LWLies 81: The Judy Issue – On Sale Now!

I’ll be dead­ly hon­est with you: if you told me a year ago that we’d be putting out an issue of Lit­tle White Lies with Renée Zell­weger on the cov­er and cel­e­brat­ing a brand new music biopic, I’d look at you with a quizzi­cal eye and chuck­le ner­vous­ly. We often hear peo­ple say things like, ​“it’s a Lit­tle White Lies movie”, which usu­al­ly trans­lates that it’s got a indie flavour, slight­ly left field sub­ject mat­ter, visu­al­ly very stylish.

It’s a very cer­tain type of film. But the view from the inside is that all movies are Lit­tle White Lies movies, or at least have the poten­tial to be. Is there any­thing more amaz­ing than the feel­ing of going to see a film for which your expec­ta­tions are some­what mut­ed, and then being com­plete­ly swept off your feet by it? You’re just left there, gaw­ping at the screen and hop­ing your seat neigh­bours don’t spot the tear tram­lines when the lights go up.

This is exact­ly what hap­pened to me at a screen­ing of Rupert Goold’s Judy, the sto­ry of Judy Garland’s hap­haz­ard res­i­den­cy at London’s Talk of the Town at the tail end of 1968 and through to 1969 – the year that would end up being her last. In the lead role is Renée Zell­weger, tak­ing up the task of rep­re­sent­ing a real celebri­ty – one of the most beloved of the mod­ern age, no less – and mak­ing her Hol­ly­wood col­leagues look like rank ama­teurs. Hers is not a per­for­mance pow­ered by affec­ta­tion and con­spic­u­ous show­boat­ing, but one which is blessed with the weight of his­to­ry and an under­stand­ing of deep sor­row. When a film feels right, then it’s right. And Judy feels right for this moment, and out 81^st cov­er film.

On the cover…

Pierre Mor­net is a Parisian illus­tra­tor who mix­es melan­choly with a dash of sur­re­al­ism. For this por­trait of Renée Zell­weger as Judy Gar­land, he used acrylic paint on paper. You can see more of his work at pier​re​mor​net​.com

In this issue…

A Star is Reborn
Guy Lodge meets Renée Zell­weger for our expan­sive lead profile.

The Sto­ry of a Scene
Judy direc­tor Rupert Goold breaks down the process of film­ing the first big music number.

The World of Judy
Three fea­tures explor­ing the life and times of Judy Garland

1. What Price Hol­ly­wood?
The sto­ry of George Cukor’s sem­i­nal 1954 musi­cal melo­dra­ma, A Star Is Born – fea­tur­ing Judy Garland’s great­est per­for­mance. Words by Trevor Johnston.

2. Andy Loves Judy
The sto­ry of Andy Warhol’s obses­sion with Judy Gar­land and how she even­tu­al­ly became a facet of his art.
Words by Jus­tine Smith.

3. The Pho­to­play­ers
The sto­ry of Hol­ly­wood fan mag­a­zines and how they oper­at­ed as lit­tle more than pro­pa­gan­da out­lets for the film studios.

Lind­say Lohan in Nine Acts
The rise and fall of a mod­ern day movie diva, by emer­i­tus Lind­say Lohan schol­ar, Philip­pa Snow.

Books / Records / Films: A Judy Gar­land mis­cel­lany
Gate­way items for those look­ing to flesh-out their Gar­land col­lec­tion. By Abbey Ben­der, Emma Fras­er and David Jenkins.

Munchkin­land: A Wiz­ard of Oz Gift Shop
A visu­al spec­tac­u­lar of gifts and tat­toos inspired by the fan­ta­sy epic that start­ed them all. Cre­at­ed and curat­ed by Sophie Mo.

Illus­tra­tions by Lau­réne Boglio, Jen­nifer Dion­i­sio, Lucille Michieli and Stéphanie Sergeant.

In the back section…

Sien­na Miller dis­cuss­es her impas­sioned lead turn in Jake Scott’s Amer­i­can Woman. Inter­view by Ele­na Lazic.

John Waters does not have any time for adult baby fetishists, but will hap­pi­ly allow you to eat dogshit in his pres­ence. Inter­view by Sophie Monks Kaufman.

Olivi­er Assayas laments the inex­orable decline of phys­i­cal media with his new film, Non-Fic­tion. Inter­view by David Jenkins.

Mar­i­ano Llinás has made a 13.5 hour epic called La Flor which tips its hat to history’s great­est genre cin­e­ma. Inter­view by Charles Bramesco.

Waad Al-Kateab is direc­tor of one of the year’s most vital and heart­break­ing doc­u­men­tary releas­es, For Sama. Inter­view by David Jenkins.

All illus­tra­tions by Lau­ra Hope

In review…

Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell, Har­mo­ny Korine’s The Beach Bum, Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Chris Morris’s The Day Shall Come, François Ozon’s By the Grace of God, Rober­to Minervini’s What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire? Aaron Schimberg’s Chained for Life, Shola Amoo’s The Last Tree, and more.

LWLies 81 will be with sub­scribers on 4 Sep­tem­ber and on-shelf 5 Sep­tem­ber. Pre-order or sub­scribe now from our shop.