What Is Cinema?
The best movies feel as if they’d been born, not made. In a new series of articles and videos, Vanity Fair, in partnership with Rolex, starts a revealing conversation with—and among—filmmakers about their craft, their visions, and the art of paying inspiration forward. Technology and industry trends may change, but the drive to tell stories that mean something, and will last, does not. I think you’ll enjoy listening in.
—Radhika Jones, Vanity Fair Editor in Chief
Golden Globes Nominations 2024: The 10 Biggest Snubs and Surprises
By David Canfield
- VANITY FAIR IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ROLEX
Rolex and Cinema: A Long-Term Partnership in Excellence
- What Is Cinema?
Sarah Polley and Ruben Östlund on Juggling Acting Ensembles and Pushing Their Audiences
In Vanity Fair’s series What Is Cinema?, the Oscar-nominated writer-directors behind Women Talking and Triangle of Sadness reveal their biggest challenges. - Vanity Fair In Partnership With Rolex
Rolex Supports the Transmission of Knowledge to Future Generations of Filmmakers Through Its Mentoring Program
For more than half a century, Rolex has partnered some of the world’s most talented artists and leading cultural institutions to celebrate excellence and contribute to perpetuating artistic heritage, creating a link between the past, present and future. - What Is Cinema?
The Art That Inspired 6 Major Filmmakers
A short story suggested by Martin Scorsese, a 1970s documentary, a photograph of the Blitz—inspiration came from many sources to create some of 2022’s best films. - What Is Cinema?
Rian Johnson and the Daniels on the Film Rules They Love to Follow—And Break
In Vanity Fair’s series What Is Cinema?, the directors of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Everything Everywhere All at Once talk craft. - What Is Cinema?
How 4 Directors Found a Way to Go Home Again
New movies from Steven Spielberg, James Gray, Joanna Hogg, and Alejandro González Iñárritu ask tough questions about their own pasts—and remind us of cinema’s power as a medium for memories. - What Is Cinema?
Directors Gina Prince-Bythewood and Halle Berry on Their “Very Small Sisterhood”
To kick off Vanity Fair’s new series, What Is Cinema?, the directors of The Woman King and Bruised connect on the “had-to-do” stories they brought to the screen.
There Are No Winners in Wrestling Drama The Iron Claw
By Richard Lawson
The Love Story of Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad
By Savannah Walsh
Golden Globes 2024: See All the Nominations Here
By Katey Rich
The Talented Mr. Ripley at 25—Frank, Queer, and Ahead of Its Time
By David Canfield
On Set With Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and More
By Katey Rich
Nicolas Cage Is Almost Done Making Films: “I May Have Three or Four More Movies Left in Me”
By David Canfield
Robert Downey Jr.’s Third Act: “He’s Lived a Complicated Life. He Understands the Stakes”
By Anthony Breznican
The Best Movies of 2023
By Richard Lawson
Saltburn Star Barry Keoghan on the Film’s Revealing Ending
By Whitney Friedlander
Fallout First Look: This Is How the World Ends—With a Smiling Thumbs Up
By Anthony Breznican
Playing Murderous Alex Murdaugh Was Freeing for Bill Pullman
By Julie Miller
Matt Bomer Takes His Dark, Sexy Turn: “I Got to Be the Bad Boy”
By David Canfield
The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Is the Rare Good Prequel
By Richard Lawson
Sandra Hüller Steps—Cautiously—Into the Spotlight
By David Canfield
Photography by Emma Summerton
After Barbie, Greta Gerwig Has No Plans to Rest
By Sloane Crosley
Photography by Norman Jean Roy
How the Warm, Elegant Look of The Holdovers Came Together
