On Tuesday night, an exclusive crowd of familiar faces and literary enthusiasts gathered at the Chateau Marmont to celebrate the west coast launch of Didion & Babitz, Lili Anolik’s new book about the complicated relationship between writers Joan Didion and Eve Babitz—inspired by Anolik’s 2022 feature on the subject for VF.
The hosts of the evening, actor Emma Roberts and her Belletrist book club cofounder Karah Preiss, called the event a full-circle experience, as both are friends of Anolik as well as fans of Babitz.
“The book is our November [read],” said Preiss. “And when Lili told us there were going to be these previously unreleased letters [in the book] that Eve had written and never sent, we were like, ‘What if we got a bunch of actors to read the letters at Chateau Marmont?’”
“This is a pipe dream that came true,” added Roberts. “We’re so excited. Eve Babitz is so LA and so Hollywood, yet anti-Hollywood, and we thought it would be so fun to honor her tonight by reading her previously unreleased letters. As Lili says, they found the letters after she passed away, letters she wrote to get her feelings out and never sent. And I like to think she’d love to see us reading her real thoughts out loud at the Chateau on a November night.”
Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black admitted he’s normally a homebody, but couldn’t miss the event after getting lost in Anolik’s book. “Emma sent me the book a couple of weeks ago…I finally cracked it open this morning and had it finished by three o’clock,” he said. “I’ve been searching for something that addresses this moment we’re in, and we’ve been in this moment for about a week, and to have this book land in my lap and in my heart now, it’s just a gift.”
The event’s readings included roughly 10 of Babitz’s colorfully-worded, unsent letters and journal entries, delivered with enthusiasm and verve—including and especially, several well-placed f-bombs—by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Nicole Richie, Roberts, director Alexi Wasser, Anolik, Elizabeth Olsen, and Beverly D’Angelo. One choice postscript, in a letter to Babitz’s ex-love, Grover Lewis read by Roberts: “P.S. I am not drunk. It is 8 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and I figure, fuck it—you guys are loathsome bores and deserve to be exposed.”
“It doesn’t feel real to me,” the author said. “This all started right around the corner [from here]. My brother had an apartment at Crescent Heights. He was in business school. I was staying with him in 2010, and I remember walking down Sunset, turning on Gardner and Romaine and leaving a letter at Eve’s house—a letter she didn’t return, by the way. And now we’re here. This is nuts.”
Presenting the 31st Annual Hollywood Issue
The 2025 Hollywood Issue: Zendaya, Nicole Kidman, and 10 More Modern Icons
Glen Powell’s Secret: “I Try to Think Audience First, Rather Than Me First”
Zendaya on Acting With Tom Holland: “It’s Actually Strangely Comfortable”
Nicole Kidman Talks Babygirl, Losing Her Mother, and a “Terrifying” New Role
Dev Patel’s Long-Ranging Career, From “the Little Rash That Won’t Go Away” to Monkey Man
Sydney Sweeney on Producing and Misconceptions: “I Don’t Get to Control My Image”
Zoe Saldaña Won’t Quit Sci-Fi, but She “Would Like to Just Be a Human in Space”
A Cover-by-Cover History of Hollywood Issue
The post Emma Roberts, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Beverly D’Angelo, and More Celebrate ‘Didion & Babitz’ appeared first on Vanity Fair.
