From the Magazine
Smoking Is Back in Movies. Here’s Why
Maestro, Cassandro, Saltburn, and more movies this season use lighting up to capture time, character, and sometimes tragedy.
the last luncheon
Carrie Coon Loves Your Mean Gilded Age Tweets
The Gilded Age star on the opera war’s culmination, the cast’s “nerdy theater camp” energy, and what she’d love to see Mrs. Russell conquer next.
live from new york
Kate McKinnon’s Triumphant Return is SNL’s Best Show of the Year
From “Tampon Farm” to ABBA, Saturday Night Live was filled with Christmas cheer—and great performances from McKinnon.
Answers
Matthew Perry’s Cause of Death Revealed
The Friends star was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home on October 28.
Awards Insider!
Poor Things Screenwriter Tony McNamara Breaks Down One of Its Most Complex Scenes
For his first-ever adaptation, the writer of The Favourite created a character like no other, who “changes the way they speak every 15 minutes.”
Awards Insider!
Before Cara Jade Myers Was Killers of the Flower Moon’s Secret Weapon, She Nearly Quit Acting
The heartbreaking scene-stealer of Martin Scorsese’s epic Oscar contender opens up about her struggles in Hollywood, her complex feelings around the film’s portrait of a Native American tragedy, and holding her own against DiCaprio and De Niro.
FROM THE MAGAZINE
Was This Strike-Struck Awards Season Hollywood’s Weirdest Ever?
No red carpets. No interviews. No promo, period—especially when actors joined writers on the picket line.
the upside down
Stranger Things Is a Monster Hit. But What’s It Like Onstage?
Behind the scenes of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, opening Friday on London’s West End.
Awards Insider!
Inside the Golden Globes’ New “Box Office Achievement” Category
Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne says it was their opportunity to celebrate “how movie theaters are kept alive.”
Awards Insider!
At Last, Some Awards Season Front-Runners Emerge
On this week’s Little Gold Men podcast, a deep dive on the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and many more winners from the past week.
majors on trial
Jonathan Majors Will Not Testify as He Awaits His Verdict in Domestic Assault Trial
In closing arguments, prosecutors argued that “this is not a revenge plot” against the actor’s life or career, while Majors’s defense team railed against the alleged victim’s “white lies, her big lies, and all her pretty little lies.”
chat ‘n’ cut
Curb Your Enthusiasm Is Coming to an End, Really
HBO says Larry David’s beloved metacomedy will officially conclude with its upcoming 12th season.
Critic’s Notebook
The Crown Is Dead, Long Live The Crown
Looking back at the royals series to end all royals series, now that it’s reached its end.
Shot List
How Saltburn Uses Images to Combine Gothic Beauty and Grotesque Imperfections
Writer-director Emerald Fennell and cinematographer Linus Sandgren reveal they took inspiration from vampire movies and classic paintings, but made it all “a little bit dirtier.”
The Crown
How Well Do The Crown’s William, Kate, and Harry Know One Another?
Meg Bellamy, Ed McVey, and Luther Ford test their knowledge of one another on Vanity Fair’s Game Show series.
The Crown
The Crown Finale Revisits Prince Harry’s Nazi-Costume Scandal
Prince Harry is a peripheral player in The Crown’s sixth season until the finale, which revisits one of his most humiliating events.
The Crown
The Crown: Kate and William’s Real-Life College Romances
The pre-Kate girlfriend The Crown pairs William with is fictional—but he and his future wife really did date at St. Andrews before they coupled up.
oui oui
Greta Gerwig Will Lead the Cannes Film Festival Jury
The Barbie filmmaker will be the first American female director and the second-youngest person ever to head up the prestigious fest’s jury.
Still Watching
The Crown Episode 7: When William Met Kate
The Crown heads to St. Andrews for season six, episode seven, “Alma Mater,” which introduces a young Kate Middleton—and details how her mother’s machinations may have put her directly in the path of Prince William.
year in review
The Biggest Scandals of 2023
Scandoval, Hasan Minhaj, The Idol, and more of this year’s most gripping headlines.