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THE DYNASTY ISSUE PALACE M AY 202 2 Confidential PETER THIEL’S Inside the Monarchy’s RED-PILL Fight for ARMY the Future CONFESSIONS Plus OF A TINA BROWN MOB CHEF on Diana’s COUNTRY Dangerous Game MUSIC’S Artwork by BLACK ANDY WARHOL VANGUARD GROWING UP GETTY

















The Dynasty Issue / No. 738 Vanities PAGE 66 21 “Coming to the South has 21 / Opening Act Actor Quincy Isaiah on becoming been like, Magic Johnson. holy shit, I’m not alone.” 27 / The Gallery Garden- inspired luxury sparkle. —ALLISON RUSSELL 30 / Trending Lavender, A L L I S O N R U S S E L L’ S E A R R I N G S BY J E N N I F E R F I S H E R . F O R D E TA I L S , G O TO V F. CO M / C R E D I T S . indigo, and purple abound. 33 / My Stuff Inside the colorful world of Talita von Furstenberg. 34 / Beautiful Dark Twisted Galaxy The many connections of Kanye West. 36 / Books Inside two coastal art meccas. 37 / Beauty Rose scents that go beyond grandmotherly. Columns 38 Language Barrier BY MICHAEL IDOV ILLUSTRATION BY PETER OUMANSKI The creator of Londongrad on rethinking his lifelong dream of connecting Russia and the West. 40 Mr. Dylan’s Dream House BY DOUGLAS BRINKLEY The author and historian on Bob Dylan’s new museum. HEAVY METAL On the Andy Warhol, Reigning Queens: Queen Elizabeth II Cover of the United Kingdom, 1985, screen print on $39,000,000,000 Lenox Museum Board, 391⁄2 inches by 311⁄2 inches. Value of unmined cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Congo’s KOV mine. The metal has increased from $29,000 per metric Visual Arts/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. ton in July 2020 to $82,000 as of late March. [P. 74] 6 VANITY FAIR PHOTOGRAPH BY M I R A N DA BA R N E S M AY 2 0 2 2

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The Dynasty Issue / No. 738 Features 21 60 Free Radicals BY JAMES POGUE ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN STAUFFER They’re not MAGA. They’re not Q. They’re the intellectual New Right. And they’re ready to burn it all down. 66 Modern Folklore BY TRESSIE McMILLAN COTTOM PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIRANDA BARNES Meet the young Black women remaking country music, in sound and style. Features 46 / Diana’s Last Dance 54 74 Q U I N C Y I S AIA H ’ S C LO T H I N G BY BAL E N C IAGA ; WATC H BY AU D E M AR S P I G U E T. F O R D E TA I L S , G O TO V F. CO M / C R E D I T S . 42 A former V.F. editor in All in the Family Green Gold chief—and expert on all The Monarchy things Diana—on the BY JAMES REGINATO BY WILLEM MARX at a Crossroads princess’s complicated PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICHARD MOSSE relationship with the press. Checking in with the ILLUSTRATIONS BY fourth generation Inside the dirty business DEWEY SAUNDERS BY TINA BROWN of one of America’s most of cobalt mining, where fraught and fabulous billionaires are aiming for 42 / The Queen of Hearts 50 / The Incredible dynasties: the Gettys. savior status—from Africa Shrinking House of Windsor to the Arctic. As the Windsors navigate an uncertain future, perhaps How an effort to reduce 84 no one is better positioned the official cast of palace than Camilla Parker Bowles. players has upended Confessions millennial royal-dom. of a Mob Chef BY KATIE NICHOLL BY ERIN VANDERHOOF BY GABE SHERMAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY GILLIAN LAUB “To really, truly be in the streets, 16 Editor’s Letter you gotta have a black heart.” 18 Contributors The once-lauded chef David 102 Proust Questionnaire Ruggerio comes clean about — DAVID RUGGERIO [P. 84] his double life in the Mob— and what it cost him. 8 VANITY FAIR PHOTOGRAPH BY N I C K R I L E Y B E N T H A M M AY 2 0 2 2

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® Editor in Chief Radhika Jones Creative Director Kira Pollack Deputy Editor Daniel Kile Executive Digital Director Michael Hogan Director of Editorial Operations Caryn Prime Executive Editors Claire Howorth, Matthew Lynch Executive Editor, The Hive Miriam Elder Executive Hollywood Editor Jeff Giles Director of Special Projects Sara Marks Global Head of Talent Alison Ward Frank Managing Editor, VF.com Kelly Butler Awards and Audio Editor Katey Rich Editor, Creative Development David Friend Senior West Coast Editor Britt Hennemuth Senior Editors, The Hive Michael Calderone, Tara Golshan Senior Hollywood Editor Hillary Busis Vanities Editor Maggie Coughlan Senior Editor Keziah Weir Entertainment Director Caitlin Brody E-Commerce Editor Morgan M. Evans Senior Media Correspondent Joe Pompeo National Correspondent Emily Jane Fox Politics Correspondent Bess Levin Senior Hollywood Correspondent Anthony Breznican Senior Vanities Correspondent Delia Cai Senior Awards Correspondent Rebecca Ford National Political Reporter Abigail Tracy Chief Critic Richard Lawson Senior Features Writer Julie Miller TV Correspondent Joy Press Art Columnist Nate Freeman Staff Writers Dan Adler, Kenzie Bryant, David Canfield, Yohana Desta, Charlotte Klein, Chris Murphy, Erin Vanderhoof Staff Reporter Caleb Ecarma Special Correspondents Nick Bilton, Bryan Burrough, Joe Hagan, Maureen Orth, Jessica Pressler, Mark Seal, Gabriel Sherman Writers-at-Large Marie Brenner, T.A. Frank, James Reginato Web Producer Jaime Archer Associate Producer Maham Hasan Assistant to the Editor in Chief Daniela Tijerina Editorial Assistants Arimeta Diop, Kayla Holliday, Savannah Walsh Special Projects Manager Ari Bergen Special Projects Associate Charlene Oliver Business Director Geoff Collins Director of Product Mindy Yuen Design & Photography Design Director Justin Patrick Long Visuals Director Tara Johnson Art Director Emily Crawford Senior Visuals Editors Lauren Margit Jones, Cate Sturgess Senior Designer Khoa Tran Visuals Editor Allison Schaller Digital Designer Quinton McMillan Associate Visuals Editor Madison Reid Designer Pamela Wei Wang Fashion & Beauty Fashion Director Nicole Chapoteau Beauty Director Laura Regensdorf Accessories Director Daisy Shaw-Ellis Senior Menswear Editor Miles Pope Market Editor Kia D. Goosby Assistant Fashion Editors Samantha Gasmer, Jessica Neises Content Integrity Production Director J Jamerson Research Director David Gendelman Copy Director Michael Casey Associate Legal Affairs Editor Simon Brennan Production Managers Beth Meyers, Susan M. Rasco, Roberto Rodríguez Research Managers Brendan Barr, Kelvin C. Bias, Audrey Fromson, Michael Sacks Senior Line Editor Katie Commisso Copy Managers Rachel Freeman, Michael Quiñones Line Editors Lily Leach, Leah Tannehill Video & Audience Development Director, Audience Development Alyssa Karas Vice President, Digital Video Programming & Development Kelly Bales Senior Director of Video Programming & Development Ella Ruffel Senior Manager, Analytics Neelum Khan Senior Social Media Manager Sarah Morse Associate Director, Creative Development, Social & News Margaret Lin Social Media Manager Tyler Breitfeller Associate Social Media Manager Mark Alan Burger Communications Vice President, Communications Carly Holden Associate Director of Communications Rachel Janc Communications Associate Izzy Goldberg Contributors Contributing Art Director Theresa Griggs Visuals Producer Natalie Gialluca Associate Editor S.P. Nix Digital Visuals Editor Jessica Xie Architecture Consultant Basil Walter Summit Contributing Producer Graham Veysey Special Projects Art Director Angela Panichi Contributing Photographers Annie Leibovitz Jonathan Becker, Larry Fink, Nick Riley Bentham, Collier Schorr, Mark Seliger Contributing Editors Kurt Andersen, Lili Anolik, Jorge Arévalo, Peter Biskind, Buzz Bissinger, Derek Blasberg, Christopher Bollen, Douglas Brinkley, Michael Callahan, Adam Ciralsky, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Leah Faye Cooper, Sloane Crosley, Katherine Eban, Lisa Eisner, Bruce Feirstein, Ariel Foxman, Alex French, Paul Goldberger, Vanessa Grigoriadis, Michael Joseph Gross, Bruce Handy, Carol Blue Hitchens, A.M. Homes, Uzodinma Iweala, May Jeong, Sebastian Junger, Sam Kashner, Jemima Khan, Hilary Knight, Wayne Lawson, Kiese Makeba Laymon, Franklin Leonard, Monica Lewinsky, Bethany McLean, Nina Munk, Katie Nicholl, Maureen O’Connor, Jen Palmieri, Evgenia Peretz, Maximillian Potter, Robert Risko, Lisa Robinson, Mark Rozzo, Maureen Ryan, Nancy Jo Sales, Elissa Schappell, Jeff Sharlet, Michael Shnayerson, Chris Smith, Richard Stengel, Diane von Furstenberg, Elizabeth Saltzman Walker, Benjamin Wallace, Jesmyn Ward, Ned Zeman 10 VA N I T Y FA I R M AY 2 0 2 2

