Vanity Fair Cover/Oscars stuff
The 2018 Vanity Fair Hollywood issue was filled with quite a few photoshop fails. From adding extra limbs to removing actors, this issue was about as exciting as the year’s entire awards season. The name of the game this season is accountability, and while for some it seems a bit hypocritical that they’re speaking out on this long brewing issue now after knowing about it for years, it’s still nice that strides are being made to bring awareness to sexual assault. Some actors proclaiming “me too” and “time’s up” have still refused to denounce movie moguls, such as Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein. However, if they can use some of their popularity to bring attention to the activists doing the real work, then not all hope is lost.
The cover features Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey embracing each other. Fans were quick to notice the addition of an extra leg on Witherspoon in the photo, but it appears that this was just a result of the way that her nude colored dress fell. Winfrey however was actually given a third hand in what can only be described as a classic photoshop fail. Both stars were very lighthearted about it and jokingly tweeted about their third limbs. Vanity Fair also issued a statement and made an adjustment to the images restoring Winfrey back to having two hands.
The cover also features Tom Hanks (one of the few scandal-free men left in Hollywood), Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain, Zendaya, and more. Many of the actors adorned nude and black attire with the exception of Chastain, who seemed to be the focal point of the image in a red ball gown. I’m not exactly sure what the significance of this is, but it certainly made for a pretty nice picture.
In tune with the rest of Hollywood, Vanity Fair digitally removed James Franco from the cover shot a few weeks ago before news of his allegations were brought to light. A statement from the magazine was released saying “We made a decision not to include James Franco on the Hollywood cover once we learned of the misconduct allegations against him.” Franco has also been shut out of Oscar nominations for The Disaster Artist despite winning the Golden Globe for best actor just a few short weeks ago. The actor was even bold enough to wear a Time’s Up pin to the awards, which quickly led his accusers to come forward and call him out for it.
Franco reportedly knew he would be cut as soon as news of his sexual assaults surfaced. After appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, he stated that “he wants to fix it” if he’s done something wrong, but did not apologize to his accusers. He doesn’t seem remorseful for his actions but more so just sorry that he got caught with a very “tail between his legs” mentality. Being removed from the Vanity Fair cover was a small price to pay in comparison to what his accusers felt.
Despite shutting out The Disaster Artist, the Oscars made room for the racially insensitive Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, showing they can only really focus on one issue at a time. Last year it was #OscarsSoWhite, and they calmed us down by giving Moonlight the Oscar. With all the focus on sexual assault, the Academy seemed to think we would forget about the other issues and look the other way as Three Billboards slid its way into the best picture category, despite the movie sympathizing with a racist cop. Hollywood isn’t perfect, this we know, but it would be nice if they continued forward with progression instead of taking one step forward and two steps back.