…well, so did a lot of other ‘starlets’. Actually this is the cover of the annual Hollywood Issue. Every year the mag, which has been around since 1913 (with a hiatus from ’35 to ‘83), pays tribute to old Hollywood glamour with an issue timed to coincide with the Academy Awards and more often than not, featuring the faces of Hollywood’s future.

This year is not only no exception but, in my opinion it’s one of the more visually stunning covers of the past few  years. Opting for trendy pastels, the actresses included, shot by the great Mario Testino, all look like they stepped off of the set of Grand Hotel or Dinner for Eight.

(I love Vanity Fair. Not only is it the first place I was ever published – letter to the editor but I'm taking it- but I used to collect them for the covers. i stopped when stbx threatened to turn me in to "Hoarders".)

The cover would not have been complete without this year’s “IT Girls”, Jessica Chastain, Rooney Mara, Jennifer Lawrence and Mia Wasikowska (three of whom have been nominated for an Oscar either past or present). Featured on the fold-out are Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye and Shailene Woodley over to Paula Patton, Felicity Jones, Lily Collins and Brit Marling.

Behind the scenes of the shoot with Mario Testino

Jessica Chastain on meeting Meryl Streep and her Ralph Fiennes fan-girl moment

Rooney Mara on David Fincher

Other vids can be found on the Vanity Fair site.

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Tom Hardy is not exactly a social butterfly. He doesn't generally do "the scene" (especially since he's changed his hard-partying ways). But it's no coincidence that he has attended a pair of heavily publicized events in his native London in the past couple of weeks. Just before Christmas he was seen at the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker gala and last night he turned out for the red carpet premiere of The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep. The reason he's been out and about more than usual is that he's also doing some serious fundraising for a charity, called FLACK, of which he's a patron and that's in danger of being shut down.

All of my favorite actors have an inate intelligence. Meatheads need not apply, but I love it when they actually have a heart and a social conscience. As if the raspy whiskey and cigarettes voice with the posh accent, the puppy eyes, the sinful mouth,  the body built for mayhem and the huge talent weren't enough to make my knees weak (Hey, I'm keeping it clean, we're talking about his altruism here), Hardy is trying to raise £45,000 to save the charity, which benefits London's homeless, and the deadline is this week.

He had this to say about his reasons for getting involved:

"I learned about the challenges faced by the homeless community in Cambridge when I starred in the film Stuart: A Life Backwards, which was a pivotal role in my career.

"Homelessness impacts people for life and in many cases causes mental health problems and drug and alcohol addictions. It's a cause that means a hell of a lot to me personally as I know from my own experience how tough it is to battle addiction."

As of last night they were at 92% of their goal. I wish him success.

In other Hardy news, one of his 2012 releases, The Wettest County in the World, the bootlegging drama with Shia LeBeouf and Jessica Chastain, has been pushed back from April to August. August isn't generally a big month for drama, but Harvey Weinstein has a plan. He wants to capitalize on the Post-The Dark Knight Rises interest that is sure to be generated by Tom Hardy as that film's chief villain, Bane. He's planning to take The Wettest County in the World to the Venice Film Festival.  Enjoy the pics of Tom in rain-soaked London.

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Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia! ) and written by Abi Morgan (Shame) The Iron Lady depicts Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power in Great Britain as she  breaks through the ‘glass ceiling’ of gender and class. The story focuses on the price that is paid for power, particularly by this extremely complex woman.

“THE IRON LADY is a surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century's most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male dominated world.”

Jim Broadbent plays her husband Denis Thatcher as most of know him. As a young man he’s played by Harry Lloyd (“Game of Thrones”) and when the trailer first opens, every time I see it, I think it’s Fred Armison’s face in the camera and I’m about to see a promo for “Portlandia”. The supporting cast includes Anthony Head, Iain Glen, Richard E. Grant, Nicholas Farrell and Olivia Coleman.