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Editor’s Letter This year marks 70 years since Queen Elizabeth AN DY WAR H O L , R E I G N I N G Q U E E N S : Q U E E N E L I Z AB E T H I I O F T H E U N I T E D K I N G D O M , 1985, S C R E E N P R I N T O N L E N OX M U S E U M B OAR D , 39.5 X 3 1 .5. © 202 2 T H E AN DY WAR H O L F O U N DAT I O N F O R T H E V I S UA L A R T S . L I CE N S E D BY AR T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y ( AR S ) , N E W YO R K . ascended to the throne—her platinum jubilee. She has served in her official role alongside 14 British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Boris Johnson, and her reign spans 14 U.S. presidents and counting. Her image circulates as currency—actual currency fortunes and misfortunes of J. Paul Getty’s great- and the Andy Warhol variety—and the length of her grandchildren) and loosely, as a way of thinking tenure is now an indelible part of her legacy. Who about the ties that bind. Tressie McMillan Cottom in this day and age holds the same job for seven paints a vivid group portrait of a new vanguard of decades? That said, her dominion has indisputably country singers in Nashville, for example, and contracted since 1952; just last year Barbados threw James Pogue forays into the heart of darkness— off its affiliation with the crown, and in March a roy- excuse me, Orlando—with a rising group of cultur- al visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to ally savvy conservative thinkers whose ideological Jamaica drew calls for reparations alongside a reaf- intentions trace to Peter Thiel. And Michael Idov, firmation of the island’s 60 years of independence. one of Hollywood’s few bilingual English-Russian Monarchist sentiment—or sentimentality—in screenwriters, writes eloquently of giving up writ- England is sufficiently strong that Elizabeth II won’t ing in Russian in the face of Putin’s invasion of be the last Windsor to sit on the throne. But with Ukraine. “I don’t know how to speak to a country Charles in the wings and a grandson and great- that’s busy destroying its neighbor and itself,” he grandson in line, she will be Great Britain’s last says, “so I won’t.” n sovereign queen for a good long while—and given the shrinking royal footprint, possibly forever. radhika jones, Editor in Chief These themes emerge in our pages this month Queen Elizabeth II and will also shape our new podcast series called gets the V.F. cover Dynasty, a delightful audio expression of our obses- treatment times sion with powerful families. The first season takes three, courtesy of on the House of Windsor and is cohosted by con- Andy Warhol. Listen tributing editor Katie Nicholl and staff writer Erin to our new royals Vanderhoof, who also wrote stories for our cover podcast, hosted by package on the platinum jubilee and all it signi- Katie Nicholl and fies. Subsequent seasons will tackle other notable Erin Vanderhoof, and notorious clans and the ways they shape our at VF.com/dynasty. world. In this issue, we interpret the idea of family both literally (see James Reginato’s chronicle of the 16 VA N I T Y FA I R M AY 2 0 2 2



Contributors Clockwise M C M I L L A N C O T TO M : TAU S H A D I C K I N S O N . P O G U E : C O U R T E S Y O F J A M E S P O G U E . M O S S E : VA L E N T I N A V I T E L L I . R E G I N ATO : GA S P E R T R I N GA L E . B R O W N : B R I G I T T E L AC O M B E . M A R X : J O N A S S C H O E N S T E I N / N B C N E W S . from top left: Tressie McMillan Cottom, James Pogue, Richard Mosse, Willem Marx, Tina Brown, James Reginato. Tressie McMILLAN COTTOM James POGUE Richard MOSSE “MODERN FOLKLORE,” P. 66 “FREE RADICALS,” P. 60 “GREEN GOLD,” P. 74 “These women are making some of the The author of Chosen Country: A “Flying at dawn in the helicopter bound most moving music out right now,” Rebellion in the West has written about for Disko Island was one of the more says the sociologist and cultural critic on rural politics for years, but entering into sublime experiences I’ve ever had,” her time with country music’s Black this “intra-elite war of ideas” was a wild says the documentary photographer, vanguard. They also, McMillan Cottom experience, where people “use complex who currently has a retrospective says, know how to have a good time: intellectual analysis to explain why many survey exhibition on show at Kunsthalle “What happens in Nash-Vegas, stays conservatives now feel so deeply alien- Bremen in Germany. “It was one of the in Nash-Vegas.” ated by mainstream politics and media.” most beautiful journeys I’ve ever taken.” James REGINATO Tina BROWN Willem MARX “ALL IN THE FAMILY,” P. 54 “DIANA’S LAST DANCE,” P. 46 “GREEN GOLD,” P. 74 “The Gettys are one of the most fascinat- Vanity Fair’s former editor in chief, “We wanted to tell the story of this ing and unconventional dynasties of our author of the best-selling The Diana unfathomably vast global energy time,” says the Vanity Fair writer-at-large. Chronicles and its forthcoming transition,” says the London-based In his upcoming book, Growing Up Getty incendiary follow-up, The Palace journalist. Marx has followed the (Gallery Books), Reginato tells the story Papers (Crown), wanted to “question Congolese mining sector for nearly of J. Paul Getty and his heirs, including the framing of Diana as a mere 15 years, but discovering the truth his surprisingly close-knit great- vulnerable victim and show how her about cobalt required unearthing grandchildren, debunking the myths sons have not yet confronted the memories many witnesses had that have grown around the family. unsettling complexity of her legacy.” chosen to leave behind. 18 VA N I T Y FA I R M AY 2 0 2 2





