When the STARS ALIGN

For our 30th ANNUAL HOLLYWOOD ISSUE, we tapped 11 stars making the most of a transformative era by taking chances and taking charge. Here's a peek at what happens when some of the industry's most vibrant talents let loose

Netflix Can CHILL

Two years after a stock crash that destabilized the industry and inspired endless schadenfreude, the streamer’s reputation—and finances—have bounced back

DEATH & THE MASQUE

In Hollywood in 1977, punk rock was exploding and a small band of scene-makers were flourishing in a dingy basement club. Little did they know a pair of serial killers would soon claim one of their own

PLAY MATES

Her parents didn't exactly gel with the other families at school, so she spent the first 10 years of her life going to the Playboy Mansion with her nanny. Writer-director LORRAINE NICHOLSON looks back on a childhood spent swimming in the infamous grotto with her eyes open-long before she knew what sex, let alone a sex cave, even was

DEEP STATE

IN SECRET UNDERSEA LOCATIONS, AMERICA'S FLEET OF NUCLEAR SUBMARINES SILENTLY PREPARES FOR THE NEXT SUPERPOWER CONFLICT. GAINING UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS TO THESE RARELY GLIMPSED VESSELS AND THEIR COMMANDERS, VANITY FAIR REPORTS ON THE LINCHPIN OF THE NATION'S STRATEGIC ARSENAL

SCENES FROM MY OPEN-ISH MARRIAGE

There’s a scene in Molly Roden Winter’s debut, “More: A Memoir of Open Marriage,” that should come with a warning. Winter is at her home in Brooklyn.

HIGH ANXIETY

The playwright Lucy Prebble is expert at getting inside worried people's heads.

ROLE PLAY

RuPaul, who brought drag mainstream, fears the end times.

THE BOY WHO CRIED ART

Was Keith Haring a brilliant painter or a brilliant brand?

HARLEM IS EVERYWHERE

Denise Murrell takes on the Harlem Renaissance at the Met.

HOSTEL

I’ve never told my husband this story, but I suppose I will eventually, on some sticky night in, say, February, as we lie naked in bed with the ceiling fan set at its highest speed.

THE FORTY-THREE

After a group of Mexican students disappeared, their parents fought for justice.

THE LAST CAMPAIGN

Trailing Trump in polls and facing doubts about his age, President Biden voices defiant confidence.

WAR AND PIECES

Two outstanding premières at City Ballet.

HAD TO HAPPEN

Marilynne Robinson on Genesis.

SPICE ODYSSEY

\"Dune: Part Two.\"

How Cillian Murphy Cracked the Code

For nearly 30 years, Cillian Murphy has built an unimpeachable body of work as one of our most versatile actors-while somehow also staying cleverly out of sight. Now, as an Oscar frontrunner, the Oppenheimer star pulls back the curtain (just a bit).

Arrested Development

The long adolescence of Carson McCullers.

Letter from the West Bank – The Dispossessed

Israeli settlers are escalating attacks on their Palestinian neighbors.

INVISIBLE WORKERS

How North Korea operates a forced-labor program in China.

THE SPIT OF HIM

Kevin didn't have a rain jacket and for that reason he wasn't wearing one. A pair of \"Bananas in Pyjamas\" pajama bottoms bunched over the shafts of his rain boots. From his left shoulder, a flat laptop bag dangled. It had been consigned to his school's lost-property box and had remained there more than four months before he'd claimed it for himself. Now it flapped rhythmically against his hip. It contained next to nothing, but he felt that it lent him a professional air.

UNLEARNED LESSONS

\"About Dry Grasses.\"

FORGIVE ME NOT

A revival of Dominique Morisseau's \"Sunset Baby.\"

SWORD PLAY

\"Shogun,\" on FX.

LORDING IT

Can Byron be freed from the Byronic?

IDENTITY CRISIS

A professor claimed for years to be Native. She insists it was just a mistake.

Starburst

The next big solar storm could devastate our power grid and communication systems. Are we prepared?

ON THE NIGHT OF THE KHATAM

Through no fault of our own (naturally), we were late. Our wives, you see, had decided to tag along.

NORTHERN ATTITUDE

How Noah Kahan went from rural Vermont to the world.

DISPOSSESSED

In Tommy Orange's \"Wandering Stars,\" history and its horrors are heritable.