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Tag: proust questionnaire

  • Steve Buscemi Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    When and where were you happiest? Playing the Cowardly Lion in our fourth-grade production of The Wizard of Oz. Thank you, Mr. Riccobono.

    On what occasion do you lie? I never lie. I’m lying.

    What is your favorite journey? Mushrooms.

    Which living person do you most admire? Gabby Giffords. She’s a survivor of gun violence and a relentless champion of sensible gun safety measures.

    If you could choose what to come back as, what would it be? A tree in upstate New York or Prospect Park.

    What is your greatest extravagance? Fancy restaurants in fancy hotels.

    Which living person do you most despise? Not one person, but I do despise the intentions of all fascists and wannabe authoritarians.

    What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Being judgmental.

    What is the trait you most deplore in others? Narcissism.

    What is your most treasured possession? A handwritten note from Jimmy Stewart after I sent him a fan letter in 1984.

    What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? For many years, I thought I had lost that note or it was stolen. Every time I thought about it, I was miserable. I have it somewhere safe now. I think.

    What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being with family, friends, and loved ones.

    What is your greatest fear? Losing family, friends, and loved ones.

    Which words or phrases do you most overuse? No words or phrases, but I whistle incessantly.

    What is your greatest regret? Not learning another language.

    What is your current state of mind? Anxious, happy, anxious, content, happy, anxious, sad, confused, happy.

    If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Procrastinating. I saved answering this questionnaire until the very last minute.

    What do you consider your greatest achievement? Being a father.

    Which talent would you most like to have? Playing piano.

    Where would you like to live? A small village in the South of France.

    What is your favorite occupation? Firefighting.

    What do you most value in your friends? Being there for each other during good times and bad.

    Who are your favorite writers? Maggie Estep, Pema Chödrön, Raymond Carver, Jim Thompson.

    Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon.

    What is your favorite name? Karen.

    What is it that you most dislike? When the name Karen is kicked to the curb.

    Steve Buscemi

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  • Stanley Tucci Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    Stanley Tucci Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    The actor and author of What I Ate in One Year on face cream, Harry Styles, and why temperance is overrated.

    Stanley Tucci

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  • Michael Cunningham Answer the Proust Questionnaire

    Michael Cunningham Answer the Proust Questionnaire

    What is your idea of perfect happiness? The very idea of perfect happiness. Who wouldn’t be happy about the proposition that happiness can be perfect?

     What is your current state of mind? Optimism and gratitude, so mixed up with nervousness, it’s hard to tell one from the others.

    What is your greatest fear? The fact that, until recently, “the end of the world” would have seemed pretentious and evasive, and now seems like the only possible answer. 

    What do you consider the most overrated virtue? It’s a tie: subtlety and frugality. 

    On what occasion do you lie? I do that for a living. 

    What is your greatest regret? Only the things I didn’t do. There is, however, much to be said for staying alive. 

    What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I’m chronically late. It’s magical thinking: I actually believe I can take a shower and get dressed in three minutes, that the train will be pulling into the station the moment I arrive…. 

    What do you most value in your friends? Forbearance with my chronic tardiness. 

    Which words or phrases do you most overuse? When I finish a draft of a novel, I read through it for words I’ve overused. They differ from book to book. With Day, there were startling abundances of understand, shimmer, and realize, to name three. 

    Who are your favorite writers? There are hundreds. 

    Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Dorothea Brooke. 

    What is your most treasured possession? A handwritten note by Virginia Woolf. It’s like a hybrid of object and living thing. 

    What is your greatest extravagance? A line of insanely expensive Italian sneakers may not sound all that extravagant, but then you have no idea how many pairs I’ve got. 

    Where would you like to live? I’m pleased to say that after decades of moving around, I’d most like to live where I actually live. 

    What is your motto? I wish I had a motto. I’m accepting suggestions. 

    Which talent would you most like to have? The ability to sing. I’d love to deliver a rock anthem or an aria to a live audience. Writing has considerable satisfactions, but it’s also a little like putting a message into a bottle and tossing it in the ocean. 

    What do you dislike most about your appearance? Don’t get me started. 

    How would you like to die? What, exactly, are you implying? 

    What or who is the greatest love of your life? My husband, Ken Corbett. My most significant accomplishment is achieving this much intimacy and connection with another being. The writing is a close second. 

    If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Oh, well, it’s probably a little late for that by now.

    Michael Cunningham

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  • Baz Luhrmann Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    Baz Luhrmann Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    The filmmaker on storytelling, restlessness, and finding the perfect man purse.

    Baz Luhrmann

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  • Melissa Etheridge Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    Melissa Etheridge Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    The musician and author of the new memoir Talking to My Angels on pancakes, Patrick Mahomes, and the power of attention.

