To mark the occasion of our 28th annual Hollywood Issue, we present the iconic Hollywood cover times eight: scenes real and imagined from the gravitational center of moviemaking, conjuring fantasies of stardom with a wink. Behind the camera for the second year in a row are conceptual artists Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari (for more on their amazing process, see here). The talent in front of their lens hardly needs introduction. Nicole Kidman ushers us inside the gates of Hollywood; Kristen Stewart lounges above the L.A. skyline; Idris Elba unites car culture and pool cool in one perfect frame…. Our cover stars are on top of their worlds. Every one of these actors is having a hell of a year, bridging art house films and epic franchises, studios and streamers, small screen and big screen. In a series of interviews conducted by V.F.’s own Delia Cai, David Canfield, Cassie da Costa, Yohana Desta, Rebecca Ford, Julie Miller, and Chris Murphy, they speak of the joys and challenges of their craft, the state of the industry, and their hopes for what lies ahead.

Elsewhere in the issue, V.F. pulls back the curtain on cinematic stories of ambition, scandal, and tragedy. Gabriel Sherman interviews Jerry Falwell Jr. about his precipitous fall from grace, part biblical parable (enter the prodigal son), part Coen brothers–esque farce (enter the pool boy). Anthony Breznican investigates the series of failures—in judgment, accountability, protocol—that led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust. And Anthony along with Joanna Robinson reports on Amazon Studios’ The Rings of Power, based on material by J.R.R. Tolkien, probably the most anticipated series of this decade and shaping up to be the most expensive television series ever made. Pack your bags and sharpen your Elvish, back to Middle-earth we go.

— Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue 2022: See the Full Portfolio Featuring Nicole Kidman, Kristen Stewart, and More
— The Making of Vanity Fair’s 28th Annual Hollywood Portfolio
— Pose Is Over, but Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Is Just Getting Started
— Andrew Garfield on Jonathan Larson and Lying About Spider-Man
— Kristen Stewart on Love—Onscreen and Off
— Nicole Kidman Is a Movie Star, but She Approaches Roles Like “I’ve Just Come Out of Drama School”
— Benedict Cumberbatch Asks Tough Questions About the Industry, Representation—And Himself
— Global Superstar Penélope Cruz May Nab Oscar Number Two for Parallel Mothers
— Idris Elba on Plumbing the “Dark Side of Human Beings” and Making Room for Music
— Simu Liu Is the Superhero We Need Now
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