VA N I T I E S VANITAS VANITATUM PAGE 33 TALITA VON FURSTENBERG’S FAVORITE THINGS PAGE 34 THE TANGLED WEB OF KANYE WEST PAGE 37 REINVENTING THE ROSE HAI R , DARO N N CAR R ; G RO O M I N G, K AT H Y S AN T IAG O ; TAI LO R , HA S M I K KO U R IN IAN . P RO DU CE D O N LO CAT IO N BY J N P RO D UC T I O N. F O R D ETAI LS , G O TO V F. COM / C RE DI TS . Jacket and sweater by PAGE 22 Bottega Veneta. Throughout: beard As Magic Johnson in the products by Tom Ford; Lakers dramedy Winning Time, grooming products by Onå New York. Styled QUINCY ISAIAH shoots by Jason Rembert. and scores VA N I T Y FA IR PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK RILEY BENTHAM M AY 2 0 2 2 21

Home Cooking In these new recipe books, three famous foodies return to their roots. NOURISH YOUR SOUL Named after a term for mother, Asma Khan’s book pairs lush recipes—saag baadam, chicken pakoras, chutney—with memories of monsoons in Kolkata, family celebrations, and homesick Winner’s CIRCLE leading man.’ That was all I needed to hear.” BLACK CHEF BOO KS: COURTESY OF THE PUBLISHE RS. FO R DETAILS, G O TO V F.CO M/CREDITS. AFTER A CALLBACK and some advice from QUINCY ISAIAH’s magic moment his agent (“Get better at basketball”), Isaiah Shrimp étouffée, dirty rice, happened slowly, then all at once was asked to show off his court skills with garlic aioli: Braiding culinary series consultant Rick Fox. An hour later, influences from a childhood Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers producer Adam McKay called and gave him in the Bronx, Nigeria, and Baton Dynasty—a love letter to the team’s 1980s the part. “I had to hit mute and just start Rouge—along with his classical “showtime” era—stars heavyweights like screaming. I called my mom and she did the French training at the Culinary John C. Reilly, Adrien Brody, and Gaby same, her Pomeranian running in circles Hoffmann, but needed an actor with epic around her. My life changed, you know?” Institute of America—chef charisma to embody colead Earvin “Magic” BETWEEN LONG DAYS filming and frequent Kwame Onwuachi presents a Johnson. That part went to Quincy Isaiah, a basketball practice, Winning Time was a crash Michigander like Johnson and the youngest course. Reilly “still gives it the same on the Lori Zabar’s grandparents, Louis of seven in a Brady Bunch–esque blended 14th hour as the first, and it’s a trickle-down and Lilly Zabar, fled an area family. (“Instead of getting Alice, they got effect. No ego on this set.” of czarist Russia, now Ukraine, me,” he laughs.) Here, he reflects on turning HE HASN’T MET Johnson yet, but he hopes and established a deli on his first professional role into a career layup. their paths cross soon. “To be able to do what he did during that time period with that NYC’s Upper West Side. Each of HOOP DREAMS: “I played basketball all my diagnosis—it’s legendary.” the family history’s 10 chapters life, all summer long. I would go to football LOOKING FORWARD, he dreams of sharing closes with a recipe: gefilte fish, practice, come home, and then play sets with Ryan Coogler and Quentin basketball the rest of the day…then video Tarantino and wants “to play Mansa Musa, blintzes with blueberries, games. It was lovely. Take me back!” the richest man to ever live.” the store’s beloved Nova cream A PRODUCTION of A Raisin in the Sun at WILL WINNING TIME get a second season? Kalamazoo College gave him the confidence “We’re hoping for it,” Isaiah says. “We’ve only cheese spread. (Schocken) to audition for the American Academy covered the first year of Magic’s career. So it of Dramatic Arts. A professor encouraged can keep going.” —brit t hennemuth 22 VA N I T Y FA I R M AY 2 0 2 2





Vanities /The Gallery Blue CRUSH A number of settings have housed the world-renowned Tiffany Diamond—of Audrey Hepburn, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé fame—but these flowers and petite leaves wrought in diamond and yellow gold were one of its earliest imagined iterations. The Fleurage bracelet, which Jean Schlumberger sketched in 1958 but never fully realized, has come to life with a gleaming 48-carat aquamarine at its center, in a size and cut similar to that famous pale yellow friend. Nothing but blue skies ahead for this gemstone garden. —Daisy Shaw-Ellis S E T D E S I G N , S H A R O N RYA N . F O R D E TA I L S , G O TO V F. C O M / C R E D I T S . Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger Fleurage bracelet, price upon request. (selected Tiffany & Co. locations) VA N I T Y FA IR PHOTOGRAPH BY INA JANG M AY 2 0 2 2 27



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Vanities /Trending 4. HUE TUBE 6. 2. 3. 1. Swarovski necklace, 1. $700. (swarovski.com) 7. 2. Lanvin jacket, $6,990. (lanvin.com) 3. Baum und Pferdgarten skirt, $229. (Saks Fifth Avenue stores) 4. Kuboraum sunglasses, P R I N CE : R I C H AR D E . A A RO N / G E T T Y I M AG E S . S WA ROV S K I , L AN V I N , K E N N E T H N I C H O L S O N , F L AM I N G O , C N D , LO U I S V U I T TO N , KO LO R , G I V E N C H Y : J O S E P H I N E S C H I E L E . A L L O T H E R S : CO U R T E S Y O F T H E B R AN D S . F O R D E TA I L S , G O TO V F. C O M / C R E D I T S . $370. (framedewe.com) 5. Roger Vivier mules, $1,750. (rogervivier.com) 6. Régime des Fleurs Himitsu eau de parfum, $225. (regimedesfleurs .com) 7. Kenneth Nicholson dress, $1,100. (kennethnicholson.us) 8. Flamingo tweezers, 8. $12. (shopflamingo.com) 9. Fendi Men’s bag, $4,200. (fendi.com) 10. Glossier Lavender Balm Dotcom (available in May), $12. (glossier.com) 11. CND Vinylux nail polish in Artisan Bazaar, $11. (amazon.com) 12. Louis Vuitton Men’s pants, $5,400. (louisvuitton .com) 13. Kolor sweater, $429. (onlinestore.kolor.jp) 14. Givenchy cross bra, price upon request. (givenchy.com) 15. Tatcha The Silk sunscreen SPF 50, $60. (tatcha.com) Purple REIGN 10. Take a dip in these violet delights, from lilac cat-eye shades to indigo kitten-heel sandals to ruffles that evoke rolling floral hills 12. 13. Party like it’s the Prince and the Revolution 1984–85 14. 15. Purple Rain tour. M AY 2 0 2 2 30 VA N I T Y FA I R





