VALENZUELA; FASHION ASSISTANT: CAITLYN LEARY

WHAT’S HOT

Dangling Modifiers

A SCULPTURAL DROP EARRING CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Clockwise, from top: Marni earrings, dresses, and tunic.

Loewe earrings; Balmain bodysuit. Prada earring, jacket, and neck piece.

Céline earrings; Monse blouse. Proenza Schouler earrings and top. For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/where-to-buyfebruary-2016.

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Photographs by CATHERINE SERVEL Styled by AKARI ENDO-GAUT

HOLLYWOOD SCANDALS

EXPOSED! THINK HOLLYWOOD TODAY IS FULL OF DRAMA? TINSELTOWN WAS PRACTICALLY BUILT ON SALACIOUS DIRT. SCANDALS OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD AUTHOR ANNE HELEN PETERSEN GOES DIGGING.

Ink-Stained Wretchery

* Clara Bow, It girl of the silent era, was a firecracker who left a trail of fiancés in her wake. In 1930, her hairdresser– turned–personal assistant sold Bow’s secrets to a tabloid, resulting in a salacious (albeit highly exaggerated) story of group sex, lesbianism, and bestiality—not to mention a libel suit and the end of Bow’s career.

* Rock Hudson’s homosexuality was one of the best-kept secrets in Hollywood, but it almost became public knowledge in 1955, thanks to Robert Harrison, the publisher of Confidential, Hollywood’s most addictive scandal rag of the time.

The actor’s agent, Henry Willson, who

was skilled at transforming handsome gay men into macho movie stars, struck a deal: If Harrison kept mum about Hudson, Willson would give him a juicy cover story on another client, the actor Rory Calhoun, a former juvenile delinquent. The trade seemed uneven but Harrison took it, knowing he’d have Willson—and his stable of closeted male talent—under his thumb forever (2).

* Frank Sinatra and his second wife, Ava Gardner, had a tumultuous relationship—one that Confidential was eager to exploit. In 1956, the publication paid one of many (very willing) girls who’d spent a night in the crooner’s bed to tell all. What went on between the sheets wasn’t exactly fit to print, but the pub did reveal what Sinatra ate for breakfast: Wheaties, which supposedly energized him for more “exercise” (3).

3

1

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES THE FACTS OF NATALIE WOOD’S 1981 DROWNING,

off Catalina Island, in Southern California, simply don’t add up: None of the other passengers on the boat (her husband, Robert Wagner; the actor Christopher Walken; and the captain, Dennis Davern) reported seeing her go into

the water; her body was found with inexplicable bruises; and a dinghy was beached nearby.

In 2011, the case was reopened, to no avail.

SINCE THE MOMENT MARILYN MONROE DIED, IN

conspiracy theorists have blamed her overdose on a CIA, FBI, and/or Secret Service plot to protect John F. and/or Robert F. Kennedy from potential scandal.

1962,

INITIALLY, 32YEAROLD BRIT TANY MURPH Y ’S DEATH,

in 2009, was ruled an accidental overdose exacerbated by complications from pneumonia and anemia. When the actress’s husband died under similar circumstances five months later, Murphy’s father ordered a toxicology report for his daughter. High levels of heavy metals were found; their source remains unknown.

1: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES; 2, 3: COURTESY OF CONFIDENTIAL; BOTTOM: ILBUSCA/GETTY IMAGES

Women loved Rudolph Valentino; men hated him. His “Latin lover” look— complete with black eyeliner—was condemned as a feminizing influence on boys across America. In 1926, a journalist went so far as to blame the actor for the advent of face powder–dispensing machines in public men’s rooms. Proving his manliness, Valentino challenged the writer to a fight but died unexpectedly, from a ruptured appendix, before any punches could be thrown (1).

2

And the Oscar Faux Pas Goes to...

TAYLOR: SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; YOUNG AND GABLE: 20TH CENTURY FOX/COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES; BERGMAN: F. PALE HUNI/PICTURE POST/IPC MAGAZINES/GETTY IMAGES; DANDRIDGE: COURTESY OF EVERETT COLLECTION; FONDA: AP PHOTO/ST. MARTIN’S PRESS; REUBENS: COURTESY OF SARASOTA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT; DEPP: AP PHOTO/ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN; GRANT: STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES; CROWE: AP PHOTO/LOUIS LANZANO; GIBSON: LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT/GETTY IMAGES; STATUETTE: COURTESY OF OSCARS.ORG; BRODY AND BERRY: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; LAWRENCE: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES; SACHEEN CRUZ LITTLEFEATHER: RON GALELLA/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES; JOLIE: DAN MACMEDAN/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

ELIZABETH TAYLOR’S MARRIAGE MARATHON

WHEN IT COMES TO WEDDED BLISS, MORE WAS MORE FOR LIZ TAYLOR. She first said yes to

Conrad “Nicky” Hilton Jr. (1950– 1951) in a fairy-tale wedding that

immediately soured: Hilton was purportedly so soused during their honeymoon that he was barely able to consummate the union. Next came the safe but boring British actor Michael Wilding (1952–1957); when that ended, Taylor fell hard for the brash film producer Mike Todd (1957–1958), who died in a plane accident just 13 months into their marriage. Taylor sought solace in the arms of one of Todd’s best friends, the singer Eddie Fisher (1959–1964), husband of the actress Debbie Reynolds. The press cast Taylor as “the black widow,” responsible for breaking up “Hollywood’s cutest couple.” Then, of course, came

Affairs to Forget THE CONSUMMATE LADIES’ MAN, CLARK

cheated constantly on his second wife, the socialite Maria Franklin, often with his frequent screen companion Joan Crawford.

In 1934, he turned his roving eye to Loretta Young (above, with Gable), his costar in The Call of the Wild.

Young became pregnant, at a time when the preferred studio solution to such inconveniences was to arrange for an abortion—but Young, a devout Catholic (except when it came to having sex out of wedlock), refused.

Instead, she went on an extended tour of Europe, returning home to have the baby, whom she gave up to an orphanage. After an appropriate amount of time had passed, she GABLE

Jane Fonda, arrested in 1970 at the Cleveland airport for smuggling pills (which turned out to be vitamins). It was said the harassment was payback for her anti–Vietnam War activism.

announced her intention to adopt a little girl, never letting on that it was her and Gable’s biological child.

Young went on to have a successful TV career, and Gable went on as if nothing had happened—he would have an affair with Carole Lombard, whom he married after his wife finally dumped him. * DURING HER HE YDAY, IN THE

1940 S, INGRID BERGMAN

found herself embroiled in an extramarital romance with sexy director Roberto Rossellini while shooting in Italy, as her family waited in California. The affair might have been overlooked, but it soon became clear that Bergman (above, with Rossellini) was pregnant with

THE

USUAL

Paul Reubens, arrested in 1991 for indecent exposure in an adult theater in Florida— very much out of Pee-wee character.

Johnny Depp, infamous for trashing hotel rooms, arrested in 1994 for “criminal mischief” after he inflicted nearly $10,000 in damages on the Mark hotel in New York.

Taylor’s Cleopatra costar, the bombastic Richard Burton (1964– 1974); that love affair spawned the paparazzi industry as we know it.

Shortly after divorcing, the pair reunited for a brief sequel (1975– 1976). Following their second split, Taylor shacked up with John Warner (1976–1982), a Republican senator who dragged her to Washington, D.C., where Taylor immediately became bored. Which leads us to husband No. 8, the construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991–1995), whom Taylor met during her second stay at the Betty Ford rehab center. That marriage lasted, amazingly, five years.

his baby. The scandal reached a fever pitch in 1950, when she was famously slut-shamed by Colorado Senator Edwin C. Johnson, who called her a “powerful influence for evil.” * IN 1954, DOROTH Y DANDRIDGE

was one of the most in-demand actresses in town—no small feat, given that she was black. Though she’d been nominated for an Oscar, that didn’t mean she could date a white man, especially when he was a) her director, and b) married.

