Vanity Fair August 2009 : Heath Ledger by Bruce Weber

[iriswills]

Why is VF choosing to do this now of all times and what exactly about this story makes it worthy of a cover? They've done these posthumous articles about celebrities many times but only with a few people have they given it cover space. My only hope is that they undertake this with a bit of class and do reveal something that is both poignant and truly newsworthy.

At first, I thought I should give credit to Vanity Fair for doing this now (poignant story or not). This will sound tacky and disrespectful but, in death, Heath became the heir to James Dean, an undeniable and alluring talent that we came to love too late. We all felt "it" when Heath died, and I can't fault us (or the media) for recognizing it this soon. Would Heath not have made a VF cover story ten years from now? I think he would have. Should Vanity Fair have waited for ten years to do a cover story on someone that grabbed our attention so fiercely? I'm not so sure. But you are 100% correct in questioning the actual content of the story itself. If VF is going to do the Heath cover story, it needs to be an homage and NOT just tabloid filler. I don't mind "early" poignant.. but it has to be poignant.

 

[homeboy]

why is he on the cover? because of dr parnassus?

Because we are in a recession which brings out the worst in magazines desperate to keep circulation up.

 

[Gary101]

Cover:

Heath Ledger, photographed exclusively for Vanity Fair by Bruce Weber in 2000, on the Prague set of A Knight’s Tale. “The day I stop having fun,” he told Kevin Sessums for that story, “I’ll just walk away. There’s so much more I want to discover.”

THE LAST OF HEATH

With an exclusive look at Heath Ledger’s final months, Vanity Fair learns how the actor’s passion inspired Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to rescue his last movie.

PLUS -

THAT OLD SINATRA MAGIC
Tony Bennett lifts his glass to his best friend and inspiration, the late, great Frank Sinatra. Photograph by Mark Seliger.

IT CAME FROM WASILLA
Sarah Palin’s disastrous ride on the Republican ticket didn’t faze her at all. Talking to top McCain advisers, Todd S. Purdum finds that the freshest face in the G.O.P. has some of the sharpest teeth.

THE MAN WHO CRASHED THE WORLD
Investigating the implosion of A.I.G., Michael Lewis explains how one of the world’s safest insurers became a reckless juggernaut—and a national target.

MAD ABOUT THE HATTER
Mary Ellen Mark and Evgenia Peretz spotlight the frabjous combination of Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll.

RICH HARVARD, POOR HARVARD
If Harvard is so smart, how come its record $36.9 billion endowment has collapsed? Nina Munk hits a campus in crisis.

DANGEROUS LESSONS
Brigitte Lacombe and Krista Smith spotlight Eva Green, who shows her class in Jordan Scott’s debut feature, Cracks.

OUR LADY OF THE KITCHEN
Laura Jacobs serves up the trailblazing life and legacy of America’s beloved “French” chef, Julia Child.

AIN’T WE GOT STYLE?
Channeling John Ford and Frank Capra, V.F. re-creates Depression-era movie magic, with fashion’s top names and the summer’s top stars. Photographs by Michael Roberts, Norman Jean Roy, Mark Seliger, and Art Streiber.

NO, PRIME MINISTER
Hardly recognizing the Labour Party of his rebellious British youth, Christopher Hitchens blames embattled prime minister Gordon Brown for crushing its remaining ideals.

ABE AND MR. JONES
Bruce Weber and Laura Jacobs spotlight dance star Bill T. Jones, who has choreographed a tribute to Abraham Lincoln.

Source:ebay

 

[Les_Sucettes]

I think this cover is distasteful, I could understand it right after his dead, people were in shock, it was relevant, etc. But one year after it's just going to open wounds that are not healed, making Vanity Fair rather sensationalistic. I'm really not interest about Heath, but even if I was I wouldn't buy this.

 

[MON]

Hey dfl-001! I agree with you! The MJ tribute will be BIG! I think it will need a second printing!

 

[nijuyanah]

MJ just died last week! Magazines work on issues months before they end up in print - this has nothing to do with that.

What I meant was, I hope that they don't put him on the cover/ made some sort of "tribute issue" for him now again, because they hope that over all the fuss about MJ's death people would "forget" about Heath (which would be more than ridiculous and distasteful).
But I doubt that this is the reason anyway - as you pointed out, they probably determined to make this cover months before.

 

[Fabulyss]

Cover:

MAD ABOUT THE HATTER
Mary Ellen Mark and Evgenia Peretz spotlight the frabjous combination of Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll.


DANGEROUS LESSONS
Brigitte Lacombe and Krista Smith spotlight Eva Green, who shows her class in Jordan Scott’s debut feature, Cracks.

Source:ebay

YES!

 

[Manuva]

THAT OLD SINATRA MAGIC
Tony Bennett lifts his glass to his best friend and inspiration, the late, great Frank Sinatra. Photograph by Mark Seliger.

Yesss! Ah, Vanity Fair your articles rarely let me down.

 

[Luxx]

You know its not a bad issue I have to say. I have yet to read the Heath piece but just flipping through there are already a few things that interest me.

For Deerlike and the other Eva fans.

Dangerous Lessons
Ph.Bridget Lacombe



Image Credit | Scanned by Me from VF August 09

 

[tarsha]

vanityfair.co.uk

 

[Gary101]

Could anybody tell me who is featured in the 31 Hot Young Film Stars editorial?

 

[Manuva]

^Kat Dennings, Anton Yelchin, Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski, Elizabeth Banks, Hugh Dancy, James Marsden, Rose Byrne, Josh Duhamel, Elle Fanning, Krysten Ritter, Margarita Levieva, Will Holland, Ari Graynor, Moon Bloodgood (!), Jon Engstrom, Nikki Reed, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Till, Jamie Chung, Emma Stone, Rashida Jones, Chris Messina, Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Kelli Garner, Eugene Levy, Dan Fogler, Demetri Martin, Mamie Gummer and last but never least, Emile Hirsch.

It also needs to be mentioned that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has his own feature in Vanities, plus a picture of him mid-air air guitaring.

 

[MissMagAddict]

Here's some of that editorial scanned by Luxx @ SansArtifice.

http://sansartifice.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/ensemble-dramas/#more-2844

 

[Gary101]

Thank You both.

 

[tigerrouge]

That Depression editorial is the sort of thing that Vanity Fair does so well.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

^^It is, love it.

 

[mikel]

AIN’T WE GOT STYLE?
Channeling John Ford and Frank Capra, V.F. re-creates Depression-era movie magic, with fashion’s top names and the summer’s top stars. Photographs by Michael Roberts, Norman Jean Roy, Mark Seliger, and Art Streiber.

I'v seen some pics on sansartifice and it's indeed a nice ed.

 

[Mirik]

Anna Friel by Kai Z Feng Jewellery Supplement
diary.ru/~my-love-foto/p75282457.htm

Eva Green by by Brigitte Lacombe via vf.com

 

[nollafyzzil]

I loved this cover, it's so nice to still see pictures of him, just to remind you. His smile makes me smile, and a little tearful!