2. 3. Bright SIDE From her pink furniture to floral frocks, DVF cochairwoman TALITA VON FURSTENBERG creates candy-hued worlds ■ Style File sweet tooth (5). COCKTAIL DAILY UNIFORM: Nothing HOUR: Laúd tequila makes me feel more passion fruit margarita. confident and powerful than wearing DVF (9)! ■ At Home WORKOUT WEAR: Splits59 DISHWARE: Murano 6. leggings are the softest P O R T R A I T : M A R C I G B I N A D O LO R . G LO B E : C O U R T E S Y O F TA L I TA VO N F U R S T E N B E R G . F R OZ E N YO G U R T : E S T H E R H I L D E B R A N DT/A L A M Y. T H E G R E AT : H U LU . glassware. LagunaB AP P L E S N E VE R FAL L : CO U R T E S Y O F T H E P U BL I S H E R . AL L O T H E R S : CO U R T E S Y O F T H E BR AN DS . F O R D E TAI L S , G O TO V F. CO M / C RE D I T S . and most flattering. glasses make the cutest TO SLEEP: A comfy and gift (1). VINTAGE colorful sweater from the TREASURE: A bronze Elder Statesman (3). globe that secretly opens and holds cigarettes. ■ On Beauty I don’t smoke, but I love MAKEUP ESSENTIALS: finding fun pieces on Chanel Le Correcteur 1stDibs (4). RECENT concealer (2), Ilia mascara ADDITION: My pink India (8), Charlotte Tilbury Mahdavi Bishop side highlighter wand, Makeup table (6), Svenskt Tenn by Mario cream blush pillows for accent prints, stick (10), and Anastasia and my AVF Home Beverly Hills contour yellow circle mirror. 11. kit for cheeks and eyes. AROMA: Giant Diptyque 13. SKIN CARE: Biologique candles are great (11). VA N I T Y FA IR Recherche. HAIR CARE: FLOWERS ON THE TABLE: 14. Olaplex shampoo and I love fresh flowers so BRUSH: much, but I have a fake bouquet from Afloral (15) and always get compliments on them STYLING: rather than my real ones (and they last forever). ■ The Menu ■ For Pleasure SWEET TREAT: Frozen WATCHING: The Great (13). yogurt, or really any READING: Apples Never dessert…. I have the biggest Fall, by Liane Moriarty (14). INSPIRED BY: Nature! M AY 2 0 2 2 33

Vanities /Beautiful Dark Twisted Galaxy The Wide WORLD OF KANYE “They say people in your life are seasons, and anything that happen is for a reason.” So quoth Ye, né Kanye Omari West, whose tangled web of pals, foes, lovers, and influences is an all-weather wonder By Kia D. Goosby TAYLOR G L A DY S RICHIE KNIGHT RAY DAME WEST DASH DONDA RIHANNA WEST KIM GORDY KARDASHIAN GAYE RICHIE KARDASHIAN FOX ELLIS ROCKY RICHIE DOGG BARKER KARDASHIAN ROSS ANNA MARY SOROKIN WILSON DAVIDSON VIRGIL ABLOH WOODS JENNER ODOM THE QUEEN MOTHER THOMPSON DONALD ARIANA KOOLHAAS TRUMP GRANDE ROSS WILL ANDY PRADA WARHOL TOMMY KYLIE KENDALL MOTTOLA JENNER JENNER COCHRAN DUCHAMP CAREY MICHAELA HILL ALL: GETTY IMAGES. ANGELA DAVIS Dated Collaborated KEYS Family “Dated” Married/partnered Feuded Photo-opped Friends Separated/divorced Inspired by M AY 2 0 2 2 34 VA N I T Y FA I R

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Unscripted Three actors pen evocative, intimate personal histories. TAKE A TRIP to the beaches of Wellfleet on the Pick up the temporal thread across the VIOLA DAVIS B O O K S : C O U R T E S Y O F T H E P U B L I S H E R S . DAV I S : B + D M . L I U : J A S O N M E N D E Z / G E T T Y I M AG E S . B L A I R : R AU L R O M O. spiraling hook of Cape Cod, Massachusetts: country with V.F. contributor Mark Rozzo’s The year is 1910, and an enclave of artists Everybody Thought We Were Crazy: Dennis Having grown up a “spunky, and writers is forming. John Taylor Williams’s sassy mess,” in Finding Me: The Shores of Bohemia: A Cape Cod Story, out from Ecco. The book, which began as A Memoir, from HarperOne, 1910–1960, from FSG, traces the “flawed, a 2018 article for this magazine, serves as a the triple crown–winning actor rowdy, careless bohemians” who left Manhat- portrait not only of a marriage but of a critical describes racism, poverty, her tan’s Greenwich Village for the cheaper American artistic awakening during the years mother’s love, and a life guided coastal towns up east—or bounced between that Hayward once called “the most wonder- by her constant question: the two. From Charles Webster Hawthorne’s ful and awful of my life.” Rozzo paints a neon “What did I learn from this?” Provincetown Art Association; to socialist picture of the pair’s milieu: their 1963 West leanings turned communist sympathies; to Coast coming-out house party for Andy War- Her first trip to Africa is Bauhaus houses spread with Anni Albers hol, replete with circus posters and a chili dog a highlight; in The Gambia, rugs; to the 1950s softball games staffed by stand (and Hayward’s later “screen tests” with she feels a sense of home. Edwin O’Connor, Norman Mailer, and the artist); Hopper photographing the Selma Edmund Wilson (who batted but “refused march; substance abuse battles; the couple’s SIMU LIU to run”), Williams captures half a century friendships with Ed Ruscha and Jane Fonda—a of creative thought lashed with salty sea air. life and time in Technicolor. —keziah weir In We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story, from William Morrow, the Marvel actor describes his complex and at times abusive parents; immigrating from China to Canada; xenophobia; teen rebellions; escape through acting—and weaves humor, raw detail, and empathy throughout. SIX-PACK High raunch, Afrofuturism, and more new fiction THE MEMORY LIARMOUTH HERE GOES SELMA BLAIR LIBRARIAN NOTHING This “feel-bad Named simply “Baby Girl With contributors who romance” about the Steve Toltz’s newest finds Beitner” at birth, in Mean Baby: include Eve L. Ewing and escapades of a a droll Angus Mooney Danny Lore, Janelle vainglorious, self- watching from the A Memoir of Growing Up, Monáe explores abuse of proclaimed tease of afterlife (he works in a from Knopf, Blair describes her power, love, and race through five a scammer named Marsha is factory) as his murderer seduces futuristic stories. (HarperVoyager) peak John Waters camp. (FSG) his pregnant wife. (Melville House) path from moody infant to activist. Along the way: tarot THE IMMORTAL WE DO WHAT WE ONE DAY readings, fighting alcoholism, KING RAO DO IN THE DARK I SHALL ASTONISH THE WORLD an M.S. diagnosis, a custody In Vauhini Vara’s debut, Michelle Hart’s first battle, love and heartbreak, Athena’s father, a tech novel follows lonely Susan and Norma meet mogul nonpareil, has college freshman while working at auditions and triumphs— died, and she is accused Mallory through her a haberdashery; they onscreen and off. —K.W. of conspiring to kill him. But she’s relationship with a professor; disagree about literature, but also armed with his memories, and the woman reunites with her they’re pals anyway. Nina Stibbe’s sour truths about his company absentee husband, but reemerges novel puts fresh eyes on a lifetime board. (W.W. Norton) seven years later. (Riverhead) of friendship. (Scribner) —K.W. 36 VA N I T Y FA I R ILLUSTRATION BY DA M I E N C U Y P E R S