Otto Preminger had cast Dandridge (both, below) in Carmen Jones—the film that won her the best actress nod—but he also foolishly advised her not to take the role of Tuptim in The King and I. Their liaison ended four years later, and, effectively, so did Dandridge’s ascent.

SUSPECTS

Hugh Grant, caught with the prostitute Divine Brown off Sunset Boulevard and arrested for “lewd conduct”— two weeks before the 1995 release of Nine Months, his first Hollywood film.

Russell Crowe, arrested in 2005 for throwing a phone at an employee of the Mercer hotel, a celeb haunt in Manhattan, after a failed call to his wife in Australia.

Adrien Brody, for celebrating his best actor award for The Pianist in 2003 by making out with Halle Berry onstage (left).

Angelina Jolie, for standing up and kissing her brother in a distinctly un-siblinglike manner upon winning best supporting actress in 2000 for Girl, Interrupted.

Jennifer Lawrence, for tripping over her dress in 2013 (above)— and, as an encore, in 2014.

Jane Fonda, for using sign language to accept her best actress Oscar for 1978’s Coming Home.

Marlon Brando, for sending Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather to decline his Oscar for 1972’s The Godfather (left).

Marisa Tomei, for stunning Hollywood with her best supporting actress win for My Cousin Vinny in 1993; to this day, rumors circulate that Jack Palance, 73 at the time, read the wrong name when he announced the award.

Angelina Jolie’s right leg (right), for refusing to stay within the confines of her Atelier Versace gown in 2012, inspiring its own Twitter account and countless memes.

Mel Gibson’s sexist, anti-Semitic DUI rant in 2006 in Malibu was the prelude to a 2010 expletive-laden phone call to then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, a restraining order, and a charge of battery.

Björk, for showing up in 2001 dressed as a swan.

Elia Kazan, for enduring the uncomfortable audience silence upon receiving an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1999; the director helped to blacklist writers, actors, and directors during the 1950s Red Scare.

SMOKING THRILLS

RACIL CHALHOUB IS GIVING THE CLASSIC TUX A COLORFUL NEW SPIN. A HALFCEN T URY AF T ER Y VES SAI N T

Laurent sent it down the runway, Le Smoking, the French—and far more seductive-sounding—term for a women’s tuxedo, is still as chic an eveningwear option as ever. Racil Chalhoub, however, wanted one she could also sport during the day. “Everything I found was too stiff-looking,” says the Paris-raised,

London-based designer, who previously co-owned a boutique-cum-bakery in Beirut, Lebanon, called Kitsch. Combining Savile Row fabrics and a youthful sensibility, she launched her namesake line last year, with an array of elegantly tailored styles that Chalhoub herself pairs with a T-shirt and flats for work and high heels come evening.

Her spring collection, which has already

Good Vibrations FASHION VETERAN BETH BUGDAYCAY,

an ebullient blonde who loves to hug, is a big believer in karma. So much so that she enameled symbols representing the concept—as well as those for strength, dreams, and protection—onto rings for Foundrae, her new fine-jewelry and readyto-wear line. The positive energy she has put out into the world has already come back to her: Foundrae’s 18-karat gold cigar-band rings caused such a sensation at a Bergdorf Goodman trunk show a few months back that Bugdaycay ended up selling pieces off her own fingers. Now fans can find her jewels—and customize them—at her New York store, which opens this spring in TriBeCa. k.n.

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Rings from the Foundrae jewelry line ($1,350–$2,980; foundrae.com).

found favor with It girls like Sabine Getty and Natasha Goldenberg, moves beyond the classic black and white palette to include slinky slip dresses and 1970s-style pantsuits in petal pink, lemon, and light blue. “I’m always thinking about how to reinvent the tuxedo.” karin nelson Photographs by MAURIZIO BAVUTTI Styled by TRACEY NICHOLSON

SMOKING THRILLS: HAIR BY KAYLA MICHELE FOR WELLA PROFESSIONALS AT STREETERS NEW YORK; MAKEUP BY ZENIA JAEGER FOR TOM FORD AT THE WALL GROUP; MANICURE BY RICA ROMAIN AT LMC WORLDWIDE; MODEL: EILIKA MECKBACH AT WOMEN MANAGEMENT; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: CRISTIAS ROSAS; FASHION ASSISTANT: MARIE ARAI; SPECIAL THANKS TO TIJUANA PICNIC; LEFT: MODEL WEARS RACIL JACKET AND TROUSERS; TIFFANY & CO. EARRINGS. CENTER: MODEL WEARS RACIL JACKET AND TROUSERS. RIGHT: CHALHOUB WEARS RACIL JACKET, SHIRT, AND TROUSERS; STYLIST’S OWN SCARF. MODEL WEARS RACIL JACKET AND TROUSERS. FOUNDRAE RINGS: GORMAN STUDIO, STYLED BY TIM HOUT. FOR STORES, PRICES, AND MORE, GO TO WMAG.COM/WHERE-TO-BUY-FEBRUARY-2016

From left: Two looks from the Racil spring collection; Racil Chalhoub, left, with a model.

WHAT’S HOT BLUE STREAK Camille Seydoux has made a name for herself as the wiz behind the glamorous red-carpet looks of her younger sister, the actress Léa Seydoux. Now the French stylist—and former art-gallery owner—is applying her sense of Parisian cool to an all-denim capsule collection for Roger Vivier. Comprised of a shoulder bag, a mini–drawstring pouch, ankle boots, and “dizzyingly high” platform sandals, the four-piece lineup can be worn, Seydoux assures, “with everything.” k.n.

From left: Camille Seydoux; her drawstring pouch for Roger Vivier ($1,550, Roger Vivier, New York, 212.861.5371).

Turkish Delight SLIP INTO ISTANBUL’S CHICEST NEW SHOE LINE. EV EN B EF O RE B A LEN C I AG A , G U CC I ,

and The Row made slippers the musthave footwear for spring, Serena Uziyel, an accessories designer and a cofounder of the Istanbul lifestyle boutique Sanayi 313, couldn’t keep her embellished creations in stock. But then, the cozy, exquisitely crafted flats, inspired by traditional local

styles and handmade in Italy and India, transcend trendiness. “They’re crazy shoes,” says Uziyel, who now also sells them online at Matchesfashion.com. “But people love them.” k.n.

Left: Slippers from Sanayi 313 ($670–$1,290, matchesfashion.com).

SEYDOUX: HUGUES LAURENT; FAGIOLI SISTERS, BAG, AND CAFTANII LOOK: COURTESY OF THE DESIGNERS; BONAIUTI: VANNI BASSETTI/GETTY IMAGES; STILL LIFES: TIM HOUT

Nice and Easy

IN THE FAST-PACED WORLD OF FASHION, TWO SISTERS ARE TAKING THEIR TIME. WHEN

LUDOVICA

AND

GINEVRA

FAG I O L I ,

Florentine twins with a passion for fabrics, founded Caftanii two summers ago, their ambitions were modest.

“We wanted to do something that expressed our mood and easy way of living,” Ludovica says of their effortlessly elegant designs, hand-sewn by Italian artisans. So if it weren’t for the stylist Diletta Bonaiuti, who caused a sensation among the street-style photographers when she stepped out in an ivory Caftanii robe dress during Milan Fashion Week, the 29-year-old sisters would likely still be operating under the radar. Not that the attention has affected them: Despite an uptick in orders for their spring collection—an exploration of childhood, with linen tunics and high-waisted shorts—production remains limited. “For us, quality is so important,” Ludovica insists.

“We want to do things that are absolutely beautiful.” k.n.

Clockwise, from above, left: Ludovica and Ginevra Fagioli; Diletta Bonaiuti, in a Caftanii dress; a look from Caftanii’s spring collection (caftanii.it).

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By Lynn Hirschberg Photographs by Peter Lindbergh Styled by Edward Enninful In 2015, the world was in turmoil, and Hollywood was looking for a happy ending. Whether the topic was sexual identity (Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in the midcentury lesbian love story Carol; Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez exploring L.A.’s transgender underworld in Tangerine) or postapocalyptic politics (Charlize Theron in the manic epic Mad Max: Fury Road) or immigration (Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson in the wonderfully old-fashioned Brooklyn), almost all of the movies last year ended on a positive, romantic note. Wrongs were righted in Spotlight, which took on the abuses in the Catholic Church. And even murkier films like Sicario, which costarred Benicio Del Toro in a story about the unwinnable Mexican drug wars, or The Hateful Eight, Quentin Tarantino’s savage snow Western, celebrated vivid moments of triumph.

Tarantino’s mélange of violence and humor generated one of the greatest characters of the year, Daisy Domergue, a spitfire played with devilish intensity by Jennifer Jason Leigh. The actress was in good company: 2015 was, finally, a very strong year for female roles. Brie Larson was riveting as the trapped mother in Room; Carey Mulligan was inspiring as an early activist in Suffragette; and Alicia Vikander, who surely had the most varied repertoire of any of her peers, was a hypnotic android (Ex Machina), an unflappable World War I nurse (Testament of Youth), and the confused, loyal wife of a transgender woman (The Danish Girl).

Vikander’s Danish Girl costar, Eddie Redmayne, was both subtle and haunting as Lili Elbe, a sex-change pioneer. In 2015, Redmayne was awarded the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, and that win seemed to herald the emergence of a new generation in Hollywood.

With an affecting performance as the young and tormented Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy, Paul Dano made the transition from character actor to leading man. Seth Rogen, meanwhile, departed (briefly) from comedy to embody the computer geek and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs. Similarly, standup comedian Amy Schumer had a star-is-born moment with her autobiographical film Trainwreck, and Kristen Wiig proved to be a remarkably versatile actress, as a pathologically narcissistic lottery winner in Welcome to Me and as the somewhat lost mother of a 15-year-old in The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Bel Powley, who played Wiig’s adventurous daughter in that film, and Saoirse Ronan, who was torn between two men and two countries in Brooklyn, were luminous and thrilling. Both women have acted professionally— and very successfully—since they were children, but this was their breakthrough year.

There was also a reemergence of more-seasoned actors. As a domineering diva, Jane Fonda nearly stole Youth, the story of a composer who is facing his own mortality, portrayed with sorrow and grace

by Michael Caine. Richard Gere hid in plain sight as a homeless man in Time Out of Mind, and Peter Sarsgaard explored the boundaries of human nature in Experimenter, an unorthodox biopic about the social psychologist Stanley Milgram.

And that’s just the beginning. On the following pages, we spotlight 31 performers who achieved an extraordinary mix of the unique and the universal. These portraits, which were shot in Los Angeles, New York, and London, are revealing and evocative character studies—movies unto themselves.

Hair by Odile Gilbert

Makeup by Stéphane Marais

Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn

“I was scared every single day on Brooklyn. I mean, you always get jitters, and you always get a little nervous before you do your first take, but there was something about shooting at home, so close to where I grew up. I was terrified.�

Vera Wang Collection dress and bandeau; Chopard earrings.

Michael Caine in Youth

“ Youth was a complete surprise to me. My agent rang and said, ‘The director Paolo Sorrentino, who just won the Oscar for best foreign film, is sending you a script.’ I said, ‘Does he know who I am?’ She said, ‘ Yes! He wrote this script for you.’ I nearly said, ‘ You don’t have to send the script; I’ll do it for nothing,’ but I stayed cool and said, ‘I’ll be happy to read it.’ ” Boss jacket and shirt.

Cate Blanchett in Carol

“All my life I’ve been playing dress-up, and now I get to do it for a living. In film, particularly, the costumes are a big part of my characters. When I first appear in Carol, in a fur coat, hat, and gloves, the audience immediately ascribes meaning to the person I’m playing. A certain scarf or handbag or a pair of glasses can reveal multitudes about someone’s persona.”

Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci dress.

Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight and Anomalisa

“I based part of my Hateful Eight character on Regan from The Exorcist. After she kills the priest, she doesn’t know what to do with her power. But she’s also completely lost—full of adrenaline and like an animal. Quentin Tarantino picked up on this right away. You can’t get any film reference past him.”

Rochas dress; Agent Provocateur bra; Chanel Fine Jewelry bracelet.

Samuel L. Jackson in The Hateful Eight

“I like being a villain. It’s fun to be unapologetically bad. I hate movies where the bad guy starts to say he’s sorry and explains why he’s doing bad stuff. I like to play men who say, ‘Look—this is just what I do.’ ” Giorgio Armani sweater.

Grooming by Autumn Moultrie for Dior at Exclusive Artists Management.

Amy Schumer in Trainwreck

“I have a crush on Christian Bale. Newsies was a really big deal to me. I haven’t watched it in a while, but maybe I’d still feel attracted to 15-yearold Christian. I definitely wanted to have sex with him when he was emaciated in The Machinist. I’ll take Christian any way I can get him.”

Giorgio Armani jacket; Julianne shorts from Journelle, New York; Wolford tights; Hermès shoes.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Richard Gere in Time Out of Mind

“While I was in character as a homeless man, I would panhandle, and I was very bad at it. We shot for 42 minutes straight, and in that time, I made less than a buck and a half. No one recognized me or made eye contact with me. Their brains went ‘homeless guy’ from two blocks away, and they decided, ‘I don’t want to give to him.’ ” Giorgio Armani coat, suit, shirt, belt, and shoes.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Grooming by Birgitte for Acqua di Parma at Sally Harlor.

Bryan Cranston in Trumbo

“I’ve been in drag for several TV roles, and I make the ugliest woman in the world. As a man, I am not vain. But when brilliant makeup artists are making me into a woman, I become very concerned with my looks. ‘Can you soften my jaw?…Can you do anything about the wrinkles?’

Sadly, it’s a lost cause.”

Burberry trenchcoat; Balenciaga shirt.

Carey Mulligan in Suffragette and Far From the Madding Crowd

“I don’t know if I believe in chemistry on a f ilm. I know loads of people who’ve had quite sexy onscreen relationships with people they hate. I think chemistry might just be actors doing their jobs well.”

Chanel blouse, dress, and bag; Anita Ko earring.

Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road

“My character Imperator Furiosa, in Mad Max: Fury Road, is missing an arm, but in the film we never explain how that happened—she just is. I don’t think the character would have the same gravitas if she wasn’t broken like that. Instead, she’s an entire human being who just happens to be an amputee.”

Dior Fine Jewelry ring.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Hair by Enzo Angileri for Infusium 23 at Cloutier Remix; makeup by Francesca Tolot for Dior at Cloutier Remix.

Elizabeth Banks in Love & Mercy

“At auditions, I was the type of person to dress for the part. Then a casting director told me, ‘Don’t dress like the character; just look as gorgeous as possible all the time.’ So then I realized, if you’re up for the part of a waitress, put on an apron over something you might wear to the Oscars. That’s when I started getting roles.”

Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane dress; Graff earrings; Bulgari bracelet.

Benicio Del Toro in Sicario

“At my 4th birthday party, I wore an astronaut costume and we had a cake shaped like a rocket. I remember being very excited about dressing up like someone else. That may have been the beginning of my acting career.�

Olatz pajamas.

Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina, Testament of Youth, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and The Danish Girl

“I was on a long-haul flight at night, and as I went down the aisle to the bathroom, I counted at least 14 screens that had Ex Machina on.