By Katey Rich
How Cailee Spaeny Became Priscilla
By David Canfield
The 21 Best Thanksgiving Movies to Stream Right Now
By Savannah Walsh
Greta Lee on the High Stakes of Past Lives
By Rebecca Ford
With The Holdovers, Alexander Payne Faces His Admirers
By David Canfield
Jacob Elordi’s Elvis Voice Stunned Priscilla Presley
By Savannah Walsh
The Truth Behind the Hidden Demon in The Exorcist
By Anthony Breznican
Inside Todd Haynes’s Twisted, Ingenious Vision for May December
By David Canfield
Why Anthony Hopkins’s Whole Career Led Him to Freud’s Last Session
By David Canfield
Ari Aster Still Wants You to Consider Beau Is Afraid
By David Canfield
Nyad Is a Love Story
By Savannah Walsh
Leonardo DiCaprio Cements a Thrilling New Era in Killers of the Flower Moon
By David Canfield
The Strange but True Story of the Pioneer Woman’s Link to Killers of the Flower Moon
By Eve Batey
Behind Jamie Foxx’s Brilliant, Wild Performance in The Burial
By David Canfield
Malibu Barbra: Inside Barbra Streisand’s World
By Radhika Jones
Barbra Streisand on The Way We Were and Her Fight to Get It Right
By Barbra Streisand
How Practical Magic Pissed Off a Real-Life Witch
By Savannah Walsh
How The Royal Hotel Pulls Off the Most Potent Cinematic Tension of the Year
By David Canfield
Christine Vachon, Hollywood’s Greatest Anomaly
By David Canfield
Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa Steam Up the Spy Thriller Argylle
By Anthony Breznican
The Outsiders: Why Black Audiences Love Italian American Screen Icons
By Morgan Jerkins
Marvel Secrets Revealed: Alternate Castings That Would Have Changed Everything
By Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards
Helen Mirren Confronts the Complex, Challenging “Career Milestone” of Golda
By David Canfield
Marty Without the Mob: Killers of the Flower Moon Joins Rich Scorsese History
By David Canfield
Nia DaCosta, Barrier-Breaking Director of The Marvels, on Navigating the Blockbuster Machine
By Rebecca Ford
Photography by Tom Craig
The 31 Best Feel-Good Movies to Boost Your Mood
The 14 Best Movies From the Fall Film Festivals
By Rebecca Ford, Richard Lawson, Katey Rich, David Canfield, and Hillary Busis
Anna Kendrick Soars With Directorial Debut About True-Life Killer on a Game Show
By David Canfield
Patricia Arquette Makes a Bold Directorial Debut With Gonzo Girl
By Rebecca Ford
Kate Winslet Embodies an Unsung American Icon in Lee
By David Canfield
In Priscilla, a Complex True Story Is Gracefully Told
By Richard Lawson
How Madonna Turned the League of Their Own Set Into a Three-Ring Circus
By Erin Carlson
2023 Fall Preview: 46 Films to Watch Out For
By Rebecca Ford, David Canfield, Katey Rich, Hillary Busis, and Richard Lawson
Welcome to Saltburn’s Twisted Gothic Tale
By Rebecca Ford
With Maestro, Leonard Bernstein’s Legacy and Loves Finally Hit the Big Screen
By Rebecca Ford
Inside All of Us Strangers, Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal’s Metaphysical Love Story
By David Canfield
“That Escalated Quickly”: Inside Anchorman’s Epic Battle Sequence
By Saul Austerlitz
First Look: Annette Bening Swims Toward the Role of a Lifetime in Nyad
By David Canfield
First Look: Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan Face a Dangerous Future in Foe
By David Canfield
The Film That Returned William Friedkin to Critical Acclaim
By Maxime Jacob
The Elvis Presley We Didn’t See in Elvis
By Katey Rich
Watch Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich Go to War in the Breathless Fair Play Trailer
By David Canfield
The Two Very Different Versions of Killers of the Flower Moon
By Katey Rich
Can You Name the (Great) Movie That Launched Brie Larson, LaKeith Stanfield, Rami Malek, and More?