Vanities /Beauty M I CAE L A M C LU CAS / T RU N K ARC H I VE . AL L O TH E R S : CO U R T E S Y O F T H E BR AN DS . F O R D E TAIL S , G O TO V F. CO M / CRE DI T S . Coming Up ROSES D.S. & Durga too pretty to use. A 1935 photograph Salt Marsh Rose of a future Elizabeth II, wearing a frilly Can perfumery’s archetypal flower outstep dress and ankle socks with a rose bou- its grandmotherly reputation? A new crop of candle, $65. quet, captures the vintage pomp. Harold scents shakes things up By Laura Regensdorf McGee, the wizard behind Nose Dive: A Chanel Paris-Paris Field Guide to the World’s Smells, notes WHEN GERTRUDE STEIN tucked that waltzing line—“Rose is a fragrance, $140. that damascenone, a molecule found rose is a rose is a rose”—into a 1913 poem, she knew she had in the prized damask rose, is “one of the landed on something universal. She recycled the phrase again Boy Smells dominant aromas in cooked apples”—a and again, tapping into the flower’s sense of beauty, ubiquity, Rosalita candle, $44. cross-wiring, maybe, between grand- and foreverness. “Civilization begins with a rose,” she later ma’s perfume and pie. But David Moltz, wrote, establishing it as a matriarch of sorts; ditto the genesis Henry Rose Sheep’s the Brooklyn-based nose of D.S. & of fragrance. But for all the ancient trivia—Romans scented Clothing fragrance, Durga, shrugs off the anti-granny stance doves’ wings with rosewater like animated Febreze; Cleopatra as a kind of posturing, a learned distaste. used rose petals to lure Mark Antony in a proto–honeymoon $120. His Salt Marsh Rose candle—“pretty suite gesture—the prevailing association is not millennia old symphonic,” Moltz says of its “swampy, but two generations. The rose belongs to grandma. Dries Van Noten mossy” notes—is an example of what Raving Rose fragrance, he means when arguing for a “mod- Courteney Cox brings this up in a Zoom conversation about ern-restraint usage of classic, beautiful Homecourt, her line of home-care products that showcases the $280. perfume materials. To throw the baby work of master perfumers. Steeped Rose is one of four scents out with the bathwater makes no sense.” delivered via room mist, dish soap, and counter spray (like her Homecourt Friends character, Monica, Cox is a fingerprint freak). Neither Steeped Rose surface Judging by the proliferation of next- powdery nor sweet, it doesn’t register as “what you would gen roses, it’s a growing opinion. Boy imagine a grandmother’s house to smell like,” she says, prais- cleaner, $20. Smells’ Rosalita candle draws on saffron ing the fragrance’s dimensionality. “It’s the stem, it’s the leaves, and cedar for an earthy riff. Raving Rose, it’s the petals—everything that you think real roses smell like.” Tom Ford from Dries Van Noten’s debut fragrance Rose d’Amalfi range, goes rogue with a double dash Whence comes this musty reputation? One thinks of fragrance, $270. of pepper (black, pink)—a rose scent that potpourri in cut-crystal bowls and soaps shaped into rosettes, would give you a metaphorical “kick in the face,” says the designer of his origi- nal brief to perfumers. Tom Ford looked to his Los Angeles rose garden—planted in a color gradient, with his least favorite, red, at the back—for a trio of scents, including Rose d’Amalfi with its marzipan-like note of heliotrope. Mean- while, perfumer Olivier Polge teased out the “fresh, citrusy, slightly metal- lic” qualities of Rosa damascena for Paris-Paris, this month’s latest entry in Les Eaux de Chanel. Polge doesn’t have any hang-ups with rose; since his father worked as Chanel’s nose for 37 years, the grandmothers in Polge’s family simply wore the fashion house’s perfumes. For actor Michelle Pfeiffer, who runs the clean fragrance brand Henry Rose, her dad’s Old Spice is an olfactive muse. But the new Sheep’s Clothing is a musky departure, with a “dusting of pink peppercorn on top of the naive rose.” If it should trigger a whiff of nostalgia, all the better, says Sable Yong, cohost of the perfume podcast Smell Ya Later: “Our digital age is moving so quickly.” A proverbial slowdown is in order. n M AY 2 0 2 2 37

Vanities /Letter From L.A. Move Fast and Kalanick (played by Joseph Gordon- This first installment, The Battle for Levitt) slicks his unkempt hair back Uber, follows revolutionary-minded BREAK BAD with a glob of gel, transforming almost Kalanick from the rideshare company’s instantly from scrappy tech bro to Sil- astronomical growth to his ouster— How would-be tech icon Valley tyrant. In episode three of and $2.5 billion payout. Cocreator Brian visionaries became TV’s Hulu’s The Dropout, disgraced Ther- Koppelman says the show is driven by antihero obsession anos CEO Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda a simple question: “What happens when Seyfried) dons her signature black tur- the revolutionaries become the fascists, By David Canfield tleneck for the first time—the turning as seems to happen over and over in point for a con woman realizing she’s these tech-disruptive companies?” J in too deep. Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” plays on the soundtrack, like a Tech is fertile ground for antihero JUST BEFORE WALTER WHITE calls him- bat signal to prestige TV savants: This is stories, a Wild West of screens and apps. self Heisenberg for the first time in her Heisenberg shift. “There’s a cult around the CEO, and Breaking Bad, he shaves his head. It’s a lack of boundaries where it’s not just a dramatic change in surprising ways: Breaking Bad introduced a quintes- a company—you’re expected to make Walter’s voice gets harsher; his fami- sential antihero: a man crawling out it your entire world,” says The Dropout ly man warmth goes ice-cold; he kills. of the despair of a recession-ravaged creator Liz Meriwether. “That culture And he leaves a legacy, not only in America to reclaim a sense of agency. can lead to people in a kind of haze of television’s ongoing fascination with This was in the late 2000s, at the apex of not asking questions, not thinking. It people breaking bad but in how they scripted dramas—once a medium fixat- really narrows your field of vision.” present themselves to the world. ed on maintaining likability—learning to embrace deeply flawed protagonists like Meriwether’s subject, Holmes, In episode two of Showtime’s Tony Soprano and Don Draper. The new dropped out of Stanford in her late Super Pumped, Uber cofounder Travis explosion of rise-and-fall tales about teens to build a billion-dollar company tech moguls and entrepreneurs, which that promised to democratize blood also includes Apple TV+’s WeCrashed, testing via an industry-changing “Edi- speaks just as powerfully to our own son” machine. The thing simply never moment in time—the gig economy, the worked, though, and as Theranos start-up fantasies, and the virtual world grew it possibly endangered people’s in which new kings and queens are lives. (Sick people were tested on Ther- crowned, only to be taken down. anos devices, only to receive incorrect results.) Holmes was featured on mag- Super Pumped is executive-produced azine covers and celebrated as the by the team behind Billions—talk about world’s youngest female self-made knowing your way around repellent, powerful people—and will change shape In The Dropout, Super Pumped, and WeCrashed, in subsequent years as an anthology of Amanda Seyfried, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American business scandals. (Season Jared Leto, and Anne Hathaway reimagine two will explore the tumult of Facebook.) the recent past. THE DROPOUT: HULU. SUPER PUMPED: SHOWTIME. ILLUSTRATION BY Q U I N T O N M c M I L L A N M AY 2 0 2 2

