Cate Blanchet on Vanity Fair February 2009

Features

88   FAREWELL TO ALL THAT: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE

 

George W. Bush presided over so many disasters—from Iraq to Katrina to the current economic meltdown—it’s hard to grasp all that happened on his watch. Drawing on high-level interviews, Cullen Murphy and Todd S. Purdum weave an epic narrative, with all the fatal flaws, wrong turns, and missed opportunities of an eight-year train wreck.

102  A HOLLYWOOD EXLUSIVE

Since her breakthrough 1998 performance as Elizabeth I, Cate Blanchett has effortlessly conquered Hollywood while raising a happy family and running a major theater with her devoted husband. Over tea, Leslie Bennetts glimpses Blanchett’s life behind the scenes and hears about her latest cinematic challenge, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Photographs by Annie Leibovitz. 

112  HOP ON THE HIGH LINE

The High Line, the derelict elevated railway turned public park that runs along Manhattan’s West Side, slices straight through André Balazs’s new Standard hotel. Matt Tyrnauer discovers how this architectural conundrum produced a spectacular solution. Photographs by Todd Eberle.

116  CHANEL NO. 1

Brigitte Lacombe and Amy Fine Collins spotlight actress Audrey Tautou, who will star in this year’s biopic Coco Before Chanel, and follow Nicole Kidman as the face of Chanel No. 5.

118 FANNIE MAE’S LAST STAND

Mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made some very dangerous enemies as they leveraged their government-mandated homeowner-assistance mission into a profit machine. Then the subprime bubble burst, and the knives came out. Bethany McLean reports on the bitter ending of one of Washington’s longest feuds.

124 MISS JANUARY

 

Patrick Demarchelier and James Wolcott spotlight Mad Men’s January Jones, who enjoys a different kind of crazy in her upcoming movie, The Boat That Rocked. 

128 THE PRINCESS AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER

 

As the 60s dawned in Britain, Princess Margaret’s romance with a dashing, talented photographer was the juiciest gossip to come out of Buckingham Palace since her doomed affair with a married man. In an excerpt from a new biography of Lord Snowdon, Anne de Courcy traces the gentleman portraitist’s courtship of the Queen’s glamorous younger sister, and the clash of wills that would doom their marriage.

FANFAIR

57 28 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF THE CULTURE

Hoop dreams—Kurt Markus captures the Lopez brothers as they anticipate the N.B.A. Rookie All-Star Game

58

The Cultural Divide

59

Matt Tyrnauer’s eye for design

60

Patricia Bosworth pays tribute to Jerome Robbins; Nancy Jo Sales on young Zoe Kazan

61

Elissa Schappell’s Hot Type

62

My Stuff: Alicia Keys; Bruce Handy on Ginnifer Goodwin

67

Meenal Mistry gets coiffed and coddled at the Carlyle; A. M. Homes drinks in the atmosphere at the Plaza’s new spa

 

Columns
72 ASSASSINS OF THE MIND

In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini condemned The Satanic Verses, calling for Salman Rushdie’s murder. But would the novel even get published today? Christopher Hitchens warns of Islamic fundamentalism’s stealth weapon: media self-censorship. Illustration by André Carrilho.

76 THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND JOE LIEBERMAN

As Barack Obama takes office, James Wolcott rates the winners and losers in the post-election landscape.

80 THE ULTIMATE BUBBLE?

Private equity’s financial alchemists managed to turn debt into gold. But in credit-starved times, Michael Wolff asks which of them will implode first. Photo illustration by John Corbitt.

VANITIES
85 SHAW NUFF

86  Dave Itzkoff unearths Axl Rose’s diary; Howard Schatz captures Fred Armisen in character as Barack Obama

87 George Wayne grills Kevin Dillon

Et Cetera

44 EDITOR’S LETTER

48CONTRIBUTORS

50LETTERS

The End of the Affair

69 FAIRGROUND

 162 PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

Dustin Hoffman

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