For its 2026 Hollywood Issue, Vanity Fair commissioned three covers, including this one with Jeremy Allen White, A$AP Rocky, Glen Powell, LaKeith Stanfield and Callum Turner. Photographs by Theo Wenner and styled by Tom Guinness.
Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue featured three covers, including this one with Paul Mescal, Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler. Photographed by Theo Wenner and styled by Tom Guinness.
Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue, with three covers, included Riz Ahmed, Jonathan Bailey, Harris Dickinson and Andrew Garfield. Photographed by Theo Wenner and styled by Tom Guinness. Courtesy of Condé Nast
Mark Guiducci took the helm of Vanity Fair on June 30, 2025, as the brand's first-ever global editorial director.

Vanity Fair has revealed its 2025 Hollywood issue, with three covers starring Jeremy Allen White, Glen Powell, A$AP Rocky, LaKeith Stanfield, Callum Turner, Riz Ahmed, Harris Dickinson, Andrew Garfield, Paul Mescal, Michael B. Jordan (his fourth appearance on the special issue), Austin Butler and Jonathan Bailey (fresh off being crowned Sexiest Man Alive).

The coverline shouts, "Let's hear it for the boys!" and goes on to celebrate a "new class of leading men."

At first blush, it may seem like a choice to feature only men on such a coveted cover at a time when DEI initiatives are under attack and many worry that MeToo is backsliding to "devastating" effect in Hollywood, as Kristin Stewart said earlier this month. (A report by the Celluloid Ceiling, which monitors the number of female filmmakers, found that 11 of the top 100 grossing films of 2024 were directed by women, down from 16 in 2020.)But global editorial director Mark Guiducci argues there's nothing political about it. "For the past decade or so, the Hollywood Issue had become a kind of survey of the potential (Oscar) nominees," he explains. "It was like the magazine was placing their bets." After competitors copied that approach, "I thought how much more interesting would it be to come up with an idea about Hollywood right now and use the Hollywood issue to communicate that on its cover." (The Hollywood Issue got its start in 1995, and has featured solely women 11 times; the brand skipped the theme in 2009, instead focusing on President Obama's inauguration.)

The concept took shape before Guiducci even took the helm June 30, following the exit of editor-in-chief Radhika Jones after seven years. The idea was one of about a dozen he proposed in his pitch for the job. "I was thinking about how there's this new crop of leading men who are different than the men … that had come before them." In the industry's earlier heyday, he says, matinee idols would "come off the bus from somewhere and be taken into a studio and be transformed" with new hair, new name, sometimes even a new girlfriend. "If you think about Rock Hudson, now we have Jonathan Bailey, who makes no qualms about his personal life," he says.

The '90s ushered in a machismo, tough guy status, "the kind of caped crusaders of the Marvel films," he adds. The men he selected for his first cover, "are actually nice guys. There's something about them that's vulnerable – even kind to a certain extent – that you can know parasocially through social media. You can see who they really are," he says. "Internet boyfriends, I guess is the phrase."

Photographed by Theo Warner in Malibu and London and styled by Tom Guinness, the men – who range in age from 29 to 42 – wear tuxedos like the Rat Pack, but go high-low by mixing them with ripped jeans or Abercrombie & Fitch shorts. This boy gang doesn't have to worry about tariffs increasing the price of eggs or whether their Louis Vuitton suiting might get sandy in the surf or grass stains at the park.

As the next gen clamors for change and ushers in a new class of politicians, we shouldn't be surprised that such a transition would happen in Hollywood too. (After all, The Ringer just declared "'Jay Kelly' has too much Jay Kelly," meaning we're really over George Clooney?)

Guiducci himself is 37, and is the first global editor in chief for Vanity Fair, meaning he oversees not only the U.S. edition, but also the titles in Spain, France and Italy. He was most recently creative editorial director at Vogue, working closely with Anna Wintour.

Though Wintour recently stepped back from leading Vogue, she's still the company's chief creative officer and therefore remains Guiducci's boss. "She's been nothing but supportive from the jump of what we're up to," Guiducci says of her feedback so far. "And, you know, she loves a surprise and she loves a picture that communicates joy."

The brand's biggest of the year, the Hollywood Issue kicks off awards season, which culminates in the star-studded Vanity Fair Oscar party. The last time Guiducci attended, he was an assistant, taking a picture of a winner's trophy (he can't remember whose) on the counter of the In-N-Out truck that ran as an inset on the table of contents page. Now he's not only calling the shots about the cover, but will have final say on who's in and who’s out at the party. He won't reveal any plans, only teasing, "I think the red carpet will evolve even as the party itself remains something that is incredibly special."

Its success is key; Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch recently said he didn't expect advertising to be a growth engine for the company, and emphasized the importance of "global cultural moments." As part of Guiducci's new direction at Vanity Fair, he's shuttered The Hive, where the brand focused on business and technology, and laid off staffers; he's quick to point out that he's hired 20 more. They've improved the paper quality of the print issue (future issues will also be themed to "make it special"), redesigned the logo and will launch new newsletters. But the brand's digital footprint is challenged, with traffic reportedly down 40% since 2024, to 6.5 million.

Still, Guiducci seems bullish – not in a move-fast-and-break-things tech bro kind of way, but in a hopeful way. "I don't like the idea of (media) being incredibly challenging. I like the idea of it being fast-changing," he says. "We can talk about five-year plans, but really a one-year plan is enough because you know that things are going to change."

Most of all Guiducci sees his job as championing Hollywood, an industry that also could use more heroes and fewer naysayers right now.

"There's so much consternation, I think, about Hollywood at the moment," he says, citing the pandemic, the LA fires, economic incentives to leave Hollywood, MeToo and the threat of AI. "A lot of people … are quick to talk about the demise of Hollywood or 'gone are the days.' I find that really boring," he says. "I see my new job in part as to cheer Hollywood along and to document it as it changes and finds its way."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vanity Fair reveals annual Hollywood Issue, with Glen Powell, A$AP Rocky, more – Exclusive

Reporting by Wendy Naugle, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect