Spiegel Stuff: FEMA’s Disaster; Hollywood’s Depression; an NBC News Producer’s Nightmare Engagement

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MATTHEW LYNCH,
EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Here's a little Vanity Fair newsroom secret: Hardly a week goes by lately when one doesn't hear someone, somewhere, remarking upon the Changing Contours of Celebrity. (It happened just this afternoon at VF HQ at an interview that special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast gave to mark the publication of her excellent memoir, How to Lose Your Mother.) The point is, there are a lot of different avenues to dominate in the attention economy these days, a fact well-known to those whose jobs involve cataloging said economy. But you know who else is aware of that? Morgan Wallen, the semi-controversial country superstar who has dominated music charts and young-male-haircut mood boards for several years without needing basically any help from legacy media—save for a couple of Saturday Night Live mini scandals. VF writer Dan Adler recently traveled to the Florida-Alabama state line to report on Wallen's signature festival and the cutting edge of American fame.

In semi-related news, Joy Press reports on the growing trend of onetime Hollywood workers undergoing career switches so that they might offer professional therapy and life coaching to their peers; and, elsewhere, we have a first look at a new Margot Robbie–Colin Farrell movie. More tomorrow.

Morgan Wallen's American Odyssey

BY DAN ADLER

How the country megastar has molded pop music—and a new cultural mainstream—in his image.

Today's Theatrics

STAGE LEFT

What Is Going On With Patti LuPone and the Tony Awards 2025? A Guide

BY KASE WICKMAN

A celebrated actor finds herself on the outs with more than 600 of her Broadway colleagues. Will she attend this Sunday's ceremony?

DISASTER RESPONSE

FEMA Chief Apparently Just Trying to Lighten the Mood When He Said He Didn't Know the US Had a Hurricane Season

BY BESS LEVIN

Meanwhile, the agency is said to be "months behind schedule in its preparations for the hurricane season."

EXCLUSIVE

First Look: Colin Farrell Falls for Margot Robbie in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

BY REBECCA FORD

"Making this movie was truly one of the most magical experiences of my life," says Robbie of the sweeping romantic fantasy from director Kogonada.

What's Up, Doc?

Hollywood Therapists Meet the Moment: "If You're Not Dispirited Right Now, You're Dissociative"

BY JOY PRESS

Welcome to Hollywood—that's not smog, it's depression. The entertainment industry currently registers somewhere between slowdown and apocalypse on the disaster scale. For many in the business who are either unemployed or terrified that they soon will be, therapists offer support and consolation. That means they serve as a good barometer for the town's mental health. So what's the view from the therapist's chair?

"I've been doing this for 31 years now, and I've never seen this level of despair among creative people in the industry," one says. VF's Joy Press surveys the shrinks of Los Angeles.