Vanities Opening Act
Jonathan Majors is on the fast track to movie
stardom, picking up speed after a Sundance
standout in the Brad Pitt–produced The
Last Black Man in San Francisco. Next
up are J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele’s HBO
series Lovecraft Country, Spike Lee’s war
drama Da 5 Bloods, and a revenge western
from Jay-Z, The Harder They Fall. Here,
some insights gleaned during Sunday errands
with the classically trained hotshot.
HE WAS BORN in Lompoc, California,
but calls himself “a Texan. I came
from a very military, Christian, Southern
upbringing.” At five, he moved and
settled in Dallas, but shortly after,
his father left the family. “His sudden
absence had a real wear and tear.”
HIS MOTHER’S a pastor and his sister
graduated at the top of her class. “I was
an athlete but a rough kid who ran
with a gang—people couldn’t believe we
were related.”
HE ADMITS it was a brawl with a
classmate and a teacher that led him
to acting. “They put me in a boot
camp where we read Agatha Christie out
loud,” and he wound up being cast in
a school production of Romeo and Juliet.
HE SUFFERED FROM a slight speech
impediment and had his tongue clipped
in order to audition for colleges. “I was
accepted to North Carolina School of the
Arts with stitches in my mouth.”
HE CALLS HIMSELF a “disciple” of August
Wilson, whose plays he directed at the
Yale School of Drama. “We did all 10 of
the Pittsburgh Cycle series in one year.
They hadn’t seen anything like it since
the heydays when Angela Bassett and
Courtney B. Vance had been in school.”
HIS PIZZA PREFERENCE in New Haven
is Est Est Est over long-standing rivals
Pepe’s and Sally’s.
IF HE COULD have anyone over for a
dinner party, he’d invite Jesus Christ,Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, and
Malcolm Gladwell for Bolognese and
his signature cocktail, mezcal neat.
HE FAVORS a uniform. He recently
transitioned from his Army surplus
jumpsuits to “high-waisted 1950s jeans
and a vintage Yale football jersey.
I’ve worn it every day for the past two
and a half months.”
HE’S MOST AT PEACE when sitting on
top of the chicken incubator at his
grandparents’ farm in Riesel, Texas.
HE WAS SURPRISED BY Spike Lee’s
“incredibly strong cardiovascular
system. Apart from knowing everything
about everything, he could outrun
everyone on the mountains we climbed
on set in Thailand.”
HE’S CURRENTLY filming Lovecraft
Country in Georgia, a state some film
studios have threatened to boycott in
the wake of restrictive abortion laws. “My
crew and I don’t talk politics all the time,
but if we take the jobs away, what do they
do? Where do they go? I applaud the effort
but I fear we could be hurting our own.”
HE ANTICIPATES the new HBO series
will “change the medium of television
and streaming, in a weird, very cool
way. We redefine genres—fantasy, science
fiction, and history.”
BUT HE REMAINS MUM about the Jay-Z–
produced Netflix western. “When
you see who’s joining this cast...you’re
going to freak the fuck out.”
—BRITT HENNEMUTHFull Circle A decade after its finale, The L Word returns with three fan favorites and four new stars.
In honor of the show’s own chart, here’s a Generation Q primer By Sonia Saraiya
FAN
MAIL“He is a man you want at
a party! He’s quite
delicious and all kinds of
people just adore him.”
—PATRICIA
CLARKSON“You can tell by
his genuine passion
and talent that he is going
to be and do something
very special.”
—DANNY GLOVER“Jonathan is in
such demand because
he brings his special
mojo to whatever
he does, and the project
is better for it.”
—J.J. ABRAMSShane
HAIRDRESSER/MODEL
The show’s original heartbreaker. Last
seen arriving in L.A. on a private jet.Finley
ASSISTANT
Looks like Shane, dates like Shane,
then lives with Shane.ROOMMATES
Micah
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
Vulnerable and soft-spoken;
a trans man trying to navigate dating.Sophie
TV PRODUCER
Trying to make
TV better
for the world
from inside
the machine.Dani
PR EXEC
Calculating and
powerful—but
for good. Right?Alice
TV HOST
Bisexual before
it was cool.
Originator of
The Chart.Bette
MAYORAL
CANDIDATE
Still ball-busting.
Mother of a
private
school teen.
moves in withworks forworks fordatingused
to dateambitions collideBEST
FRIENDS44 VANITY FAIR DECEMBER 2019
ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAUREN TAMAKI. PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL MICHAUD/© SHOWTIME/EVERETT COLLECTION (ALICE, BETTE, SHANE), HILARY B. GAYLE/SHOWTIME (ALL OTHERS)