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Vanities /Letter From L.A. billionaire. Now she’s awaiting a prison TV HAS GOTTEN increasingly schaden- her first showrunning gig on the sitcom sentence of up to 80 years, having been freudian of late. A few years ago, viewers New Girl while still in her 20s. “That story found guilty of defrauding investors. streamed Fyre Festival documentaries doesn’t get told a lot,” Meriwether says. back-to-back, relishing Instagram’s finest “What it is to be a young woman with Holmes’s inner life has been exam- getting duped into a weekend of FEMA power—and the absurdity and also con- ined across documentaries, books, tents and sad sandwiches. Now we can’t fusion that comes with that.” and podcasts without definitive con- get enough of Succession and the one- clusions. “Her motivations are hard to upping awfulness of its cast. That’s to say WeCrashed also finds fresh mean- pin down, but I took that as a reason nothing of the glossy true-crime craze ing and emotion in the familiar story of to make the show,” Meriwether says. vaunted by Ryan Murphy’s American a hustler gone rogue by expanding the “I made a commitment early on to start Crime Story. Bad behavior is everywhere: main point of view to include an eccen- at the beginning of her story and try to Socialite scammer Anna Delvey recently tric love story. WeWork’s cofounder get inside her head as much as I could, got the Shonda Rhimes treatment in Adam Neumann (played by Jared Leto) to go on that journey with her.” Before Netflix’s Inventing Anna, while a grisly was a serial entrepreneur, an immi- Seyfried’s Holmes evolves into a tech case of texting-influenced suicide grant from Israel desperate for that big imposter, she’s introduced as a teenager was adapted into Hulu’s The Girl From idea. “There is something so human and with a stifling home environment, a Plainville. These shows vary widely as to relatable about Adam when he’s strug- brilliantly ambitious college student, how interested they are in backstories gling,” says cocreator Drew Crevello. and an aspiring entrepreneur idolizing and motivations—some of them are cap- “He’s in a new city, and he’s floundering the unicorns who made it big. tivating precisely because they simply a bit to find something to make his own.” throw con artists and criminals onscreen Think of how Walter White’s arc and let us watch the havoc they wreak. WeWork appears to be Adam’s dream began with a cancer diagnosis, or the The characters’ terribleness is assumed come true—until his relentless drive for way Mad Men slowly unpeeled Don from the jump; there is no “before.” By growth eats him alive. (The gussied- Draper’s mysteriously tragic roots. contrast, The Dropout, Super Pumped, up shared-office-space company was These “difficult men,” as author Brett and WeCrashed are more nuanced and valued in the billions until reality pre- Martin dubbed them in 2013, were not character-driven. It’s the “Mr. Chips to sented itself in the form of enormous without sympathetic backstories, and Scarface” journey, as Breaking Bad cre- mounting losses.) But Eisenberg and the formula adapts seamlessly to the ator Vince Gilligan once called it, for the Crevello don’t tell that standard sto- aspirations of start-up culture. “Whether era of endless millennial scams. ry, not exactly. The “lone visionary” we’ve had that idea that we think could angle, which past tellings of WeWork go on Shark Tank or we’re gunning for The new shows also make a tangible have succumbed to, is discarded here a promotion at work, we’ve all been in effort to redefine what an antihero can in favor of a thorny portrait of the mar- those moments of struggle,” says Lee look like. The conversation around lik- riage between Adam and Rebekah Eisenberg, cocreator of WeCrashed, ability has historically focused on women (Anne Hathaway), a wealthy onetime which centers on the founding of in pop culture—which is exactly what fas- aspiring actor, and cousin to Gwyneth WeWork. “Seeing someone take that cinated Meriwether about dramatizing Paltrow. “We saw it as this fascinating, and turn it into a $47 billion valuation— Holmes’s story. She considered Holmes’s flawed, utterly captivating love story,” people are fascinated by both the rise rise a parallel to her own, since she got says Crevello. “That’s a strange term to and then ultimately the demise.” use for a business rise-and-fall story, but without Rebekah, there is no WeWork. Without the very particular and peculiar WECRASHED: APPLE TV+. way these two people reinforced each other, there is no rise and fall.” WeCrashed examines two extreme personalities as they go from under- dogs to superpowers—their cultish methods loom large, their profound mistakes unfurl in tragicomic fashion. They lose touch with reality and ulti- mately get what’s coming, but you may find yourself rooting for two outsiders determined to make it to the top. “It’s a dynamic that we certainly hadn’t seen before,” says Crevello. “It’s two people bringing out the very best and worst in each other.” A dual antihero story—who says a trope can’t find new tricks? n VAN IT Y FAIR M AY 2 0 2 2

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Vanities /Letter From L.A. The Joy of GOOPING have three best-selling cookbooks to her name, after all. In 2019, she and her Gwyneth Paltrow is taking her lifestyle imprimatur team started plans for a restaurant in the to the kitchen By Emily Jane Fox Westside of L.A. But a pandemic led to a pivot, as everybody’s story goes, and C and celebrity. In Goop Kitchen’s first they brought on chef Kim Floresca— CHRISTINA NAJJAR, BETTER known year, sales are up 526 percent versus who trained at Per Se and El Bulli before as Tinx on Instagram and TikTok, its own projections, according to a she was executive sous-chef at the where she has nearly 2 million spokesperson, who adds that sales per three-Michelin-starred Restaurant at followers combined, has a litmus test. square foot are better than at an Apple Meadowood in Napa Valley—to oversee “I always think it’s a testament, store, with more than half coming from the food on the go. especially in L.A., how far you’ll drive frequent customers (those who order at for something,” she told me early this least one or two times per week). There “We have a tasting panel, and March. She lives in West Hollywood, are plans to expand to more locations in obviously Gwyneth has final say, but literally over hills and far away from Los Angeles and around the country. we have a group of people in our R&D both of the two Goop Kitchen department, and we literally devote locations, in Santa Monica and Studio It wasn’t supposed to happen quite weeks to just one dressing,” Floresca City. Yet, she said, “I drive 20 minutes like this. For years, Paltrow had dreamed told me. To test the packaging, she to get this fricking food because I love about opening a restaurant—she does added, “We take these salads and we’ll it so much.” drive them around and spin them Goop Kitchen, a takeout chain run like a driver would do.” They spent out of ghost kitchens, is an extension of a year nailing the gluten-free pizza Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand—one dough, which she said typically tastes that her team says they had hoped to do like soggy cardboard. “We wanted for years, with a signature hybrid of to create pizza that was just pizza. If restrictive indulgence, a monk living la you knew it was gluten-free, cool. dolce vita. Everything is Goop Certified If you didn’t, even better, and you just Clean: free of refined sugars, processed ate it and you liked it, perfect. That, ingredients, gluten, soy, dairy, peanuts, for us, is a huge win.” and preservatives. And everything—if you trust the hundreds of online reviews Paltrow often pops in for the weekly and the dozens of actors and influenc- tasting to give her feedback. (On ers, from Rachel Zoe and Kristin Floresca’s fifth day on the job, she Davis to Shay Mitchell and Sara Foster, served Paltrow a salad with a mound who have posted about their Brentwood of dill sprinkled on top. Paltrow, Chinese chicken salads and miso who is not a fan of the herb, implored salmons—tastes good, travels well, her to “please tell me that’s fennel.” and appears Instagrammable. They were testing a healthy spin on For years, that has been Goop’s brand a ranch dressing. The dill, Floresca trinity. Now it’s married to the Los explained, was essential.) Angeles holy trinity of traffic, salads, They launched rotisserie meals in March, with a pizza concept to follow, which doesn’t inherently scream Goop. But it is all in the sell—the promise that consuming anything with Paltrow’s stamp could lead you toward physical lightness or spiritual enlightenment. It’s why a sex toy or workout class or powder concoction flies off shelves when she recommends one. Or why Tinx, after she picked up a teriyaki bowl as a treat, posted that if Goop Kitchen doesn’t open a location closer to her, she will shave her head and start running naked down Santa Monica Boulevard until they do. If you don’t belong in Paltrow’s world, you want to belong there right now. n VA N I T Y FA IR ILLUSTRATION BY J O R G E A R É VA LO M AY 2 0 2 2



