Welcome to this week’s “Just for PvNew.”
Donatella Versace was in Los Angeles for the Oscars, attending the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards gala and the Vanity Fair party. She also caught up with her friend Britney Spears. Versace is designing a wedding dress for the newly liberated pop princess. “She’s on vacation now,” Versace told me at the VF bash. “She’s doing well. I find her in an amazing state of mind. I know it’s been such a long time. I’m very happy to see her like that.”
Yesterday, Spears confirmed that she is writing a memoir. In an Instagram post, she wrote, “It’s actually healing and therapeutic.”
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In November, Pedro Almodóvar told me he’d be up for directing a “Batgirl” movie. His muse Penélope Cruz loves the idea of dabbling in the superhero business. “That sounds so cool,” she told me at the Oscars. “I don’t even need to read that script… I haven’t done that genre, but with Pedro it would be revolutionary.”
Who else wants to a chance to play a superhero? Nyle DiMarco! He tells me, “I’ve always wanted my villain origin story. I love a good anti-hero. I think there’s a lot of play in there to be had.”
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One of my new favorite actors is Ben Ahlers, who plays footman Jack Treacher on “The Gilded Age.” I met him for the first time on the VF carpet. “Walking into Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon doing their thing, it’s my MFA,” he told me, adding, “For the most part you’re just shaking in your boots. I said to a friend of mine today, ‘It’s like if Phil Jackson calls you and said come down to the Staples Center [now Crypto Arena] and watch practice and then makes you suit up in a jersey and hit the game-winning three.'”
Ahlers said the HBO show’s cast and writers have been “having conversations” about Season 2: “Jack’s been saying from the beginning that he looks across the street and he’s a world of opportunities ahead of him and he’s going to try to stake his own, however that manifests.”
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When Henry Golding signed to play Mr. Elliot in an upcoming feature adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” opposite Dakota Johnson, he boldly told me he was excited to play a “period fuckboy.” However, when I caught up with him recently, Mr. Golding told me with a laugh, “It wasn’t as fuckboy as I thought.” Still can’t wait to see it. Speaking of Johnson’s work in the movie, Golding gushes, “She kills it. She’s been on fire recently. I don’t know how she finds the time to do all these projects because she’s in, like, every other film. She’s awesome. We had such a good time.”
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LaKeith Stanfield tells me he’s surprised at how much he’s been enjoying designing his new home. “I never thought I’d do that, but it’s dope,” the “Atlanta” star says. “It feels like [I’m] a grown man. I feel like I’m really adulting as I go into my 30s.” He’s painting the interior all black: “I’m going to make it super-modern, with simple pieces of furniture that come from all over the world. Various shades from gray to black. I’m keeping it real sleek and simple so when I come home from traveling and partying, I can just relax.”
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Minnie Driver may not have been at this year’s Oscars, but we did get to reminisce about her first time at the big show when we chatted at VF. She wore a strapless green-and-white-striped sundress she borrowed from a friend that was fashion policed by a notable critic. “Madonna asked me if I had come as a beach umbrella,” Driver says. “I was so horrified. But then she took me under her wing and took care of me the whole night.”
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H.E.R. is set to make her acting debut as Squeak in the film adaptation of the “Color Purple” musical. “I’m reading the book, watching the movie and practicing over and over again my version of Squeak,” she says. H.E.R. hints that the movie will include new music, but it’s not clear how much she’ll be able to contribute: “I’m a little busy right now. I’m on tour and then I’ll sneak away and shoot [‘Color Purple’] and then get back on the road.”
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Visibility matters: Make sure to check out my interview with Thomas Dekker, coming to PvNew. The actor, best known for his roles on “Heroes” and “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” co-stars on the new Roku series “Swimming With Sharks.” For the first time, Dekker talks about coming out as gay after being outed by a former colleague. He also opens up about his alcoholism, his recovery and being four years sober. “I’m so thrilled to just speak honestly,” Dekker says. “There’s a story to my life that I feel might be useful to someone.”