I was walking past myself playing Ava, the android. I was tempted to go to the front of the cabin and look over my shoulder to the people watching her. I thought it would shock them to find Ava on their plane. There might have been screams.�

Louis Vuitton vest.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Hair by Martin Cullen for Bumble and bumble at Streeters; makeup by Mary Greenwell for Chanel at Premier Hair and Make-up.

Joel Edgerton in The Gift and Black Mass

“I’ve never counted how many times I’ve died in movies. I’ve been shot on many, many occasions. I find dying easy. The hard part is trying to hold your breath, because, obviously, dead people don’t breathe. One of these days, I’d love to do a long, melodramatic, triple-death ending. It would be like a drum solo at the end of a rock song. You think the song is over, and then it kicks in again.”

Coach jacket; Simon Miller T-shirt; A.P.C. jeans; The Frye Company boots.

Brie Larson in Room

“I have always wanted to act. When I was around 7 I started auditioning, and I recall going up for a fish-sticks commercial.

By then, I was completely committed to the craft of acting and had memorized a full monologue. The director was only looking for cute kids and wasn’t interested in hearing my speech. I started sobbing. ‘They won’t let me act!’ I wailed to my mother.”

Giorgio Armani coat.

Paul Dano in Love & Mercy and Youth

“I gained 30 pounds to play the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy. When I showed up for my costume fitting, the director looked at me and said, ‘Um…I think you could lose a few pounds.’ I was so upset. I’m naturally a skinny guy, and it was not fun gaining that weight.”

Maison Margiela suit; Giorgio Armani shirt; Calvin Klein White Label tie.

Peter Sarsgaard in Experimenter

“In college, I was hot for a girl and took an acting class to be near her. They had me do a role from a play called Bent. The scene was between two gay men during the Holocaust, and I felt enormous empathy from the people in the room who were watching. It was very seductive: In that instant, I fell in love with acting.�

Balenciaga jacket and shirt.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Jacob Tremblay in Room

“When people watch my movie, they cry. My mom told me that it was a very dark subject, so I didn’t read the whole script. But after we saw Room the f irst time, my mom was crying. People were a mess.

Their mascara was falling off.”

Sogoodnight pajamas; Worth & Worth by Orlando Palacios hat.

Greta Gerwig in Mistress America

“My character, Brooke, is both a fraud and the genuine article, which is, I think, the truth: People can be both.

To get anything done, you need a lot of crazy.�

Gap T-shirt; J Brand jeans.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw and Everest

“I had no idea how to box before Southpaw. In an early sparring session, I got hit in the face and then in the body, and that first body shot dropped me. In my work, I try to get into the real space of my characters, but at that moment, I thought, What the hell am I doing this for?�

Dior Homme jacket; Alternative T-shirt.

Mya Taylor in Tangerine

“Tangerine happened for me because I was in the right place at the right time. A very attractive person named Sean Baker walked up to me at the LGBT center in Hollywood, and we started talking. Our conversations about hustling and struggling with my gender transition became the basis for the movie.�

Adrienne Landau stole; Rosamosario bra; Tom Ford skirt; Nina Runsdorf earrings and cuff; Chanel belt; Manolo Blahnik clutch and pumps; Wolford stay-ups; Cornelia James gloves (on bed).

Jane Fonda in Youth

“On my 75th birthday— which was my favorite birthday—I had 150 people to my house, including several ex-husbands. It was December 21, 2012, which was, according to the Mayan calendar, the day there would be a major shift to a new paradigm and the world would change. I can’t say that I experienced any sort of turning point, but I had a good time. And the exhusbands all got along.”

Salvatore Ferragamo coat; Vhernier ring.

Hair by Matthew Shields; makeup

by Elan Bongiorno at Exclusive Artists Management.

Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl

“One of my f irst f ilms was Savage Grace. Julianne Moore played my mother, with whom my character was having an incestuous relationship. Last year, there was an amazing moment at the Academy Awards when Julianne and I both won. We were euphoric, and she turned to me and said, ‘Now maybe people will go and see Savage Grace!’ ” Burberry shirt and trousers.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Grooming by Petra Sellge for Elemis.

Margot Robbie in Focus and Z for Zachariah

“If I ever need to cry in a scene, I think of Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack dying in Titanic. I would never tell Leo that. I’ll kill myself if he ever reads this.”

Burberry dress; Cartier bracelet.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Hair by Martin Cullen for Bumble and bumble at Streeters; makeup

by Mary Greenwell for Chanel at Premier Hair and Make-up.

Seth Rogen in Steve Jobs

“I think I was self-aware enough to know that the best way to become a performer was through my own writing. I doubted that there was a roomful of people in Hollywood saying, ‘We need a stoned Jewish-Canadian guy to star in our films.’ ” Berluti coat; Dunhill shirt; Thomas Pink tie.

Bradley Cooper in Burnt and Joy

“During the shooting of Wedding Crashers, I remember watching Vince Vaughn come up with riffs that weren’t working and then discovering something that would work. I thought, Wow— he is totally willing to fall on his ass over and over in front of everybody. That taught me not to fear failing. What I do fear is not giving everything I’ve got.”

Boss coat.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Maika Monroe in It Follows

“My favorite love scene is in Dirty Dancing, when they are soaking wet and practicing their big number.

I’ve asked guys to do the dance from the movie, and they’re willing to try, but I always chicken out. I’m scared that I won’t be caught.”

Etro sweater; Isabel Marant shorts; Falke tights.

Bel Powley in The Diary of a Teenage Girl

“In The Diary of a Teenage Girl, it was important to me to show a normal female body onscreen, not the Hollywood-ized version of a woman we see all the time.

There’s a moment when my character looks at her breasts in the mirror; I think every 15-year-old girl has done that.

I’m not 15 anymore, but I probably looked at my breasts in the mirror this morning in exactly the same way.”

Versus Versace dress.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me and The Diary of a Teenage Girl

“I’m always intrigued by the most extreme people. You go to a dinner and there’s that person who’s a little eccentric or strange, or even someone no one else wants to talk to. I love talking to those people.”

Vera Wang Collection top; Brandon Maxwell skirt; No. 21 headband; Neil Lane bracelets.

DIGITAL TECHNICIANS: SHAINA FISHMAN, AMELIE AMBROISE; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS: STEFAN RAPPO, SIMON CORDOVA, ANTHONY IGNACIO, RICHARD HAGASHI, ARAM MARTIROSYAN, CHRIS CHANDLER, EDUARDO FIEL, MATT ROADY, STAN REY-GRANGE, BENJAMIN MADGWICK; ON-SET RETOUCHER: CHRISTIAN TOCHTERMANN; FASHION ASSISTANTS: RYANN FOULKE, DENA GIANNINI, SAM WALKER, TINA HUYNH, ANASTASYA KOLOMYTSEVA, SUE-WEN QUEK, MICHAEL BESHARA; HAIR ASSISTANTS: MEGUMI ASAI, TAKASHI ASHIZAWA, DELPHINE BONNET; MAKEUP ASSISTANTS: AMBER DREADON, NATASHA SEVERINO, MIA YANG, ANDREW COLVIN, YUMI LEE, MARIA VB, TINA SOLBERG; SET-DESIGN ASSISTANTS: EVAN JOURDEN, BRYAN PORTER, CHRISTOPHER GARRETT; BEHIND-THE-SCENE VIDEOGRAPHER: STEPHEN KIDD

Domhnall Gleeson

in Ex Machina, Brooklyn, The Revenant, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

“It’s weird to say that you have a crush on your father, but I have a professional crush on my dad, Brendan Gleeson.

He’s fearless. I thought he was gorgeous in the film In Bruges, though he didn’t come to a very nice end. As his son, it’s kind of difficult to watch.”

Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane jacket; Paul Smith London shirt.

Styled by Sarah M Richardson.

Rooney Mara in Carol

“When I was 11, I was in love with Leonardo DiCaprio. It started with the TV show Growing Pains and went through What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? I didn’t have posters of him, but I def initely had some cut-out pictures. I would write my first name with DiCaprio as my new last name to see how it would look.”

Hermès jacket and pants; Maison Margiela shirt; Church’s shoes. For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/ where-to-buy-february-2016.

Manicures by Michelle Saunders for Essie at Forward Artists, Yuko Tsuchihashi for Chanel, Adam Slee for Rimmel London at Streeters. Set design

by Colin Donahue at Owl & the Elephant, Andy Hillman at Streeters London.

Production by 2b Management, North Six, Lucy Watson Productions.

FUNNY, WITH A CHANCE OF POLITICS Comedy king Adam McKay is not just in it for the laughs.

By Lynn Hirschberg Photograph by Robert Maxwell

STYLED BY MICHAEL FISHER. GROOMING BY DANIEL MARTINEZ FOR M2-SQUARED STUDIO LA; DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: DREW SCHWARTZ; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS: JIMMY FIKES, JUSTIN OFFICER; FASHION ASSISTANT: MANUEL PARRA; MCKAY WEARS BOSS TUXEDO JACKET AND SHIRT. ANCHORMAN 2: PARAMOUNT PICTURES/COURTESY OF EVERETT COLLECTION; THE BIG SHORT: COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES (2); MCKAY, FERRELL, AND REILLY, AND MCKAY AND FERRELL: COURTESY OF ADAM MCKAY. FOR STORES, PRICES, AND MORE, GO TO WMAG.COM/WHERE-TO-BUY-FEBRUARY-2016

W

ho the fuck wants to be taken seriously?”

Adam McKay asked on a chilly day last fall.

He was sprawled on the big, squishy tan sofa in his office in West Hollywood, home to the production company he started with Will Ferrell and Chris Henchy, and Funny or Die, the massively successful website the three cofounded. McKay, who is tall and broad and was dressed in jeans and a gray zip-up sweater, with a striped scarf knotted around his neck, has shifted, albeit briefly, from comedy to co-write and direct The Big Short, a blistering and surprisingly moving true-life drama about the collapse of the financial structure in America. Although there are amusing bits in the film, the humor is in the service of an impactful story supported by an all-star cast (Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell) who play the mavericks who bet against the system and won.

“I had just finished Anchorman 2,” McKay recalled. “And my agent asked me, ‘If you could do anything, what would you do?’ I said, Michael Lewis’s The Big Short. I was obsessed with the book. I thought it was informational, specific, pulse-pounding, had great characters, and was heartbreaking.

Most of all, the story was about now. But I assumed there was no way Paramount Pictures, which owned the rights to the book, would let me do it. It’s very hard to jump genres, and I am a comedy guy. I knew they probably wouldn’t take me seriously. But I also knew that it’s so much fun not to be taken seriously, and then, when you are serious—and I was very serious about The Big Short—it’s a surprise. Everyone likes to be surprised.”

If the studio execs had been paying attention to McKay’s blockbuster comedies— Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues ($210 million combined domestic gross), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers ($100 million), and The Other Guys ($119 million)—they might not have been the least bit shocked by his interest in politics and the zeitgeist. In every one of those films, McKay has managed to sneak in transgressive commentaries on religion, sexuality, and prejudice. Take 2006’s Talladega Nights, which is, ostensibly, the story of NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby (played by Ferrell), who, ideologically anyway, has quite a lot in common with George W. Bush. In the film, Bobby is challenged by Jean Girard, an openly gay Formula 1 driver played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Girard easily trounces Bobby on the track, and at the end they share a very long, romantic kiss to celebrate Bobby’s return to glory. Talladega Nights went on to make $148 million, largely thanks to audiences in the Southern states, where gay rights were being vehemently challenged. “The day after Talladega came out,” McKay recalled, “Michael Moore called me and said, ‘You just made the most subversive movie in America, and nobody knows it.’ ” That sly undercurrent is part of every McKay comedy: In 2008’s Step Brothers, about two grown men who still live with their parents, McKay was addressing the infantilization of Americans. “In this country, we’ve turned everyone into children,” he said. “Especially among men, it is not considered cool to be an adult anymore.” In 2010’s mismatched-cop comedy The Other Guys, the subplot is financial malfeasance. “Back then, I started doing research about the collapse of the economy,” McKay remembered. “But the laughs in The Other Guys obscured my commentary. Things were so

messed up, I wanted to say something without hiding. I suddenly realized that 80 percent of what I was interested in stemmed from economics. I started talking to Nobel Prize–winning economists like Paul Krugman. After I read The Big Short, I found the perfect way to show it all.”

The Big Short follows a group of men who predicted the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. In Lewis’s book, they are portrayed as brilliant, audacious investors who bucked the system. McKay’s take is more melancholic: The film is thrilling, but, unlike the book, it is also sad. Fortunes were made, but the money was tainted.

Unexpectedly, Paramount liked McKay’s approach to the The Big Short, and in 2014 the script he wrote was approved. “I told them my dream cast—Bale, Gosling, Pitt—and they said, ‘Sure, but you’re not going to get those guys.’

And then everyone said yes.” McKay smiled. Underestimated again. “Once I got the cast, the studio stopped seeing me as ‘the comedy guy.’ ” But if being the comedy guy means being perceived as a Hollywood outsider, then McKay relishes the title. Ever since his days as a writer for Saturday Night Live, where he was hired in 1995 when he was 27 (he is now 47), McKay has exhibited an anarchic streak. He grew up in Pennsylvania and began his career doing stand-up, then segued into improv.

After attending Penn State and Temple University, he cofounded the Upright Citizens Brigade and later joined the Second City (comedy troupes in New York and Chicago, respectively), for which he wrote Piñata Full of Bees, a landmark revue that began with the cast onstage in gas masks, accusing the audience of crimes against humanity. “It was free-form, political, funny, and absurdist,” McKay told me. “I used every muscle in that show.”

At Saturday Night Live he became the head writer after only a year but soon became restless. “I wanted to leave, and my manager said, ‘Make a ridiculous demand and see what they say.’ ” They said yes to everything, even McKay’s wish to choose his own title. “I was called the Coordinator of Falconry,” he said, still amused. “But my colleagues started to get annoyed, and it was time to do something else.” In 2002, after moving to Los Angeles, McKay started writing scripts with Ferrell, who was still in the cast of SNL. Their first project, August Blowout, about a Opposite: Adam McKay, slumping car salesman in Orange County, in Los Angeles, November 2015. Above, clockwise, California, didn’t see the light of day but from top: Ryan Gosling and drew interest nevertheless. “I’m used to rejecMcKay, on the set of The tion,” McKay said. “People weren’t nice even Big Short, 2015; Brad Pitt, about our next project, Anchorman.” in The Big Short; McKay, holding his daughter, Although The Big Short has gotten the Pearl, with Will Ferrell and kind of prestige-awards buzz and attenJohn C. Reilly, on the set tion that comedies rarely receive, McKay is of Step Brothers, 2008; McKay with Baxter, on the not finished making funny films, especially set of Anchorman 2: The if he can use them to broadcast liberal polLegend Continues, 2013; itics. When a producer proposed to Funny McKay and Ferrell, in or Die that Donald Trump perform in a clip Ireland, 1995. for the site, McKay vetoed the idea. Instead, he co-wrote a short imagining the Mexican Donald Trump, Donaldo Trumpez, which received 15 million hits. Continuing with the immigration theme, McKay’s next film will star Ferrell and John C. Reilly as misguided Americans who travel to Mexico to defend the border. “I want to see if we can do a laugh-out-loud comedy and still make a point,” McKay said. “And if that doesn’t happen, I would kill to make the definitive three-hour Dick Cheney movie. Either way, I want to tell stories about America. There’s too much going on right now to not try and say something important.”

