The Vanity Fair Hollywood issue is always a big deal in the entertainment world, but this year it was a big deal for the wrong reasons.
On Thursday, the magazine blasted out the cover, featuring 12 A-listers like Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, Gal Gadot, and Robert De Niro, as well as the mag’s outgoing editor, Graydon Carter, snapped by famed photograph Annie Leibovitz. The image — which was really several different photos put together through digital wizardry — got the internet talking right away, and not just because it’s beautiful, glamorous, and probably cost a small fortune. It all started with Reese’s leg and Oprah’s hand — and escalated to James Franco’s erasure.
The World Wide Web of Wonders determined that there had been a dreaded “Photoshop fail.” The Big Little Lies actress and honcho, who was snuggled up to her A Wrinkle in Time co-star Oprah, appears to have three legs.
Perhaps making it into more of a thing than just Twitter chatter, Witherspoon commented on it herself.
All that had barely died down when the Hollywood Reporter published a report stating that Franco, who was accused of sexual misconduct following his big Golden Globes win, was removed from the issue altogether.
“He was removed from the cover digitally, however, due to allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced in the wake of his Golden Globe win for The Disaster Artist,” said the story. “Subjects for the Vanity Fair cover are often photographed separately in small groups and combined via digital imaging — Franco’s removal, then, did not require a reshoot. That said, it’s highly unusual for a star to be removed from an elaborate photo layout, especially so close to publication.”
While just a report initially, reps at the mag, who were really busy yesterday, confirmed Franco had been cut. “We made a decision not to include James Franco on the Hollywood cover once we learned of the misconduct allegations against him,” the spokesperson told THR.