Vanities /Culture Clash Language BARRIER older colleagues. Leto, a film I cowrote with my wife, Lily, worked the other A bilingual screenwriter tried to build a bridge between way, exposing the West to the Russian Russia and the West. Vladimir Putin burned it down indie rock of my childhood. When it screened at Cannes, with the black-tie By Michael Idov Palais de Festivals crowd grooving, then sobbing, to the songs of Viktor T into Russophobia: I smile at Stephen Tsoi, I thought: Here was that bridge THERE ARE TWO or three screenwriters Colbert’s barbs about Putin but not at I’ve dreamed of building all my life. in Hollywood who can switch between the comic accent he adopts to deliver English and Russian at will, and them. I feel a bit sick when The New Even as the screws tightened in the I am one of them. This is not a self- York Times uncritically quotes a former wake of the 2012 protests against aggrandizing statement—no evidence U.S. official calling Russians “organi- Putin’s return to the presidency and the suggests I’m a genius in either. Still, cally ruthless.” And yes, it was just as 2014 annexation of Crimea, I got away I have been writing in both for 30 years, offensive to me when Ukraine curbed with a lot. None of my scripts were and these are the hardest words public use of Russian as part of its trimmed beyond the global broadcast I have ever had to write, because they national policy. Because language is standards, and perhaps less (The feel like lopping off half of my brain never the enemy. Optimists’ characters smoked like in public. chimneys). At times, the absence of As long as Vladimir Putin remains So why am I doing this? Because censorship was so glaring I became in power, I will not write in Russian Russia doesn’t want me right now, and paranoid that the state was using me anymore. I don’t want it. as a kind of human Potemkin village. In doing this, I am neither assigning collective responsibility nor weaseling MY IDENTITY AS a Russian American is But something else broke. Slowly. out of it. People and their government an accident of history: I am an Ameri- Imperceptibly. While I was crafting are different things even in a democ- can Jew born in the Soviet-occupied my little bits of cosmopolitan enter- racy, to say nothing of a dictatorship. Baltics. In the words of Hannah Arendt, tainment, the ruling regime was hard Using the famed Soviet “salami tactics” “What remains? The language at work choking off oxygen to its own of reducing freedom one slice at a time, remains.” I grew up on Russian litera- country’s mind. Over time I stopped Putin’s regime cut off all avenues for ture, Russian movies, and Russian understanding my own audience, or electoral reform, then peaceful protest, underground rock music. I felt that how I could or should address it. Pop then any dissent at all. Even calling his I was put on this planet to build a culture, which once had an exciting war a war is now punishable by prison. bridge between the two great cultures. amateurishness about it, now felt Only extralegal means of change are I couldn’t write like Nabokov or dance slick but stagnant. Everything looked left, and one cannot demand of Russian like Baryshnikov—who could?—but, in great—the technical side of filmmak- people that they go that route. Certainly 2012, when I found myself working ing now routinely bested Western not from Los Angeles. in Moscow after 20 years in the U.S., European standards and was closing Nor am I exiling Russian from my I finally got a chance to try to build in on Hollywood—but it only served daily life. My household is and will stay that bridge. to show how outmoded the interper- bilingual. I remain sensitive to the sonal relationships were, how timid moments when anti-Putinism shades All my Russian film and TV work the satire, how backward the values. was dedicated to one crushingly simple idea: Russia is part of the The more I rifled through the media world. Londongrad, my first series, landscape, the less tethered I felt to was a lighthearted adventure with a the common cultural baseline without subversive feature: Its characters, which there can be no dialogue bilingual Russians in the U.K., didn’t between the author and the audience. see themselves as exiles, making it Men were soulful alcoholics. Women perhaps the first piece of Russian pop were sex kittens or man-eaters or culture to present emigration as a moms. LGBTQ+ representation was casual choice. The Optimists, set in next to nonexistent, but at least there 1960, revolved around a group of was the excuse of the noxious “gay young Soviet diplomats with interna- propaganda” law behind that. The tional backgrounds tasked with rest was a choice. explaining “the Western mind” to And it was all so fucking white. A gloriously multinational country with a massive Muslim population, Putin’s Russia had zero interest in addressing huge swaths of itself, rarely exploring 38 VA N I T Y FA I R

locations beyond its two largest cities the promo campaign implying that it My latest feature, Jetlag, came out in and shoving all non-Slavic actors into was about the Russians not just living the summer of 2021. It was meant to be caricatured bit parts. in the U.K. but somehow triumphing a Noah Baumbach–esque romantic over it. The vehemently anti-totalitarian comedy about a middle-class Moscow In my bridge-building fervor, what The Optimists was sold to the public couple who split up en route to the I wanted to do most was make things airport and end up in two separate whose appeal would be based on the SCRUB POLITICS far-flung love triangles, a pointedly characters’ own individual, quirky cosmopolitan movie about dislocation, humanity. It proved futile. It felt like out of everything, with the action taking place in Berlin, every good new Russian film or series and EVERYTHING Thailand, Portugal, Detroit, and Cannes. (and there were many fantastic ones) becomes politics. This time the reaction of the Russian was primarily about the grand condi- audience was rage: The main characters tion of being Russian in the world. as a hymn to the strength of Soviet (who lived in a tiny apartment and flew Here was a country that was spending diplomacy. (In a surreal P.R. coup, on low-cost airlines) were seen as part almost the entirety of its creative Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, of an amoral, unpatriotic elite. More energy relitigating its own image. now on international sanctions lists, charitable readings described the film There would be no Russian Worst commented approvingly on it.) as a satirical indictment of the creative Person in the World, no Russian Drive class. Nary a review considered the My Car. Everything was either characters as…characters. When you “our answer to [a specific Hollywood live in a society that devalues individual title]” or the author’s statement experience, the individual becomes on Russianness. a symbol, a marker, a statement. Scrub politics out of everything, and every- Londongrad was marketed with the thing becomes politics. tagline “This is how our guys do it!,” I AM NOT megalomaniacal enough to think that my exit from the Russian scene constitutes some sort of loss for Russia. It is, if anything, a form of ego- tistical self-care. I don’t know how to speak to a country that’s busy destroy- ing its neighbor and itself, so I won’t. I thought I’d built a bridge. But when they’re sending tanks over it, it’s easier to burn it and start again elsewhere. A voice in my head reasonably notes that I didn’t give up writing in English, or move to Europe, when the United States attacked Iraq in a similarly cruel war of choice under a similarly flimsy pretext. The difference is that, as citi- zens of a democracy, we had recourse in elections. With Putin’s unending rule, the link between the culture and the state is now existential. One must not blame the Russian people for it; it’s the only possible outcome of liv- ing under a madman’s boot for 20-odd years. I would love nothing more than to get back to writing in Russian for the people of free Russia. For now, there’s enough work left at home—not least of all to make sure that the same reactionary ebb of culture that always follows tyrants does not reach here. n ILLUSTRATION BY P E T E R O U M A N S K I M AY 2 0 2 2 39

