INTERVIEW #535: “Cardi B” - 
March 2021

Only @iamcardib has the right to doubt Cardi B. Her debut album, 2018’s "Invasion of Privacy," was the result of talent that can’t be denied; an instant silencer of skeptics who believed her historic hit, “Bodak Yellow,” was a fluke. Her chart-topping single last summer, “WAP,” was further proof that, at the age of 28, the Bronx native doesn’t just get the culture—she sets the culture. And yet, as she puts the finishing touches on her highly anticipated sophomore album, the self-described “strip-club @mariahcarey” still needed a little pep talk.

INTERVIEW #534: “Lakeith Stanfield” - 
Winter 2020

In a year defined by distance, few entertainers have worked harder to connect with their fans—both in front of the camera and directly, on social media—than LaKeith Stanfield, our Winter 2020 cover star. The star of such films as Short Term 12, Knives Out, Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, and the TV series Atlanta, his latest role as the FBI informant William O’Neal in Judas and the Black Messiah, is, as he tells the actor Idris Elba, the hardest he’s ever played. In their candid and searching conversation, the actors, who star in the upcoming Netflix movie The Harder They Fall, also discuss the therapy of rap, the beauty of infallibility, and the necessity of Black brotherhood. Meanwhile, Hollywood legend Glenn Close tells her friend Whoopi Goldberg, why, after years of bringing so many memorable characters to the screen, she has no regrets. The writer Cazzie David, who has built a career on cataloguing  her most debilitating embarrassments and insecurities, connects with her friend, the pop superstar Lorde, to discuss tabloid culture, casual sex, and their friendship forged on the internet. Then, the writers Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham talk to the filmmaker Janicza Bravo about their new book Black Futures, which gives voice and breadth to the Black experience in today’s America. Elsewhere in the issue, Adam Sandler can barely contain his excitement while talking to his friend Aubrey Plaza about her mind-blowing new role, while comedy’s not-so-secret weapon Maya Rudolph breaks character long enough to answer questions from 26 famous friends and admirers. We also make contact with the one and only Joan Didion, who answers some questions from the writings of Andy Warhol, while the supergroup Red Velvet take Diplo inside the world of K-Pop superstardom. All that and much, much more.

INTERVIEW #533: “Nicolas Cage,” - 
Fall 2020

Nicolas Cage needs to work, but not necessarily for the reasons you and I need to work. At 56, the owner of one of the most eclectic filmographies in Hollywood history just can’t seem to slow down. And while his days at the top of the box office largely behind him—he was once one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009— speculation about his career choices persist: Is he paying off debts? Is he supporting his taste for rare artifacts? Is he just bored? As he tells his friend, the musician Marilyn Manson, in the cover story for our new Fall 2020 issue, the answer is as complicated as it is simple. Meanwhile, the inscrutable, avant-garde musician Arca contains so many multitudes that instead of one interview, they had three: with the artist Marina Abramović, the actor Oscar Isaac, and the pop supernova Rosalía. The screen legend Jane Fonda tells the actor and activist Indya Moore why climate change is a battle she thinks we can win, and the designer Rick Owens and Miley Cyrus trade road stories and UFO sightings. Ahead of the election, two of the most trusted voices in America, Charlamagne tha God and Stephen Colbert, have a candid discussion about where we are right now. Meanwhile, the acerbic acting icons Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland enjoy a perfectly dreadful conversation about the pain and the pleasure about what they do. 

Elsewhere in the issue, the author Ayad Akhtar and the actor Aasif Mandvi investigate the rot at America’s core, the directors Taika Waititi and Nia DaCosta talk horror movies and try their best not to obsess over money, and the Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors shares her items of self-care and self-preservation. And if that wasn’t enough, the supermodel Bella Hadid and the rising singer 070 Shake prove that good things come in small doses. All that, and so much more.

To kick off the new decade, we’re featuring one of the most enduring stars of the last one (and the one before that). Jennifer Aniston has covered many, many magazines over the course of her career—many not by choice—but never quite like this. On the heels of her career renaissance thanks to her blistering performance on the Apple TV+ drama The Morning Show, the 51-year-old actor connected with one of her closest friends, Sandra Bullock, for a candid conversation about lifetime bonds, brown liquor, and that time they dated the same guy. Elsewhere, another ‘90s sitcom queen and national treasure Julia Louis-Dreyfus opens the floor for questions from 21 of her famous friends and admirers.   

Ahead of her North American film debut in the live-action remake of Mulan, the Chinese superstar Yifei Liu tells Awkwafina what it’s like bringing a beloved character to life. Meanwhile, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Tracy Letts tells his Little Women director Greta Gerwig why his new Broadway play The Minutes is not—but sort of is—a commentary on the Trump era. Superstar producer and social media savant Diplo inhabits a rogues gallery of alter-egos as he tries on 15 boot-cut pants in roughly 15 minutes. The pop sensation Normani answers questions from the writings of Andy Warhol, while the artist Alex Da Corte tells his friend, the musician St. Vincent, about his modern-day reinvention of the violent “Chicken Happening” (you have to read it to believe it). And the Estonian hip-hop curiosity takes us on a hallucinatory tour of the former Soviet Bloc. All that, and so much more.

To celebrate Interview’s 50th anniversary, we used the occasion of our 528th issue to pay tribute to—okay, to blatantly rip off—our own illustrious past. Starting with our cover star Kate McKinnon, who recreates iconic photographs from the magazine’s history, almost every story in the issue riffs on some of the best that came before us. Inside, Saturday Night Live’s chameleonic superstar answers some pressing questions from friends like Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth. Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo and the musician Björk partake in an entirely unedited e-mail correspondence that we’re calling (at Björk’s request) “Future Folklore.” New York iconoclasts Debbie Harry and Cindy Sherman compare notes on sex, success, and gardening. Euphoria breakout Alexa Demie is a style icon in the making. More than two decades after its release, Jagged Little Pill is going down in the theater. The playwright Jeremy O. Harris and the supermodel Alek Wek star in “Tender Head,” a fashion story. Alanis Morrissette talks to her collaborator Diablo Cody about bringing the seminal album to Broadway. The American designer Michael Kors catches up with friend, the fashion veteran André Leon Talley to reminisce about New York’s heady heyday. After a banner year that saw him appear in Jim Jarmuch’s The Dead Don’t Die and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Austin Butler is set to play Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic. But before he achieves megastardom, the actor answers some questions from the ghost of Andy Warhol. All that, and so much more.