Playing It STRAIGHT
Vanity Fair US|September 2024
Dynamic young stars have broken out in queer roles. Should their own sexuality matter?
David Canfield
Playing It STRAIGHT

AFTER HIS SEXY period drama Mary & George premiered in the spring, Nicholas Galitzine decided to finally speak his truth. The London native had made a name taking on risqué queer material, playing a closeted bisexual teenager in 2020's The Craft: Legacy before breaking out in the gay romance Red, White & Royal Blue last year. In Mary & George he advanced up the monarchy and seduced an actual king.

Now Galitzine was entering his internet heartthrob era-he'd be wooing Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You shortly after Mary & George-and the time had come for him to come out, 2024-style.

"I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories," he told British GQ. "I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I'm taking up someone's space, and perhaps guilt." The question of who gets to play what role gets trickier with every viral headline.

Before social media, the topic wasn't nearly as controversial, but over the past decade there's been pressure on Hollywood to reckon with its dismal track record of embracing LGBTQ+ actors. In 2018 Darren Criss won an Emmy for playing a gay serial killer in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, then vowed to stop playing queer characters: "I want to make sure I won't be another straight boy taking a gay man's role."

This past June, Sean Penn took issue with the changing climate, telling The New York Times that he wouldn't be allowed to play gay trailblazer Harvey Milk today, despite winning an Oscar for 2008's Milk: "It's a time of tremendous overreach.

It's a timid and artless policy toward the human imagination."

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Jenna Ortega's Year of Wonder - The breakout star of Wednesday settles into fame and with a Beetlejuice sequel on the horizon gets ready for more of it
Vanity Fair US

Jenna Ortega's Year of Wonder - The breakout star of Wednesday settles into fame and with a Beetlejuice sequel on the horizon gets ready for more of it

On the eve of Wednesday's cultural domination, "Tim" invited Jenna Ortega to his house for a meeting. I love when this happens in Hollywood conversations: casually, not even pretentiously, legends referred to by first names only, as Ortega does over a clandestine morning coffee. Here is Wednesday on a Sunday at Velvet, a moody cocktail bar at the Corinthia hotel in London.

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10+ mins  |
September 2024
SETTING THE STAGE
Vanity Fair US

SETTING THE STAGE

Before they conquered Hollywood, George Segal, Peter Falk, Roy Scheider, and Wayne Rogers were some of the finest-though perhaps not the finest-stage actors in New York. WAYNE LAWSON, who knew them when, revisits a golden era that revolutionized American theater

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10+ mins  |
September 2024
HOPE AND CHANGE?
Vanity Fair US

HOPE AND CHANGE?

As the threat of another Trump presidency looms, AMERICA TURNS ITS EYES TO THE OBAMAS, who remain two of the most important politicians in the world-whether they like it or not

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10+ mins  |
September 2024
The Natural
Vanity Fair US

The Natural

Comedy, singing, scandal, attempted murder: Meghann Fahy, the breakout star of The White Lotus and now The Perfect Couple, can do it all

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September 2024
FULL-COURT PRESS
Vanity Fair US

FULL-COURT PRESS

Microsoft made him one of the richest men alive. Now STEVE BALLMER is chasing one of the few prizes money (alone) can't buy: an NBA championship for his team, the Los Angeles Clippers, whose staggeringly expensive state-of-the-art arena opens this summer

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10+ mins  |
September 2024
THE TWISTED LOVE STORY OF JOSE AND LADDY BETTY
Vanity Fair US

THE TWISTED LOVE STORY OF JOSE AND LADDY BETTY

A 95-year-old diamond heiress and her much younger genderfluid spouse became social media stars. Was theirs a feelgood romance for the agesor something far darker?

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10+ mins  |
September 2024
CONSIDER
Vanity Fair US

CONSIDER

NO ONE KNOWS CANDIDATE ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.'S PROBLEMATIC HISTORY BETTER THAN HIS FAMILY. JOE HAGAN TALKS TO THAT RELUCTANT INNER CIRCLE ABOUT KENNEDY'S PAST AND THE STAKES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE

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10+ mins  |
September 2024
Paris When It Sizzled
Vanity Fair US

Paris When It Sizzled

IN 1973, FIVE AMERICAN DESIGNERS AND 36 MODELS DESCENDED ON THE CITY OF LIGHT FOR WHAT WOULD BECOME AN ERA-DEFINING FASHION SHOW-AND WITH THEM WAS PHOTOGRAPHER BILL CUNNINGHAM. HERE, AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT HIS TREASURE TROVE OF LARGELY UNSEEN PHOTOS, PUBLISHED TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME

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3 mins  |
September 2024
Playing It STRAIGHT
Vanity Fair US

Playing It STRAIGHT

Dynamic young stars have broken out in queer roles. Should their own sexuality matter?

time-read
5 mins  |
September 2024
Another COUNTRY
Vanity Fair US

Another COUNTRY

Searching for James Baldwin in the South of France

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5 mins  |
September 2024