Beating the System
When every studio in Hollywood passed on Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola—the most successful movie director on the planet—became an independent filmmaker
Go Figure
The Belgian figurative artist Luc Tuymans, who has a new show at David Zwirner, recalls the moment he decided to start painting again—and why he works so fast
The French Twist
The key to mastering French style: look like you don’t care, even when you do
Romantic Baroque, Baroque Romance
Seong-Jin Cho’s Handel Project
A Summer Odyssey
Emma Cline has communed with the Manson family and channeled Harvey Weinstein. For her new novel, she infiltrates the Hamptons
Ghostwriters with Benefits
Victoria Beckham’s former ghostwriter on the perilous mistake Prince Harry’s ghostwriter has made: liking his subject too much
Not Your Mother’s Tartuffe
At Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Molière’s masterpiece gets a 21st-century makeover
Rodney Smith’s Leap of Faith
A new book of nearly 200 images, many never before published, chronicles the photographer’s trajectory from a student of theology at Yale to one of the great artists of our time
Is This the French Riviera’s New Fantasy Island?
On this week’s podcast, Alexander Lobrano reports on what could be the next getaway for the .1 percent
All in the Family
The Romanovs author Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses his latest book, a sprawling “family history” of humanity from the Stone Age to the drone age
Murder, They Wrote
This month’s best mystery books put the spotlight on veteran sleuths
In the Rehearsal Room
A new play about Richard Burton and Sir John Gielgud offers a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes politics of the theater
Reality TV Gets a Makeover
The new series Jury Duty, from veteran Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, blurs the line between documentary, sitcom, and Truman Show–esque drama
Sinqua Walls
For the remake of White Men Can’t Jump, the actor takes on Wesley Snipes’s classic role
The Phantom of the Book List
“The UK’s leading criminologist,” Professor David Wilson, kept getting one-star reviews on Amazon. Putting his investigative credentials to the test, he tracked down the culprit