DAY DREAMS The spring collections invite you to indulge your greatest head-in-the-clouds fashion fantasy—and still keep your feet firmly on the ground.

Photographs by Craig McDean Styled by Edward Enninful

This page, from left: Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane cardigan and dress; CĂŠline earrings; the Frye Company boots. Marc Jacobs dress and briefs. Opposite, from left: Givenchy

by Riccardo Tisci dress, slip, trousers, and necklace; Loewe boots. Valentino bustier top, blouse, and skirt; Loewe earrings.

This page: Proenza Schouler dresses, earrings, and shoes (on both). Opposite: Céline coats and boots (on both). Céline dress, earrings, and bag. Beauty note: Soft strands start with L’Oréal Paris EverPure Cleansing Balm.

This page: Louis Vuitton top, kilt, straps (on hands), and sandals. Opposite, from left: Alexander McQueen dress, trousers, harness, and sneakers. Balenciaga dress and pants; Calvin Klein Collection sneakers.

Burberry dress; Balenciaga backpack; Calvin Klein Collection sneakers. Beauty note: For limbs as smooth as silk, try Nivea In-Shower Cocoa Butter Body Lotion.

From far left: Prada dress, shirt, skirt, neck piece, and shoes. Miu Miu dress, sweater vest, shirt, underpinnings, and necklace.

Miu Miu dress, sweater, shirt, and necklace; Prada shoes. Prada jacket, dress, shirt, neck piece, briefs, and shoes. Beauty note: Bring eyes into sharp focus with Giorgio Armani High-Precision Brow Pencil in Wood.

This page, from left: Gucci gown and bodysuit; Louis Vuitton sandals (on both). Dior dress, top, and shorts. Opposite: Lanvin dress; Marni earring; Edun shoes.

Beauty note: Speak softly with Nars Lipstick in Rosecliff.

This page, from left: Loewe jacket, trousers, brooch, and bag. Comme des Garçons shirt; ChloÊ dress and necklace; Marni bag.

Beauty note: Transform tresses with Pantene Pro-V 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioner. Opposite, from left: Salvatore Ferragamo top and dress; J.W. Anderson bag; Calvin Klein Collection sneakers.

Fendi dress; Nike shoes.

Hood by Air shirt and skirt; Giamba sneakers.

This page: Chanel dress and bandeau; CĂŠline boots.

Opposite, from left: Calvin Klein Collection coat, top, and trousers. Bottega Veneta dress; No. 21 tank top; Alexander Wang earring. Michael Kors Collection tank top and trousers; Marni earrings. Kanye West x Adidas Originals Yeezy Season 1 sneakers (on all).

For stores, prices, and more, go to Wmag.com/where-tobuy-february-2016.

Hair by Orlando Pita; makeup by Peter Philips for Dior; manicures

by Megumi Yamamoto for Dior.

Set design by Piers Hanmer.

Models: Marjan Jonkman at One Management, Lineisy Montero at Next Management, Tami Williams at Elite, Roos Abels at Brave Milan, Molly Bair and Greta Varlese at the Society Management, Karly Loyce at Women Management, Rianne van Rompaey at DNA Model Management.

DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: NICHOLAS ONG; ON-SET RETOUCHER: SIMON ROBERTS; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS: NICK BRINLEY, MARU TEPPEI, DARIAN ZAHEDI; VIDEOGRAPHER: MASHA VASYUKOVA; FASHION ASSISTANTS: RYANN FOULKE, DENA GIANNINI, SAM WALKER; HAIR ASSISTANTS: QUENTON BARNETTE, CHRIS MILLER; MAKEUP ASSISTANTS: EMIKO AYABE, SETSUKO TATE; SET-DESIGN ASSISTANTS: EMAHN RAY, ANDREW CARBONE; PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS: DONGHYUN KIM, DANIELE GERSHON; SPECIAL THANKS TO OUTPOST STUDIOS

STARS IN HIS EYES Is the artist Alex Israel Hollywood’s most clever critic?

Or its biggest fan?

By Christopher Bagley Photographs by Matthias Vriens-McGrath The sun is high above the beach in Malibu, and Pamela Anderson, wearing a white T-shirt over an even whiter one-piece bathing suit, is at the shoreline, awaiting her cue to start jogging across the sand.

“Action!” shouts the artist Alex Israel, and Anderson sets off, bouncing past two actors playing starstruck 18-year-olds. She waves at them with a coquettish “Hi, boys!” before looping back toward the camera. “Good job, Pam!” Israel says, smiling. But he wants to shoot a second take, in slow motion—and then a third and a fourth. After the sixth try, Anderson raises an eyebrow as she walks past her makeup artist on her way back to her mark. “We never did this many takes on Baywatch,” she says.

Today’s production is not a TV reunion special but Israel’s latest artwork: a feature film with a cast of young unknowns and cameos by ’80s and ’90s icons like Molly Ringwald and Keanu Reeves. Titled SPF-18, the coming-of-age drama follows four California teenagers as they learn the importance of creativity and self-expression against a backdrop of surf sessions, Viper Room concerts, and beachside sexual awakenings. And although a sun-splashed Malibu film set might seem an unlikely place to find a conceptual artist at work, to anyone familiar with Israel’s oeuvre, it’s not all that surprising. The 33-year-old Los Angeles native, who worked on the sales side of the contemporary-art market before becoming an artist himself, is making his name as a canny interpreter of L.A.’s glossy pop dreamscape.

When we meet at a diner off Mulholland Drive a few weeks later, Israel has just returned from Europe. His frenzied three-week itinerary gives a good indication of his current status in the art world. He landed in Rome, where he finalized a set of sculptures for a show in Paris at Almine Rech Gallery and met with his New York dealer, Gavin Brown. From there, he headed to Oslo for an appointment at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, and the next day he was in southern Sweden to meet with a curator. Then it was on to Paris for his opening, after which he joined Almine Rech and her husband, Bernard RuizPicasso, on their private jet to Málaga, Spain, for the opening of a Louise Bourgeois exhibition at the Museo Picasso and later continued with them to Moscow for the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. There were also stops in Monaco and Antibes.

Flying private, however, does not provide immunity from jet lag, and today Israel is tired and very thankful for his dark sunglasses, which are from his eyewear line, called Freeway. (The eyewear project is not an artwork, he emphasizes; nor is Icarus, a sunscreen that he plans to distribute with the release of SPF-18.) »

Alex Israel, in Malibu, on the set of his ďŹ lm SPF-18, with the actors Bianca Santos and Noah Centineo, May 2015.

Highlights from Israel’s sculptural work, clockwise, from top: Easter Island, a series of totems erected for the 2012 Venice Beach Biennial; Lens (Purple), 2014, Lens (Yellow), 2015, and Lens (Jade), 2013; Maltese Falcon, 2013; the Bigg Chill, a 2012 work in which a frozen yogurt swirl is rendered in marble; Casting, a 2015 sculpture inspired by the mold from which Oscar statuettes are made.

Israel’s paintings, films, and sculptures, which revel in the manufactured seductions of Hollywood—and often feature the artist in a starring role—bring a very 2016 twist to themes previously explored by the likes of Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol. Viewer reactions are duly polarized. Is Israel brilliantly channeling the zeitgeist or cynically exploiting it? Is his work affectingly personal or shallowly self-promoting? And in today’s hype-crazy art world, where the line between high art and salesmanship has never been blurrier, do these distinctions even matter?

