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The Hollywood IssueMovingPictures

This is the 25th issue this magazine has dedicated to appraising the ambitions and personalities that power Hollywood, and we’ve celebrated by making some moving pictures of our own. Three-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki created our cover and accompanying portfolio with a camera that captured his subjects in full, diamond-sharp motion and then edited them into the images you see here. It is an era of enormous change in the film industry. Each performer here has a unique Hollywood story that says much about where the business has been—and where it is going.

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Elizabeth Debicki
ElizabethDEBICKI
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
Films: 14
Prestige TV Breakthrough: The impeccably dressed femme fatale in the BBC’s 2016 adaptation of John le Carré’s The Night Manager
Most Recently Seen: Holding her own amid a sea of heavyweight co-stars in Steve McQueen’s Widows, as a long-suffering wife looking for an escape
“The change I’m seeing more and more is women directors, producers, and writers. Not necessarily stories that have never been told before, but they’re finally being told from a female perspective.”
Rami Malek
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Films: 15
Prestige TV Breakthrough: An Emmy-winning turn as a paranoid lead for our times in Mr. Robot
Most Recently Seen: Playing Freddie Mercury so convincingly in Bohemian Rhapsody that the late Queen front man’s bandmates reportedly struggled to see the difference
Known For: Effortlessly moving between television and film, demonstrating the new normal
2019 Oscar Nominee: Best actor
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“My sincere hope is that the magic and legendary history of film that has had such a profound impact on us still exists in 25 years. We all have such fond, indelible moments of being in the cinema, and I would be so heartbroken to know that future generations would miss out on that.”
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RamiMALEK
Rami Malek
Chadwick Boseman
ChadwickBOSEMAN
Hometown: Anderson, South Carolina
Films: 11
Most Recently Seen: Having one of the new century’s truly great years at the multiplex as T’Challa in both Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War
Known For: Humanizing the hero’s journey, whether in Flatbush or Wakanda
2018 Box Office Draw: $679-million-plus
“The actors who are within the pages of this issue give new breath to what Hollywood is and what Hollywood is going to be. And that’s in terms of diversity, ethnicity, gender, and the type of work that we’re doing.”
SaoirseRONAN
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan
Hometown: Dublin, Ireland
Films: 24
Most Recently Seen: Exploring doomed majesty in Mary Queen of Scots
Coming Attraction: Re-uniting with Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig for Little Women
Known For: Being equally empowered in a corset or a prom dress
Academy Award Nominations: 3
“I hope that in the next 25 years of filmmaking cinema doesn’t end up completely disappearing and exist just on a laptop screen. I’d love it if we all went back to shooting film.”
NicholasHOULT
Hometown: Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Films: 25
Most Recently Seen: Putting on the powdered wig as a dastardly royal courtier in The Favourite, 2018
Coming Attractions: Another turn as the X-Men’s Beast, playing the lord of The Lord of the Rings in Tolkien
“I have been in the business 25 years. So this is basically our joint anniversary.”
Nicholas Hoult
John David Washington
TessaTHOMPSON
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Films: 24
Prestige TV Breakthrough: As a steely parks executive in HBO’s Westworld
Most Recently Seen: In Creed II and in Boots Riley’s late-capitalist satire, Sorry to Bother You
Coming Attraction: Teaming up with Chris Hemsworth in Men in Black: International
“I am optimistic about the real activism happening inside of the industry and the conversations about equity that are creating material changes.”
John DavidWASHINGTON
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Films: 6
Memorable debut: A cameo in 1992’s Malcolm X
Prestige TV Breakthrough: Mining his pro-football experience in four seasons of HBO’s Ballers
Most Recently Seen: Weaponizing a rotary phone as a Klan-busting, double-talking cop in BlacKkKlansman
“As I was putting this wonderful suit on, I realized it’s not about me, it’s about somebody who looks like me in Kansas or North Carolina, Middle America or in the South, who sees a cover like this and will be inspired to change their environment, to be motivated and say, I can be this, I can do this.”
Henry Golding
HenryGOLDING
Hometown: Betong, Sarawak, Malaysia; London
Films: 2
First act: TV host
Memorable debut: Nick Young in Jon M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians, a showcase for his charm and Cary Grant-esque ability to wear a suit
Most Recently Seen: Re-deploying those qualities with Blake Lively in A Simple Favor
Coming Attraction: Flexing them again with Emilia Clarke in Last Christmas
“Did I expect this at the beginning of the year? Definitely not. I’m super-fresh on the scene, but I plan on sticking around for a long time.”
Yalitza Aparicio
YalitzaAPARICIO
Hometown: Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico
Films: 1
First act: The 25-year-old had just received her teaching degree when a casting director for two-time Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón found her for his autobiographical passion project, Roma
Most Recently Seen: Starring as the housekeeper holding together a family in disarray in Cuarón’s equal parts epic and intimate opus
2019 Oscar Nominee: Best actress
“While my time in the business has been short, it has been a source of pride and hope for many people to see someone that looks like me—an indigenous person—starring in an Oscar-winning director’s film. And a big change for Hollywood.”
Regina King
ReginaKING
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Films: 23
Memorable debut: Boyz n the Hood, 1991
Most Recently Seen: As a mother who crosses the sea to battle for her daughter’s love in If Beale Street Could Talk
Coming Attraction: Damon Lindelof’s much-guarded Watchmen adaptation for HBO
Known For: Three decades of near-constant work in Hollywood, lately inhabiting mother figures put to the test by rigged systems
2019 Oscar Nominee: Best supporting actress
“The regard for television has changed. There was a time where film actors only did film. Now the storytelling on television is multifarious, and you see actors on both platforms.”
Timothée Chalamet
TimothéeCHALAMET
Hometown: New York, New York
Films: 12
Prestige TV Breakthrough: Homeland, Season Two
Most Recently Seen: Giving the mystery of addiction a frighteningly believable, deeply human face in drug-epidemic drama Beautiful Boy
Coming Attractions: Going 19th-century in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, 15th-century in Netflix’s The King, as Henry V, and rebooting Dune with Denis Villeneuve
Academy Award Nomination: Best actor, 2018 (Call Me by Your Name)
Vanity Fair is an American institution, so to be in it in any capacity is an honor, but to be on the cover with actors I really admire and respect, it’s a pinch-me moment.”