Fire Up the Weber!



1 / 6 Chevron Chevron Tom Hanks and friend pose together.

Graydon Carter decided to shake things up in a big way this year at Vanity Fair for our 19th annual Hollywood Issue. Photographer Bruce Weber and his team—which included his own film crew—collaborated with the editors to produce “Bruce Weber’s Hollywood,” a very personal, idiosyncratic, 44-page portfolio, and a four-panel cover. The mantra of all involved soon became “It’s Bruce’s world; we just live in it” as we were transported on a joyful, spectacular, addictive ride filled with spontaneous moments that added up to a totally original environment. Just consider what it took, in terms of numbers, to complete the project, which stretched over a period of eight days in nine iconic locations in Los Angeles, including the Beverly Hills Hotel, Musso & Frank Grill, and the Hollywood Center Studios’ back lot. Approximately 125 people were photographed, more than 75 of them actors, plus the world-famous U.S.C. Trojan Marching Band and its Song Girls (read “cheerleaders”). In addition to the truckloads of apparel assembled in Los Angeles, 10,000 articles of clothing were shipped from New York in 95 trunks and 19 crates and arranged on 131 racks, with 500 pairs of shoes, hats from three continents (Australia, Europe, and North America), and swimsuits from three as well (Europe, North America, and South America). Approximately $3 million worth of designer jewelry spanning two centuries was brought in to complement the clothes, and everything, including 200 pairs of sunglasses, was carefully laid out on tables in the 11,000-square-foot hangar at Milk Studios in Hollywood, which became known as home base. V.F. fashion and style director Jessica Diehl and fashion market director Michael Carl oversaw every detail of the expansive wardrobe on all the sets, with the help of seven fashion assistants and four seamstresses. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Hurricane Sandy was turning New York into a state of emergency, so style-department staffers in the Manhattan editorial offices sometimes had to walk 80 blocks to get cell-phone contact with their bosses on the West Coast.

Ben Affleck, Emma Stone, and Bradley Cooper were chosen as our cover subjects, based on their impressive, individual accomplishments over the past year. Affleck had triumphed with Argo, winning an Oscar nomination for best picture. Cooper had definitively established his acting magic in Silver Linings Playbook, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including his own for best actor. And Emma Stone had comfortably sustained her staying power as America’s sweetheart with The Amazing Spider-Man. Weber shot the cover photo at a Beverly Hills mansion steeped in cinematic lore. In The Godfather (1972), if you remember, it is the house where Robert Duvall, the consigliere to the Corleone family, arranges to have the recalcitrant movie producer who lives there wake up with his prize horse’s head in his bed.