Top of the Stack
A Conversation with Mel Brooks
“I’m not in the movie business to make movies,” says Brooks. “I want it to be an experience, I want it to be did-you-see-that?”
The Front Page
Damn Good Fella
When Ray Liotta made us stop and take notice
Flying Down to Managua
How the Hollywood Left Fell in Love with Nicaragua’s Sandinistas
Back in the High Life
One thing you can say about Dr. Timothy Leary: the man has always had a talent for convincing himself that wherever he is is where it’s at.
The Trash-Mouth Wisdom of Chris Rock
Rolling through Brooklyn in the late ’90s with an American Master.
William Tells
When the risk-taking star of Broadcast News was the hottest actor in Hollywood.
Poison Pen and Ink
Thompson turned himself into a totem of his own invention, and spent his days rattling the bars formed by the cage of his celebrity. His illustrator tries to put the best possible light on the matter, but betrayed and appalled, he can’t.
Dennis Hopper Bikes Back
In one of Hollywood’s hottest comebacks of the ’80s, Dennis Hopper rose from the ashes of a diabolical past.
What Joan Didion Taught Me
Sara Davidson’s 40-year friendship with Joan Didion
Bradshaw: The Indiana Jones of Magazine Journalism
Dying young fit the romantic image of the hard-drinking writer, and Bradshaw was a confirmed romantic who concocted his own literary persona: the magazine journalist as world-weary adventurer and dashing man-about-town.
Creative Tension
By studying the link between artistic creativity and mood disorders, psychologist Kay Jamison has worked to make the world safer for people with manic-depressive illness. Now she’s about to find out whether she’s succeeded
Dangerous Jane
What Becomes a Legend Most?
The Park Avenue Desperado
In this corner, wearing a brown suit and tinted glasses, weighing in with 50 exclusive promotional contracts and grossing $25 million a year…