By Devin Gordon
Red, White & Royal Blue May Be “the Most Expensive Bit of Fan Fiction Ever”
By Savannah Walsh
“Jaws Became a Living Nightmare”: Steven Spielberg's Ultimate Tell-All Interview
By Anthony Breznican
Oppenheimer—and, Yes, Barbie—Have a Real Shot at the 2024 Oscars
By Rebecca Ford
Why Are Movies Sooooo Long? An Investigation
By Natalie Jarvey
Dreamhouse, Assemble: How Barbie Cast Barbie, Barbie, Barbie (and Ken)
By Eliza Brooke
Barbie Is About as Good as a Barbie Movie Could Ever Be
By Richard Lawson
Rustin First Look: Colman Domingo Is Bayard Rustin, the Man Who Turned MLK’s Dream Into a Reality
By Chris Murphy
Lakota Nation vs. the United States and the Fight for the Black Hills
By Maka Monture Paki
AI May Kill Us All, but It’ll Never Write a Good Movie
By John Lopez
Beautiful Dreamer: Ali MacGraw’s Semi-Charmed Life
By Hadley Hall Meares
Barbie, Bombs, Blockbusters! Box Office Wars Return as a Spectator Sport
By Natalie Jarvey and Anthony Breznican
Glenn Howerton, Oscar Contender
By David Canfield
The Unbelievable True Stories of the Real Indiana Jones
By Rosemary Counter
The Real Rock Hudson: A Moving New HBO Doc Claims Him as a Gay Icon
By Savannah Walsh
John Williams Always Settles the Score
By Darryn King
Ian McKellen Made Oscar History in 1999—And Shamefully, No One Else Has Repeated It
By Katey Rich
The Flash Is the Past; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Is the Future
By Richard Lawson
First Look: The Deepest Breath Tells a Heartbreaking True Story About Diving
By Angie Abdou
Take Care of Maya Tackles a Thorny, Heartbreaking Medical Mystery
By Eve Batey
Diane Keaton Asks Francis Ford Coppola a Question 50+ Years in the Making
By Jordan Hoffman
Bryan Cranston on Returning to Walter White, Wes Anderson, and More
By David Canfield
A Groundbreaking Queer Oscar Winner and Its Very, Very Complicated Legacy
By Katey Rich
“I Have to Direct This”: 7 Actors Who Took the Camera Into Their Own Hands
By Anthony Breznican
Zack Snyder Goes Galactic: Exclusive First Look at Rebel Moon
By Anthony Breznican
Early Hollywood’s “Joyous Bisexual” and Her Most Daring Onscreen Roles
By Katey Rich
Did an Oscar Winner Premiere at Cannes?
By Rebecca Ford and Richard Lawson
Natalie Portman and Todd Haynes Don’t Want to Be ‘Vampires on People’s Lives’
By Rebecca Ford
Wes Anderson Gets Back to Basics, Beautifully, in Asteroid City
By Richard Lawson
“There’s a Movement”: Inside the Fight to De-gender Awards Shows
By David Canfield
Martin Scorsese Has Never Made a Movie Like Killers of the Flower Moon
By Richard Lawson
The Zone of Interest Is a Bold, Terrifying Vision of the Holocaust
By Richard Lawson
“She’s So F--king Funny”: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michaela Watkins’s Sister Act
By David Canfield
13 Cannes Film Festival 2023 Premieres We’ve Got Our Eyes On
By Richard Lawson and Rebecca Ford
Nicole Holofcener Isn’t Holding Back
By Esther Zuckerman
Jane Fonda on Marriage, Sex, and Succession—Plus Looking at Herself in the Mirror at 85
By Julie Miller
The Contrarian: Marlon Brando’s Paradoxical Life
By Hadley Hall Meares
Jemima Khan’s Had Enough of Fairy Tales
By Hasan Ali
26 Summer Movies to Anticipate in 2023
By Anthony Breznican, Katey Rich, Hillary Busis, Savannah Walsh, Richard Lawson, David Canfield, Rebecca Ford, and Natalie Jarvey
Dune: Part Two Trailer Reveals Austin Butler’s Dead-Faced Assassin
By Anthony Breznican
Suddenly, Stephanie Hsu Is Everywhere
By Britt Hennemuth
Michael Shannon on Music, the Apocalypse, and Keeping Up With Hollywood
By David Canfield