Vanities /The Arts Mr. Dylan’s DREAM HOUSE A first peek at Tulsa’s treasure-packed Bob Dylan museum By Douglas Brinkley W WHEN NEWS BROKE in 2016 that Bob Dylan had given his vast archive of his music, actually went on to win the A pensive Bob Dylan during a 1963 recording recordings and artifacts to the George Nobel Prize in literature “for having session. Opposite: a 1981 concert poster. Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa, created new poetic expressions within people were taken aback. Why was this the great American song tradition.” celebrates the formational figures who cultural trove going there, of all places? made him what he is. Yes, there’s the Louis Armstrong Now we know the answer. That ini- House in Queens, which is impressive The center—a high-tech vessel tial cache of Dylanalia has become the but modest. The Museum of Pop holding the man’s oeuvre and an over- cornerstone of an entire museum: the Culture in Seattle is partly a shrine to view of the man—will be the spiritual Bob Dylan Center. Recently I asked the Jimi Hendrix, yet it’s fueled not by home of Dylan, a relentless performer singer-songwriter, who is 80, why he’d scholarship as much as pizzazz. Elvis who is forever on the road. When chosen Tulsa. “There’s more vibrations Presley’s Graceland draws over half a I mentioned that his tour bus was both on the coasts, for sure,” he explained. million visitors a year, though it’s more man cave and tree house, Dylan’s “But I’m from Minnesota and I like the spangle than substance. Now comes response was typically cryptic: “Man casual hum of the heartland.” an institution—a 29,000-square-foot cave, woman cave, a cave is a cave. Dark edifice designed by Olson Kundig— as a dungeon. They don’t travel well, The BDC will certainly hum. When devoted to a living musician. And it is no wheels. And the tree house, that’s not it opens in May, Dylan’s visage—on a living monument: an entrancing, it either. Neither one can move my bus. the building’s three-story facade—will immersive, take-you-by-the-lapels des- I try to leave it where we can get it quick. gaze down on downtown Tulsa’s popu- tination that doubles as a campus Sometimes we use it when I’m not lar Gathering Place, sometimes called for learning and exploring. The BDC on tour.” Someday, perhaps, that magic Guthrie Green (for Oklahoman Woody doesn’t just enshrine the artist; it bus may be parked in Tulsa. Guthrie). But that isn’t to suggest the museum is a vanity project. It’s indic- ative, instead, of the cultural moment, a time when our storytellers and ren- egade visionaries deserve recognition and respect. It’s a time to marvel at the fact that a footloose Midwesterner with a guitar, who spent 60 years changing minds and changing the culture with 40 VA N I T Y FA I R

DYL AN : DO N H U N S T E I N / CO U R TE SY O F S O NY M US I C E N T E R TAI N M E N T. POST E R : CO U R T E S Y O F T H E BO B DYL AN CE NT E R . THE DYLAN CENTER isn’t open yet. So philanthropist Kaiser—an entrepreneur why Dylan, deeply knowledgeable let me give you a taste. The spine of the and lifelong Tulsan—when he acquired about the saga of Indigenous peoples, place is the first-floor gallery, which Dylan’s papers and the idea of the chose Tulsa. (U.S. poet laureate Joy will transport museumgoers through BDC took seed. Cain’s Ballroom had Harjo, of the Muscogee Nation, will be the bard’s life and career. Visitors will become the Carnegie Hall of Americana the BDC’s first artist in residence.) The feel swaddled in a cinematic Dylan music. The Woody Guthrie Center, Guthrie, too, was clearly a lure: Dylan, “experience.” They will linger in a vir- the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa a close student of Guthrie, had learned tual recording studio. They will be Art Center, LowDown jazz club, and along the way about everything from dazzled by galaxies of ephemera. A lis- other venues helped make the city an World War I’s Green Corn Rebellion to tening booth will resonate with the economic engine. Last year, the Green- the exodus of “Okies” during the Great sounds of Chuck Berry, Ella Fitzgerald, wood Rising Museum was inaugurated, Depression. And Dylan, a musicologist, Buddy Holly, and others who infused commemorating the 1921 Tulsa Race has long absorbed himself in the Tulsa the imagination of Robert Zimmerman Massacre, in which Black-owned busi- Sound, collaborating with Leon Rus- while he was a student at Minnesota’s nesses were savagely torched, killing sell and Jesse Ed Davis, who played on Hibbing High. There will be a jolting scores and hospitalizing hundreds. “Watching the River Flow.” audiovisual trip back to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival—when Dylan Tulsa has an authenticity that has The deeper answer to why Tulsa? blasphemously “went electric.” somehow dissipated in other Amer- Dylan embodies the individualistic ican music towns. Country legends Tulsa Way ethos. He’s a vagabond, a The archive reading room (full dis- Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, and troubadour, the soulful drifter who closure: It’s named after my wife, Anne, Vince Gill (Oklahomans all) might con- closes ballrooms after encores with and me; we helped as advisers and duct business in Nashville, but that city a “See yo’ next time” farewell. It patrons) is where historians can pore has gone corporate; their musical souls makes sense that the Dylan Center is over, say, manuscripts of Dylan’s novel remain in the Sooner State. Likewise, located off of Route 66, whose lore he Tarantula or the dime-store scrawl- I grew up in Ohio and am a proud Buck- enshrined in his epic song “Brownsville laden notebooks that became the basis eye, yet Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall Girl,” written with Sam Shepard. for Blood on the Tracks. The archive itself of Fame doesn’t capture the excite- is the center’s beating heart. Inside are ment of the music it represents. Austin DYLAN HAS STAYED mostly hands off countless Dylan drawings and paint- has lost its weirdness. New Orleans about the BDC. True, he designed and ings, once mere keepsakes, that are now has balked at building a truly serious welded a 16-foot ironwork structure for being curated as if they were Rauschen- National Jazz Museum. Which leaves the entryway. But he won’t be attending bergs or Basquiats. Archive director Tulsa as the double-cheeseburger, the opening. Even so, the giant oak Mark Davidson and his team are busy jukebox-kicking Americana mecca. tree that is Bob Dylan will reside here, digitizing all of Dylan’s music, from stu- along with the massive roots system dio outtakes to every live performance. The Native American collection of artists that influenced him, nearly at Gilcrease Museum, where Dylan’s 100 of whom are represented, from The files here brim with bits of audio archive first lived, is a pivotal reason blues icon Robert Johnson to country- heaven: reels from a cold Wisconsin and-western star Hank Williams to winter when Dylan, 19, recorded him- comedian Lenny Bruce, who, at Village self singing folk ditties; vintage tapes nightclubs in the ’60s, helped prompt of Cynthia Gooding, the radio personal- Dylan to become an outlaw figure. ity and Beat generation chronicler who interviewed Dylan just before his A final muse who gets his due first album was released in 1962. in Tulsa: English poet William Blake. Shelves bear thousands of books and Whether Dylan is songwriting, records from the estate of folk music sketching, or engaging with religious anthologist Harry Smith and the storied texts, Blake’s spirit is ever present. Izzy Young Library. (Young’s Folk- “Blake was an evangelizing poet,” lore Center, which opened in 1957 near Dylan told me. “You can see it in his NYU, was the vortex of the folk revival paintings and drawings as well. A Blake launched by budding musicians poem is the writing on the wall. It’s Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, and Eric the moving finger. He had the dread Von Schmidt, and its cluttered offices of life simplified and down pat. So, yeah, served as Dylan’s private university.) his work is inspiring in a way that tells you that whatever strange and TULSA WAS ALREADY undergoing a cul- out-of-the-way thoughts you have are tural renaissance, thanks in large not so strange after all, and that he part to the civic and arts largesse of put it all down before you did.” n M AY 2 0 2 2 41

THE THE MONARCHY AT A CROSSROADS QUEEN OF HEARTS As QUEEN ELIZABETH II celebrates her platinum jubilee, the ROYAL FAMILY struggles to control fractures while redefining the Firm for a new era. Perhaps no one has better footing—to everyone’s surprise—than CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL By KATIE NICHOLL 42 VA N I T Y FA I R