biographies

Do We Really Need Two Linda Lovelace Biopics?

Maureen O'Connor · 12/20/11 03:05PM

Why does Hollywood do everything in duplicate? After Lindsay Lohan dropped out of Linda Lovelace biopic Inferno, Amanda Seyfried announced she would be playing Lovelace. Shortly thereafter, Malin Akerman announced she would replace LiLo as Lovelace. Why are there so many mixed signals in the casting of this role, I wondered.

Prototypical Member of Liberal Media Elite Writing Roger Ailes Book

Hamilton Nolan · 02/10/11 05:40PM

Paranoid, vindictive, and possibly insane Fox News boss Roger Ailes has been sitting for interview with every elitist pinko rag in America lately. Now, the bizarre, crowning achievement: New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman is writing an entire book on Fox News, centering on Roger Ailes. The "insidery" media "story behind the story" here is, Gabriel Sherman is not the type one would naturally consider to be a friend of Fox News. Given Ailes' insatiable desire to shoot his mouth off with self-justificatory diatribes, this should be interesting.

The Secret World of Oprah Winfrey

Ravi Somaiya · 04/10/10 09:33AM

Kitty Kelley has turned her unauthorized-biography attentions to Oprah. And found a secretive and controlling figure who will not give her own mother her phone number.

Tom Cruise Explained

Richard Lawson · 01/11/08 03:08PM

Andrew Morton's new "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography" is filled with interesting tidbits about the maniacal Scientologist and professional short person. What are some of the salient plot points? Well, for one, Tom Cruise Is Not Gay. Or so Morton's sources say. One class-act whom Miss Cruise dated in high school says "I was black and blue from the gearshift." (Ew.) But more enlightening are the eyewitness testimonies that, gasp!, Tommy was uncomfortable around gay men! He stormed out of a production of the musical La Cage aux Folles! And he apparently wasn't too keen on hanging out with ex-wife Nicole Kidman's geigh friends, "much preferring the company of jocks," Morton says. Ahem.

'Peanuts' Creator Sometimes Blue! Family Mortified!

Choire · 10/09/07 08:40AM

The family of Charles M. Schulz is totally pissed over a new biography about the Peanuts creator. They should be! It contains shocking revelations such as that the cartoonist felt "melancholy." Also, the work is plagued with errors, they say, "including a mention of a housekeeper serving dinner after she no longer worked for the family"! Christ, it's like the 1950s just drove a Model T into the 21st Century and everyone inside it was like "What is wrong with this society!?" It's a fine question they're asking but maybe they should have left the house in the last two decades? Maybe they could have stopped in their time travel and had lunch with Ted Hughes in the 70s!