Cynthia Erivo - Jon M. Chu - Chester A. Arthur

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The Coppola Family Matriarch, in Her Own Words

For decades, the quiet strength and guiding hand behind the Coppola dynasty was Eleanor Coppola, who met Francis Ford Coppola while serving as an assistant art director on his debut film, 1963’s Dementia 13. Throughout their 61-year marriage, Eleanor often inserted herself as a background observer of her husband’s and children’s creative pursuits, making documentaries like Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, about Francis’s Apocalypse Now, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and Virgin Suicides. But Eleanor takes center stage this month with her posthumous memoir, Two of Me: Notes on Living and Leaving. Elise Taylor speaks exclusively with Sofia and Roman Coppola about their mother’s long-overdue spotlight.

Elsewhere in HWD, Chris Murphy investigates how true to life Netflix’s new historical drama Death by Lightning is; Rebecca Ford talks to Jon M. Chu as Wicked: For Good prepares to hit theaters; Meghan Markle teases her upcoming Netflix holiday special; and, in other Wicked news, Cynthia Erivo reunites with a lost accessory.

Family Affair

In the years before her death in 2024, Eleanor Coppola—wife of Francis Ford, mother of Sofia and Roman—wrote a book reflecting on a lifetime spent as the matriarch of one of Hollywood’s most famous families. Her children exclusively talk to Vanity Fair about how she didn’t hold back in the process.

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The Ballad of Charles Guiteau

Netflix’s new series Death by Lightning depicts the assassination of President James A. Garfield—and the wild story that involved a brain in a jar, a surprise election, and a religious sex cult.

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Defying Gravity

Jon M. Chu is taking a victory lap as he reveals how he approached Wicked’s infamously more challenging second act in Wicked: For Good. “I don’t say darker, I say deeper.”

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To: You, From: Meghan

The Duchess of Sussex has already confirmed that she will show off her “advanced gift wrapping” skills in the Netflix special With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration.

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I Want My Hat Back

A fan helped Cynthia Erivo reunite with the hat she wore—and lost—at last year’s London Wicked premiere.

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