Scarlett Johansson has been a working actor for so much of her life that you can’t imagine contemporary cinema without her. She’s also a chameleonic virtuoso, whose superpowers include her knack for unpredictability.
When I read David Canfield’s insightful cover story, I remembered both how long it’s been since she first landed on my radar (Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer, 1998) and how vital a voice she remains in Hollywood, not least because of her economic power as one of the highest-paid global stars of all time. She’s done it all—from indies to major franchises (she’s a firm believer in the cultural significance of both) to speaking out on behalf of artists seeking protection from AI overreach. Still, this year she’s exploring two new frontiers: Scarlett makes her feature directorial debut with a film called Eleanor the Great, set all around her hometown of New York City, and selected to premiere at Cannes; and she joins the Jurassic World world, a pipe dream of at least a decade, she says. Prehistoric predators, futuristic intelligence… whatever the threat, Scarlett can handle it.
Summer blockbusters notwithstanding, this also happens to be our sixth annual TV issue, in which we chart the currents of the almighty small screen. What better venue to mark the 20th anniversary of YouTube, the platform once famous for viral one-offs (“Charlie Bit My Finger,” anyone?) which, for many, has now fully replaced the conventional television experience. Joy Press, our TV correspondent, spotlights the new class of creators at YouTube. She also profiles the man responsible for some of the greatest prestige TV series of our era, John Landgraf, chairman and sage of FX. His recent hits, including Shōgun and The Bear, have reinvigorated the traditional TV landscape while breaking new boundaries in storytelling. These shows have dominated the awards circuit in recent years, and they deserve all the love they get. But my Landgraf fandom starts with The Americans, which premiered in 2013. The Cold War spy drama about a nuclear family—or was it a nuclear family drama about Cold War spies?—was appointment television in my house, right through its emotional, enigmatic finale. In other TV news, David Canfield (also doing double duty in this issue) spends time with the legendary Kathy Bates, who’s had a renaissance with the reboot of Matlock, and our executive digital director, Mike Hogan, moonlights as a nostalgia reporter, diving deep into the history of the original cult TV drama, Twin Peaks, which has had a robust afterlife since it first posed the question, Who killed Laura Palmer? Thirty-five years ago, David Lynch’s show revolutionized television. Turns out it was just one of many revolutions to come.
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