As much as I admire Meryl Streep and her chameleon like ability to transform herself and particularly her voice, into anything she wills, I’m not convinced, judging from the two trailers released, that she’s pulled off Margaret Thatcher. I still only see and in particular HEAR Meryl Streep. And that’s not right. As much as this woman has achieved and yet has only one Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress and not lead, under her belt, I’m still not convinced that this is the role for which the spell should be broken. Of course, what I think doesn’t matter. If ‘the powers that be’ have decided that this is her year, she’ll get it for her body of work, regardless of what I think.

The Iron Lady opens for its obligatory awards qualifying run in the US on December 30, 6^th January in the UK  and wide in the US on January 13.

We've got a lot of little tidbits that have been coming in lately, like great new images from flicks we've been talking about.

Here's a new Image from One for the Money with Katherine Heigl and Daniel Sunjata. Apparently she's impressed with the size of  his gun. Heigl plays Janet Evanovich's popular character, Stephanie Plum. The film opens Jan. 27 in the US and 24 Feb. in the UK.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the story of a nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player, and pacifist searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks. Thomas Horn plays Oskar, Sandra Bullock plays his mother. The film gets a limited release December 25.

The Iron Lady is a look at the life of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power. It gets a limited release December 30.

I'm really looking forward to Red Tails. A crew of African American pilots, the "Tuskegee Airmen", having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard. The aerial shots look amazing. The film opens January 20 in the US.

Here's a first look at Matthew McConaughey in Mud, a drama centered on two teenage boys who encounter a fugitive and pact to help him escape from an island in the Mississippi. Also starring Reese Witherspoon and Michael Shannon and directed by Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), it's not due out until 2013.

In one of the two versions of Dickens' Great Expectations now in production, Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) stars as Pip, alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes.   Mike Newell directs. It's out sometime in 2012.

Last, but not least, we have a great new image from Disney/Pixar's Brave, featuring Lord MacGuffin, who will be voiced by Kevin McKidd. Set in Scotland in a rugged and mythical time, Brave features Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty. Merida makes a reckless choice that unleashes unintended peril and forces her to spring into action to set things right. It's out June 22.

There’s finally a first trailer for Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, the biopic of Great Britain’s first (and as of today, the only) female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.  The film features a pearl-bedecked Meryl Streep as Thatcher. We don’t learn much from the trailer other than Maggie was a fighter, she battled sexism and prejudice against her gender in order to lead her country, but anyone who lived during her tenure at No. 10 Downing Street already knows that and history has already painted her as such. For the first time, it seems to me that Streep is in danger of being swallowed up by the makeup and the accent. I hope I’m wrong, but I wonder if I’ll be able to enjoy the performance underneath all of that.

Pushed back to December 30, The Iron Lady will be one of the last films to get in a limited release by the awards qualifying deadline.  Whether or not it’s ready by November 28 for the New York Film Critics Circle vote remains to be seen. Since another would-be contender, Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close may also not be ready in time, perhaps this will force the NYFCC to move its date (which many think is too early anyway.)

The Iron Lady costars Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher, Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howe, Richard E. Grant as Michael Heseltine and Ronald Reagan as himself, earning one last screen credit in archive footage.

I’m back with pics from the London side of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences big extravaganza weekend!  Vanessa Redgrave, who still looks nothing but luminous at 74, was feted this evening by her daughter Joely Richardson, Meryl Streep (her costar in Julia), Dame Eileen Atkins, her “Driving Miss Daisy” costar and last night’s honoree, James Earl Jones  (who looks incredible for 80) and her Coriolanus director, Ralph Fiennes.

Ralph may well have directed her to a seventh Oscar nomination for her role as Volumnia, the title character’s mother. Ralph, of course, plays that character, Coriolanus. Gerard Butler plays his arch-enemy Tullus Aufidius. (See what I did there? What?! It’s his birthday!)

At Redgrave’s side was her husband of fifteen years, the dashing Italian actor, Franco Nero. Redgrave and Nero met and fell in love in 1966 on the set of Camelot. She was playing Guinevere and he was playing Lancelot.

They had a son, Carlo, now a director, in 1969. Though they went their separate ways, they always remained close. In 1996, the two rekindled their love affair and married later that year.  Now, that is a wonderful love story.

Enjoy the pics!