Grant’s newest film, Heretic, extends the actor’s passion for the strange or off-kilter into new realms of horror. The stylized chamber piece is set in a Mountain West suburb, where Grant’s charming milquetoast Mr. Reed (no first name given) has summoned a pair of young Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), to his unassuming doorstep to hear out their conversion pitch. Wary, at first, of his invitation inside, the sisters are assured by Reed that his wife will soon make an appearance with freshly baked blueberry pie. But Reed’s nerdy mannerisms and goggle-eyed ebullience slowly give way to discomfiting questions about faith that disturb the more experienced Sister Barnes. By then, however, the two women are already trapped inside his domestic labyrinth of intellectual, spiritual, and physical booby traps.
Conflict Photojournalist Lynsey Addario’s First Solo Show Spotlights Rarely Seen Sides of War
The life of a war photographer may sound like the elegant, globe-trotting stuff of office-cubicle daydreams, but as celebrated conflict photojournalist Lynsey Addario notes in her 2015 memoir, It’s What I Do, the reality of the job is often less flashy—and more emotionally driven—than it appears. “I see images in newspapers, magazines, on the internet—refugee camps in Darfur, women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, wounded veterans—and my heart leaps,” she writes of pursuing the work that regularly separates her from her family and often puts her directly in harm’s way. “I am suddenly overcome with this quiet angst—a restlessness that means I know I will go.”
Now, Addario’s first solo gallery exhibition, “Raw, curated by Danny Moynihan, is on view at the Lyles & King gallery in New York City, where it will run through November 9. Vogue spoke to Addario about making the leap from photojournalism to fine art; the importance of capturing the subtler, less violent parts of war; and her advice for other women in similar fields. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Vogue: How does it feel to see so much of your work in one place?
Lynsey Addario: I mean, it’s a tiny collection compared to 25 years of war photography, but it’s really interesting to see the curation and these images of war and climate issues framed and on the walls of a beautiful gallery in New York.
What was it like working with curator Danny Moynihan?
It was amazing. Danny is actually my husband’s father’s cousin, so I’ve known Danny for years, but he also has always been a really big advocate of my work and is obviously very established in the art world as an incredible artist and writer. It was a great process; it was very collaborative. I started by dumping decades [worth] of my archive on him—some of my favorite images that have sold in the past but also ones that have resonated with me over time. And then I just allowed him to do his curation because I thought it would be interesting to see how someone who’s not at all in the world of journalism would curate this body of work for a fine-arts space. One of the things that I always try to do with my work is to get people who wouldn’t normally pay attention to conflict or humanitarian crises to stop and see a photo and ask questions and engage with the issue. So crossing that boundary from journalism to fine art is a really exciting process because it’s a whole different audience.
In this time of seemingly unceasing global conflict, is there anything you wish viewers of the news—and your work—understood better or differently?
Autumn—Not Spring—Is Actually The Best Time To Organize Your Life
As soon as the temperature dropped and the leaves began changing colors, something strange came over me. I bought a new mattress, my old one suddenly seemed disgusting and ancient. I gave away at least 30% of my clothes—it’s a mystery as to why I ever thought all that matching linen made me look “cultured” and not like Nigel Thornberry. I booked an urgent hair appointment—I don’t remember asking the hairdresser to help me channel the spirit of Rod Stewart last time, but that must have somehow occurred. It was as though, along with the advent of autumn, came the desire to completely overhaul my life for the better. Enter something I swear by: the big autumn reset.
Spring has traditionally been the season in which we’re supposed to sort our lives out, which does make sense in theory. It’s a time of new beginnings and warmth, and you no longer feel like some sort of half-frozen, shuffling medieval hag every time you move from the bedroom to the kitchen and back again. But I’ve always found that, in practice, fall is the superior season for reworking your entire existence. Your wardrobe completely changes during this season. The waning temperature means that you can actually think for once (in summer, “waking up” is enough to make me want an Aperol Spritz and exactly one cigarette). And it’s probably also because a lot of us still associate autumn with a new school year. I can barely remember being at school, but I still inexplicably get the urge to purchase a new pencil case every September. So, it has served me well to harness that very specific energy as an adult.
I also feel like autumn makes the most sense for a big life reset because you’re not going to be going anywhere come winter. The season is long, and cold, and involves a lot of staying in bed on your laptop until 1 pm and also mainlining Oreos while half-watching The Holiday on your mum’s sofa and scrolling Instagram. That’s not the time for a total overhaul. Obviously, there are New Year’s resolutions to be made, and I do like the neat circularity of starting afresh on January 1st, but life changes are hard to implement in the dead of winter when every time you open the curtains it looks like the trailer for Silent Hill. Indeed, all signs point to autumn as the ideal time for resetting the clock.