Of course, the last person one should turn to for definitive answers is Israel, who, like other media-savvy artists before him, is skilled at remaining on-message without revealing too much. Both Israel and his work are upbeat, easy to like, and somewhat opaque—prompting people to search beyond all the positivity for signs of a dark underside, whether one exists or not. Israel is well-versed in art history and theory, and always adds layers of depth to his explorations of superficiality. Three sculptures he produced for last summer’s Paris show—giant sunglass lenses made of UV-protective plastic—dealt with concepts such as image and identity, reflection and transparency, while also serving as symbolic billboards for his sunglass business and paying homage to earlier works by California minimalists like Larry Bell, John McCracken, and De Wain Valentine—“heroes of mine,” Israel says.

Other heroes of Israel’s include Melanie Griffith, Kato Kaelin, Phyllis Diller, and Paul Anka, all of whom he featured in the video series As It Lays, a riveting collection of interviews he began posting on YouTube in 2012.

During one-on-one chats on a talk-show set decorated with his airbrushed artworks, Israel poses mundane questions from a stack of index cards. (“Who is your favorite member of the Jersey Shore cast?” he asks the restaurateur Michael Chow.) All of Israel’s guests are L.A. fixtures, and many are actors whose careers peaked decades ago; the host’s deadpan manner and unusual aversion to follow-up questions make for plenty of revealingly awkward silences, not to mention lots of opportunities for the interviewees to stew in their self-consciousness or self-delusion.

Those who interpret As It Lays as mocking or cruel, Israel says, are most likely carrying misanthropic baggage of their own. “I wasn’t trying to manipulate anybody,” says the artist, who gave his subjects final say over what was included in the videos. To him, the project is a sincere tribute to “people who have allowed the most eccentric versions of themselves to take the foreground, and who have impacted and inspired so many others as a result.”

Israel himself has admirers in high places, including the conceptual artist John Baldessari, who hired him as an intern 13 years ago, as a favor to a museum director who knew Israel’s parents. When asked whether Israel’s explanations of his own work should be taken at face value, Baldessari, 84, seems amused. “No,” he says. “Artists are very clever, and Alex knows how to manipulate people. I think he has a great future.”

Jeremy Strick, the director of Nasher Sculpture Center, in Dallas, where Israel had a solo show last month, is another art world player who first met Israel when the artist was a precocious youth. When Strick was the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Israel’s high school, the elite Harvard-Westlake, held a silent auction in which one offering was a meeting with Strick. The winning bidders were Israel’s parents, which is how Israel found himself lunching alone with Strick at a sushi restaurant in Little Tokyo.

(Israel’s father, Eddie Israel, is a real estate developer; his mother, Lonnie, is a former elementary school teacher.) To Strick, Israel’s insider knowledge of the “machinery of the art market” is a legitimate component of his bigger, broader “meditation on what it means to make art in the commercial context of Southern California.” Strick, who’s intrigued by the complex webs of meaning that Israel weaves through various fields and media, points to a new sculpture from the Nasher show. It’s an upright, hollow surfer’s wetsuit—cast in aluminum from a mold of Israel’s own body, minus the head, feet, and hands—that recalls an ancient Greek sculpture, mounted on a pedestal. “It’s a startling piece that works in a number of different ways and relates to Alex’s other projects, including the surf film—and also looks amazing,” Strick says.

Israel, who grew up in L.A.’s Westside, experienced his first art-related epiphany during his teens while visiting New York’s Guggenheim Museum—not in the exhibition spaces but in the gift shop. He was there with his mother, who offered to buy him an art book of his choosing. Israel zeroed in on an eye-catching Taschen monograph of Jeff Koons. “It was bright pink, and it had this guy on the

DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: CASEY CUNNEEN; PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: BARRY FONTENOT; CASTING AND GLOVE: JOSHUA WHITE/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAGOSIAN GALLERY; LENS (JADE): ZARKO VIJATOVIC/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK; LENS (PURPLE) AND LENS (YELLOW): ZARKO VIJATOVIC/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND MARCIANO ART COLLECTION, LOS ANGELES; THE BIGG CHILL: HANS-GEORG GAUL/COURTESY OF PERES PROJECTS; EASTER ISLAND: JOSHUA WHITE; MALTESE FALCON: MATTEO D’ELETTO; CAP AND SELF PORTRAIT (WETSUIT): KEVIN TODORA/COURTESY OF THE NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER, DALLAS; RINGWALD, REEVES, CENTINEO, AND MEYER: RACHEL CHANDLER

Like other media-savvy artists before him, Israel is skilled at remaining on-message without revealing too much.

Clockwise, from top, right, on the set of SPF-18: Actor Sean Russel Herman; Keanu Reeves; Molly Ringwald; actor Noah Centineo and actress Carson Meyer; Centineo. Israel’s Cap, 2015; Glove, 2015; Self Portrait (Wetsuit), 2015.

cover holding a pig,” he remembers. “I was like, What is this? I opened the book, and I couldn’t believe what was in it.” The images included photos from Koons’s notoriously explicit “Made in Heaven” series, depicting his sexual escapades with his then-girlfriend, the onetime porn star Ilona Staller. “And I thought, Wow, this is such an amazing thing. And my mom said she would buy me any book, so I can get her to buy me, basically, a pornographic magazine, disguised as an art book.”

Later on, Israel realized that the book had seduced him not just with works like Ilona’s Asshole but also with the almost subliminal pull of typefaces, colors, and packaging. “It’s the power of Jeff Koons’s branding as an artist and how thorough that is,” Israel says. “You feel it in everything that he does and touches and says. The way he smiles, the way he interacts with popular media. There’s a complete through line in everything Jeff Koons.”

Israel’s own through line would soon emerge. He studied art at Yale and graduated a year early, at 20. Back in Los Angeles he got a job as an assistant at the gallery Blum & Poe before venturing even deeper into the art world’s commercial side, moving to New York for a brief stint at Sotheby’s to help catalog a contemporary art sale. Then–department head Tobias Meyer had offered him a job after they met in L.A. at a dinner party. “I was kind of apprehensive about it, because I was ready to be an artist,” Israel remembers. “But Tobias said, ‘Listen, if you don’t like it you can leave after three months,’ ” which is just what Israel did.

Soon afterward, the New York dealer David Zwirner connected Israel with the artist Jason Rhoades, who’d created a large installation in his L.A. studio crammed with hookah pipes, torn celebrity magazines, and slang terms for female genitalia spelled out in neon lights. Israel ended up teaming with Rhoades and his gallery, Hauser & Wirth, to cohost Black Pussy Soirée Cabaret Macramé, a series of cult dinner-cum-performance events held inside the artwork.

Rhoades died suddenly in 2006, at 41, and within months Israel found himself on Hauser & Wirth’s sales team, traveling to the Venice Biennale and myriad art fairs. A year or so later, he’d had enough. “I’m not an art dealer,” he said to himself. “I’m an artist, and I want to make art and focus on that.” Still, when he finally launched his art career after graduating from the Master of Fine Arts program at USC, in 2010, Israel knew he’d have some biases to overcome.

“In the beginning, especially, a lot of people had gotten to know me as Jason’s guy, or Hauser & Wirth’s salesperson, and were kind of suspicious about me as an artist,” he says. One of his first projects, Property—an assemblage of movie props rented from Warner Bros. and other studios and repurposed as sculptures—cannily preempted accusations of collector-baiting. The pieces weren’t for sale; after the show they would be returned to the studios. The As It Lays videos, for their part, were posted directly online and remain viewable for free to anyone with an Internet connection. But even when Israel doesn’t bring his work to the market, the market has a way of coming to him. In 2014, his two-year-old painting of a depthless sky (“It kind of looks like wrapping paper,” Baldessari wryly notes) sold for more than $1 million at Christie’s.

