The Critic And The Star
Vanity Fair|Hollywood 2017

With her impassioned defense of the widely panned 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, The New Yorker’ s Pauline Kael helped launch the American New Wave and propel Warren Beatty into permanent orbit. More than a decade later, the powerful critic would leave her perch to accept the invitation of Beatty to co-produce James Toback’s Love & Money. The experiment failed, and Kael left Hollywood under a cloud. LILI ANOLIK tracks the seduction: Who was taking advantage of whom? And what exactly was at stake?

Lili Anolik
The Critic And The Star

The facts, verifiable:

In 1979, New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael, 59, accepted an offer from actor-director Warren Beatty, 41, to help him produce Love & Money, a script his production company had acquired and set up at Paramount. Love & Money was to be the second feature of writer-director James Toback, 34, whose first feature, Fingers, Kael had reviewed ecstatically the year before. Toback was also a personal friend. She took a leave of absence from The New Yorker, headed to L.A.

Kael and Toback began working together. She wanted substantial changes to the script. He did not want to change the script substantially. She was removed from the project. Beatty secured a new deal for her at Paramount as a creative production executive. At the time, Paramount’s chairman was Barry Diller, a fan. It was not to Diller, however, that she would be reporting. It was to Don Simpson, senior V.P. of worldwide production. There were a number of properties she wished to develop. Simpson rejected all but one. Her contract was for five months. When it lapsed, it wasn’t renewed. She returned to The New Yorker in the spring of 1980.

These, as I said, are the matters of fact, checked and established, of the situation. And before I obscure them or re-arrange them, deface them with conjecture and speculation, intuition, feminine and otherwise, I wanted you to see them plain. Now you have. We still can’t get started, though. There are a few more things you should know first, mostly about the leads, Kael and Beatty: who they are and where they came from, what they meant in Hollywood and in America, in the worlds of movies and letters and politics, in the late 1970s.

Flashback, Hers

This story is from the Hollywood 2017 edition of Vanity Fair.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the Hollywood 2017 edition of Vanity Fair.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM VANITY FAIRView All
DEATH & THE MASQUE
Vanity Fair US

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

time-read
10+ mins  |
Hollywood 2024
PLAY MATES
Vanity Fair US

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

time-read
10+ mins  |
Hollywood 2024
FEAR ANDING IN RIYADH
Vanity Fair US

FEAR ANDING IN RIYADH

What could a movie star and Saudi Arabia's all-powerful ruler possibly have in common? Plenty, as it turns out. Behold, the stranger-thanfiction story of how Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Johnny Depp into his kingdom and his circle of trust

time-read
10+ mins  |
Hollywood 2024
DEEP STATE
Vanity Fair US

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

time-read
10+ mins  |
Hollywood 2024
STEALING SUNSET
Vanity Fair US

STEALING SUNSET

After. waking up to an intruder in the bedroom one night, writer PUNCH HUTTON no longer felt safe in her family’s dream home. When they decided to sell; the most prolific thief in Hollywood history saw a golden opportunity

time-read
10+ mins  |
Hollywood 2024
THE Power & THE Glamour - A HOLLYWOOF PORTFOLIO
Vanity Fair US

THE Power & THE Glamour - A HOLLYWOOF PORTFOLIO

As the strike dust settles and America reacquaints itself with the box office (thank you, Barbenheimer), VANITY FAIR spotlights LA's most influential characters, the players keeping the town running

time-read
5 mins  |
Hollywood 2024
When the STARS ALIGN
Vanity Fair US

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

time-read
3 mins  |
Hollywood 2024
AI STAR Is Born
Vanity Fair US

AI STAR Is Born

How artificial intelligence is already changing filmmaking

time-read
6 mins  |
Hollywood 2024
Netflix Can CHILL
Vanity Fair US

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

time-read
5 mins  |
Hollywood 2024
The One-Body Problem
Vanity Fair US

The One-Body Problem

Bryan Johnson has spent millions on his twin quests for eternal life and a younger penis. And that's just the stuff you've read about. Other aspects of his mortal life tell a tale far more strange

time-read
10+ mins  |
February 2024