To be clear, when I say “big autumn reset,” I don’t necessarily mean handwringing over bodily or psychological improvements, which often just make us feel shit about ourselves (although I am trying to generally care less what others think of me, and I would like to have really strong arms). I’m talking more about admin and lifestyle-based changes. Investing in a proper winter coat. Doing a deep clean of the fridge. Gathering up all the books that aren’t serving you anymore and donating them to charity. Over the years, I’ve learned that actually decluttering your life tends to have a mind-body ripple effect anyway. You won’t need to make vague promises to “be a more positive person” or “prioritize sleep” when having a nice new mattress will make you feel like you’re doing those things already.
Ultimately, of course, you don’t have to do any big reset at any point in the year if you don’t want to (which, fair). When we’re constantly bombarded with tips and tricks that promise to finally turn us into a more perfect version of ourselves, à la The Substance, it can feel refreshing to just watch YouTube videos with a big bowl of pasta like we wanted to instead. But if you’re considering revamping your bedroom, trying out a new hairstyle, becoming the sort of woman who wears a trench coat and leather gloves, or finally emptying that weird “everything” drawer in the kitchen, then don’t wait until spring. Just give it a go now—you won’t regret it.
The 15 Best Movie Soundtracks to Cue Up Now
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie had a lot to recommend it: an all-star cast, eye-popping sets and costumes, a delightfully madcap premise. Add to that a compilation soundtrack overseen by Mark Ronson, and it’s no wonder the film became such a phenomenon. Among the highlights of Barbie: The Album? Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s spin on Aqua’s “Barbie Girl,” and Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning ballad “What Was I Made For?.”
Broadway’s Best Gathered for Anna Wintour and Bee Carrozzini’s Annual Tonys Dinner
With two short weeks to go before the 77th Tony Awards—set to take place, for the very first time, at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater—on Sunday evening, Anna Wintour and Bee Carrozzini hosted their joyous annual dinner fêting the best of the Broadway season.
Sprawled between the garden and parlor levels of Wintour’s Greenwich Village home, guests representing some 24 different productions mingled over cocktails before being seated, at about quarter after 8:00 p.m., for a feast of lobster gnocchi, sorbet, and—as per tradition—themed cakes created by Charlotte Neuville.
In remarks delivered during dinner, Wintour and Carrozzini offered a sweeping accounting of the last year in theater; from the head-spinning number of shows that opened (39!); to the directors who did double—or triple—duty (see: Lila Neugebauer of Appropriate and Uncle Vanya, Schele Williams of The Wiz and The Notebook, and Michael Greif of The Notebook, Hell’s Kitchen, and Days of Wine and Roses); and the dominance of American playwrights Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic), Jocelyn Bioh (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), David Adjmi (Stereophonic), Paula Vogel (Mother Play), Amy Herzog (An Enemy of the People and Mary Jane), and Branden Jacobs Jenkins (Appropriate). So, too, did they look eagerly ahead to next season—including the imminent transfer of Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
Much has already been made of the singular starriness of the 2023-2024 Broadway season, but the fact of it was almost overwhelming at last night’s dinner, as Jeremy Strong (An Enemy of the People) posed for “an Amy Herzog picture” (his words) with Rachel McAdams (Mary Jane); Sarah Paulson (Appropriate)—a vision of early summer cool in a sand-colored sheath dress and matching blazer—affectionately greeted Eddie Redmayne (Cabaret), in a natty knit; and Liev Schreiber (Doubt: A Parable) and Alicia Keys (Hell’s Kitchen) slipped discreetly into their seats mere moments before dinner service began. (Asked—quickly—what it meant to have a show that she’d been developing for over a decade be so rapturously received, Keys replied, “I could not talk to you about that in three seconds…but there’s no words.”)
Before Gaga Was Gaga: A Young Stefani Germanotta in 5 Memorable Performances
Lady Gaga may be an internationally famous pop singer and actress, an Oscar winner and Vogue cover star, but she knows more about scrappy beginnings than anyone. Born and raised in New York City, the 38-year-old star has been performing on both stage and screen since she was a teenager. Not all of her early roles and musical gigs were necessarily glamorous, but now that she’s conquered both Hollywood and the music industry, they’re a delight to revisit.
Below, find our roundup of Lady Gaga’s best early and pre-Gaga-moniker performances:
Year unknown: Featured role in an anti-sexual harassment video
Gaga has spoken out against sexism, misogyny, and rape culture throughout her career, but this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the kind of anti-harassment video that is often used to teach high school students about consent proves her values truly go way back. (To spot a young Gaga fending off the unwelcome advances of a creepy guy, head to 0:40.)