All along, Israel has been building on his vision of Los Angeles as the world’s primary desire factory. There’s a series of “flats,” arched stucco panels that Israel has prop painters at Warner Bros. make in sunset colors and often displays behind other objects, like the backdrops on film sets. A sculpture called The Bigg Chill re-creates Israel’s favorite dessert—vanilla frozen yogurt—in white marble. Another body of paintings offers variations on what Israel calls his “logo,” a silhouette of his face, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s famed self-caricature. “It’s a way of reducing my facial features to a graphic that can represent and symbolize the various things I do, within and outside of the art world,” he explains.

Many of Israel’s creations explore the truths and falsehoods of image making, and most, like SPF-18, are presented with a straight face. In person, Israel actually smiles a lot and even giggles sometimes, as when we’re discussing the YouTube comments about his As It Lays Michelle Phillips interview, in which she reveals that she likes her peanut butter chunky, not creamy.

SPF-18 is Israel’s most ambitious project to date and clearly his most stressinducing. The idea for the film, he says, came to him while thinking about how teenagers have been essentially ignored by the contemporary art world. “The main audience for art is really the people who buy it, or write about it, or make it,” he says. “And that doesn’t include a lot of young people.” While researching California surf culture, he learned that many early surf films were first screened in high school gymnasiums. “I thought, What a great way to once again pay homage

to the history of this region and also to reach teenagers and potentially get them excited about art and creativity.”

It’s one thing to have a soft spot for vintage after-school specials; it’s another to direct a feature film modeled on them, with a crew of 40. The photographer Rachel Chandler, a friend of Israel’s who shot stills during the 19-day production and stayed with him in a nearby house in Malibu, recalls shuttling Israel to the set daily in his own car because he was too nervous to drive: “At first, he was really outside his comfort zone—like, ‘Am I the one who says “action?” ’ ” Chandler recalls.

It helped that Israel used his connections to lure several seasoned pros. The score is by the music producer Emile Haynie, who has worked with Kanye West and Eminem; Baywatch co-creator Michael Berk wrote the script; one of the four leads happens to be Carson Meyer, the daughter of Universal Studios president Ron Meyer. For the soundtrack, Israel managed to secure the rights to the song “Hungry Like the Wolf,” by Duran Duran, whose most recent album cover he designed, after meeting the band through his close friend China Chow. Financing for the project came chiefly from an edition of 10 sculptures of wetsuit hoods that Israel sold on spec to collectors and supporters, without knowing what they’d be.

As well-connected as he is, Israel still seems to view celebrity culture with the obsessive wonder of a fan. At one point while we’re discussing his all-time favorite TV shows—American Idol; The Hills; Beverly Hills, 90210; Saved by the Bell—he mentions a current obsession, Nashville, and tells me, “I saw Connie Britton once at Soho House. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.” As he crafts his own public persona—seemingly unconcerned about overexposure in magazines but admittedly conscious about not over-posting on Instagram—he finds social media to be an indispensable tool.

“There are a lot of forces that have pushed artists out of the basement,” Israel says. “For my audience, especially younger people who I’m thinking about a lot more now, it really helps to see me and my image in relationship to what I’m making.” Besides, he adds, “the whole idea of the artist locked away in solitary confinement—I just don’t feel that narrative is meaningful for people today, who have direct access to their favorite creatives on Twitter or Facebook. For me, being in the work, and being around it, feels natural.”

There’s plenty more of Israel on view in his current show at the Huntington Library, the Gilded Age mansion and exhibition space outside Los Angeles. Billed by the museum as an “intervention,” the show playfully intersperses Israel’s works among its permanent collection, which includes Thomas Gainsborough’s famed 1770 portrait The Blue Boy. Israel’s response to that painting? A self-portrait in a blue L.A. Dodgers starter jacket. The Huntington’s Art Collections director, Kevin Salatino, says that Israel approached the project not as a pure provocation but as another thoughtful step in his multilayered exploration of the “historical and conceptual topography” of Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, opening this month at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills— during Oscar week, not incidentally—is a new show of large-scale text paintings that Israel created with his favorite writer, Bret Easton Ellis. (numbness is a feeling, reads one.) Ellis, whose controversial novels include Less Than Zero and American Psycho, sees parallels in the way some critics have “attacked” both him and Israel for their “surface-y” take on contemporary culture. “People assume that it’s very easy to do that, but in actuality, you really have to work at it,” Ellis says. “What I saw when collaborating with Alex is how careful and obsessed he is about getting it right.” Revealingly, Ellis also draws a clear distinction between his own often dark and satirical sensibility and Israel’s. Ellis believes that Israel is ultimately driven by a genuine (or a genuinely Warholian) kind of earnestness. “In art, I don’t think we’re very used to earnestness. So it can be confusing to some of us.”

Having finished our lunch, Israel and I are contemplating whether or not to order dessert and discussing the finer points of Dolly Parton’s accent. It feels like a good time to ask him about the dance between calculation and sincerity that seems to be present in everything he does. When I remark that even Israel’s chief admirers sometimes suspect that they’re being toyed with yet keep coming back for more, the artist laughs.

“Really?” he says. “It’s funny that you say that. Yeah, I don’t know how to respond to that. But I really want to get some frozen yogurt.”

SKY BACKDROP: KEVIN TODORA/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST; SELF PORTRAIT AND MOVIE STAR MAPS: COURTESY OF MICHAEL UNDERWOOD; GRIFFITH AND ISRAEL: STEFANIE KEENAN/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES; MUSEO CIVICO DIOCESANO DI SANTA MARIA DEI SERVI: ORNELLA TIBERI/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK; SELF PORTRAIT (DODGERS): JOSHUA WHITE/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAGOSIAN GALLERY; VALET PARKING: ORNELLA TIBERI

Israel’s work brings a very 2016 twist to themes explored by artists like Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol.

Clockwise, from top, left: Sky Backdrop, 2015, behind two sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, 2015; a billboard of Self Portrait, 2013, on L.A.’s Sunset Strip; a detail of Movie Star Maps, a room-size mural commissioned by Jeffrey Deitch for his L.A. home; Melanie Griffith and Israel, at the MOCA screening and performance of As It Lays, Los Angeles, 2012; installation view of “Alex Israel,” an exhibition at Museo Civico Diocesano di Santa Maria dei Servi, Città della Pieve, Italy, 2012; Self Portrait (Dodgers), 2014–2015, currently on view at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California; Valet Parking, 2013, a mural installed for the solo exhibition “Alex Israel” at Le Consortium, Dijon, France, 2013.

Tina Turner in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome + fish scales + Lauren Bacall in Dark Passage = Kerry Washington’s flashy femme fatale Nancy Kerrigan’s skating outfit + Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek + a doily = Rooney Mara’s lacy lady

Red-Carpet Drama

Pat O’Brien in The Night of Nights + a field of lavender + nautical nets = Carey Mulligan’s romantic ingenue

AS AWARDS SEASON AMPS UP, VANESSA LAWRENCE DISSECTS SOME OF HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WINSOME LOOKS.

Kirsten Dunst in The Virgin Suicides + Ann Sothern in Lady Be Good + sherbet = Elle Fanning’s pastel maiden

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wmag.com

Princess Jasmine from Aladdin + a paper towel dispenser + a mechanical claw = Taraji P. Henson’s tough cookie

KERRIGAN, HENSON, FANNING, SHERBET, MECHANICAL CLAW, PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER, NETS, MARA, FISH SCALES, MULLIGAN, FIELD OF LAVENDER, DOILY, WASHINGTON: GETTY IMAGES; STAR TREK: PARAMOUNT/COURTESY OF EVERETT COLLECTION; BACALL, SOTHERN, O’BRIEN: COURTESY OF EVERETT COLLECTION; MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME: WARNER BROS./COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION; PRINCESS JASMINE: COURTESY OF DISNEY; THE VIRGIN SUICIDES: COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT CLASSICS

INSPIRATION EQUATION