    Melissa Etheridge

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  • Colson Whitehead Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    Colson Whitehead Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    The Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the new novel Crook Manifesto on Star Wars, serial commas, and suffering fools.

    Colson Whitehead

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  • Judy Blume Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    Judy Blume Answers the Proust Questionnaire

    What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My phobias. I’m down to two, so I take that as a positive sign. 

    What is your most marked characteristic? I’m an optimist. I like to sing and dance around the house.

    What is your greatest fear? That we’re going down the tubes as a country (make that the whole world). 

    Which talent would you most like to have? I’d love to be able to cook the way all our grown kids do. They make it seem easy. Eight people dropping in for dinner? No problem. Me, I’m still having anxiety dreams before a dinner party. 

    What do you consider your greatest achievement? That I found the courage to write and didn’t give up. 

    What or who is the greatest love of your life? That’s easy. It’s my husband and soulmate, George. We’ve spent 43 years together and I’ve never been bored. He is funny, smart, and loving. 

    What is your idea of perfect happiness? A balmy, moonlit evening in Key West. George and I are enjoying a pasta dinner on the balcony overlooking the ocean. Ella Fitzgerald is singing in the background. 

    What is your greatest extravagance? My fancy toilet. When you sit down you hear birds tweeting. It’s freaked out a lot of friends, and me too when it first arrived. I thought birds were captured in the walls of our building. I think you can change the sound but I’ve never tried. I love my birdsongs. 

    What do you dislike most about your appearance? At 85, I appreciate everything that still works. 

    What is your most treasured possession? I have an old Navajo silver cuff. You can see it in every photo and video. Do I believe in good luck charms? I’d have said no, but recently when I thought I’d lost it, I was terribly sad. 

    What is your favorite journey? Coming home. 

    How would you like to die? Really? Okay, if I have enough time I might go to Switzerland and drink the drink. I believe in euthanasia. What we do for our beloved pets, we should be able to do for our beloved humans or ourselves. 

    Where would you like to live? Since I live in Key West, it’s hard to come up with anything better. 

    Who are your heroes in real life? The surgeon, oncologists, and nurses who were there for George and saved his life. 

    If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? I’m not into changing anyone, and certainly not my family. 

    What do you most value in your friends? I love that my true friends don’t think of me as that Judy, but as the Judy they’ve known for years, a woman, like them. And I love their senses of humor. 

    What is it that you most dislike? Please don’t tell me what to do. Don’t tell me to relax or take a deep breath. I might bop you over the head (gently, of course).

    Judy Blume

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  • Radhika Jones Introduces a New Era of Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire

    Radhika Jones Introduces a New Era of Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire

    Two opposing but not mutually exclusive stories about our current political scene appear in this issue, an apt way to begin a year that will be the gathering before the storm. Let’s start with one perspective: optimism. As Eric Lutz reports in his column “From the Brink,” in the places where election denial was on the ballot during November’s midterm elections, many of those candidates not only lost, they conceded as much. Granted, that’s a low bar, but considering what happened on January 6, 2021, we’ll take progress where we can get it. Three cheers for democracy!

    Now for the darker view, from Jeff Sharlet’s road trip through Wisconsin following the Dobbs decision, when, as he observes, that state “became the only ‘blue’ state in which abortion is now effectively illegal.” Plumbing the depths of Trumpism—and confronting its signs and symbols in an eerie exercise of door knocking—Sharlet finds currents of fascism less nascent by the day amid talk of a coming civil war. It’s not a hopeful picture. But only by seeing that America clearly can we come to grips with it. I took heart from the teenagers Sharlet meets at the end of the story, out protesting the court’s ruling. As one of the girls says, the only alternative to pushing back is to “suffer like this, our rights stripped away from us by the minute.” They’re not scared; they know they’re worth fighting for.

    Magazine aficionados understand that it can be just as enticing if not more so to read the publication back to front. Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire is a classic back page—a window into the thoughts and dreams of a culturally significant person, accompanied by an illustrated portrait that captures their essence. Since 1993, that portrait has been drawn by Robert Risko, a VF contributing editor and master of gesture and expression. Every month, we at the magazine have had the immense pleasure of seeing an actor, a singer, a writer, an athlete, or an all-around sage interpreted through his eyes, from the first sketch through to the finished product. This month, Risko turns the page on his marvelous run as our Proust artist in residence. With gratitude and affection, we thank him for his service (and I thank him for the drawing that accompanies this letter!). Given that our plan is to enlist him for other features, we trust you’ll keep seeing his signature strokes in Vanity Fair. And we welcome Ryan McAmis, making his Proust debut this month with a rendering of one of my favorite writers, George Saunders. Ryan’s touch with texture and color has captivated us, and we hope you’ll feel the same.

    Radhika Jones

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