2001: Background role on a Season 3 episode of The Sopranos
Sick of Holiday Movies? Help Is On the Way With 25 of the Best Winter Movies
But look, you say, I’m already wearing my soft pants and my enormous knit and my extremely cute at-home socks, and I really have no intention of stepping outside for any sort of entertainment, even if it is Oscars-bound. That’s fine! The good news is, there’s a happy medium between making a big show of heading out for the cinema and settling in for treacly, cavity-inducing holiday fare! You can watch something that’s wintry and fun but completely unrelated to Santa Claus or Hanukkah gelt or poinsettias or presents. And you’re not even being Grinch-y! There are wintry movies out there that are also just really good movies, regardless of the fact that they may be set in Hallmark’s favorite season. So put down the colored icing, step away from the baking sheet, and train your focus this way. (Consider it something like a palate cleanser.) Without further ado, here are 27 of the best winter movies that have nothing to do with the holidays. You’re welcome!
Everything We Know So Far About The Empress Season 2
The team behind the scenes is also (mostly) back: showrunner Katharina Eyssen is supported by executive producer Robert Eyssen. Sommerhaus Serien GmbH and its two producers Jochen Laube and Fabian Maubach are also once again responsible for production, while Scarlett Lacey returns as executive producer. Barbara Ott and Maximilian Erlenwein are in the director’s chair this time.
With Threats on The Horizon, World AIDS Day Is Still a Call to Action
World AIDS Day arrives every year on December 1 and yet it remains one of the more confusing—and I’ll add, often dreaded—markers in the AIDS community. Advocates are often forced to choose between mourning the loss of loved ones or using the globally recognized day to highlight the persisting struggles holding us back from seeing an AIDS-free generation. As we face an incoming administration that campaigned on promises to “reshape” our healthcare with guidance from one of the loudest leaders in the anti-science and denialist movement, our impulse to resist has never been more clear or urgent. If the early AIDS movement and our ACT UP veterans taught us anything, it is how to collectively and fiercely fight for each other and never give up in times of despair.
I’m sometimes asked how I started in AIDS organizing. Although it’s hard to pin when it happened, I will always remember where I was when I did—Room 207 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at an ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) meeting in New York City. Right away, I knew I was at home. There is a lot of romantic historicization and depictions of ACT UP out there in the media, but I always hear surprise when people learn that ACT UP still exists and continues vital work across chapters.
When I joined ACT UP NY, we were a few years into the FDA’s approval of oral PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Although we had a drug on the market that, when taken daily, can effectively prevent people from acquiring HIV, its pharmaceutical manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, was marking up the price by 66%, potentially having users pay up to $24,000 out-of-pocket for an annual supply. This news of price gouging only became more disturbing when we discovered that the funding for the trials were sourced from US taxpayer dollars.
Almost a decade later, there are now several generic forms of oral PrEP on the market—but equality still isn’t here. According to the US CDC and referenced in PrEP in Black America’s For Us By US report, 91% of Black Americans who could benefit from PrEP have never received a prescription. This is especially important as we reflect on the recent (and exciting) results from the PURPOSE 1 and 2 trials for lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable PrEP that proved highly effective among cisgender women (PURPOSE 1) and gay men, trans, and nonbinary people (PURPOSE 2) in preventing HIV (it’s currently approved as a treatment for the disease, not a preventative measure equal to the daily oral pill). While the price is uncertain, we know that the cost of lenacapapir as treatment is currently a whopping $42,250 for the first year—when it could be incredibly profitable at the price of just $40 annually. We also know that lenacapavir’s manufacturer, once again Gilead Sciences (seeing a trend here?), announced they would license generic forms of the drug in 120 countries—excluding Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru—all countries that helped make the trial a success by participating.
‘I Really Feel Like an Actress Now’: Stephanie Mills on Her Grand Return to Broadway in Hadestown
Five years (and eight Tony Awards) after its Broadway premiere, Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell’s arresting musical retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, has never sounded better. This is thanks not only to Jordan Fisher (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Sweeney Todd) and Maia Reficco (Max’s Pretty Little Liars: Summer School), who star as the searching, hopeful, ultimately doomed young lovers from Greek mythology, but also to the resounding talents of Stephanie Mills, who joined the cast this summer as Hermes.
In a role originated by André De Shields—the Wizard to her Dorothy in the original Broadway production of The Wiz, the show that launched her career—Mills lights up the Walter Kerr Theatre like a bottle rocket, endowing the story’s de facto narrator with both a moving maternal empathy and the warmly soulful timbre that fans of her work as a recording artist know so well.