LETTERS - Letter to the Editor

Interview, August, 2000

SOME READERS BARK, SOME READERS PURR

Dear Interview,

Those animal-rights activists could learn a thing or two from your heavy petting special issues [May and June 2000]. Showing the beauty of animals and how they enhance human lives--as you do in these issues--does a lot more for raising awareness and furthering the cause than screaming epithets and throwing pies (not to mention all those other unsavory tactics). Well done.

GLORIA KINCAID Evanston, IL

Dear Interview,

Come on! You guys are too sophisticated, funky, and fly, to be doing celebrities and their pets! Why do we care about what these famous people have sitting around inside their homes? Let's get back to who they might be screwing at the moment and their so-called artistic endeavors. Now that's real.

BEAUX ENRIQUEZ-AUSBURN via the internet

Dear Interview,

I have never been one to covet the lives or opportunities of the rich and famous--my own simple existence is just fine for me, thank you very much--but I have to confess to having experienced a moment of envy when your May and June issues arrived in my mailbox. Forget the free clothes and VIP treatment: If being a young beautiful entertainer gets me and my dog Ajax a portrait by Bruce Weber, then count me in. Where do I sign up?

T. COLLINS Southhampton, NY

Dear Interview,

Enough with the pets, already! I do not want to sound like an insensitive PETA dissenter (I look forward to coming home every day to my two kittens, Lil' Kim and Grace Jones), but two issues of this?

D. QUINN CALLICOTT West Hollywood, CA

Dear Interview,

I'm pissed that the new issues I've received are all full of pretentious dipshits pucker-posing with gratuitous pets. No offense to the critters, but animals are accessories, sweetie baby! Also, may I specifically say "What the heck?" to the honorable Bruce Weber for boob moments with bird [the Eve story] and turtle [Patricia Velasquez] from Part II?

JAMES KRAMER Sierra Madre, CA

Dear Interview,

At first glance your special pets issue struck me as merely a charming way to cover pretty much the same beat you deal with every month, and in fact that element is very much present. But it occurred to me as I somewhat mindlessly flipped through the mags for the umpteenth time that there was something else at play here, and it is that the presence of the animals in each issue (not to mention the interviews) brought out something unexpected and usually unavailable to the world at large about each person being covered. From the soulful look in Brendan Fraser's eyes as he holds up his chihuahua, to the joy on Cerys Matthews' face as she romps with that adorable chimp, the subject here is clearly as much humans as it is animals. It took me a while but I finally got it--better late than never.

JOHN GOODWIN Sacramento, CA

A QUESTION OF SEEING OR BELIEVING

Dear Interview,

In your recent piece about Vince Vaughn (June 2000) the following exchange appeared:

Q: You were a bedwetter?

A: I was a bedwetter until very late. My mom used to hang my sheets out the window to dry, and I'd have to run home from school to beat the ether kids to my house so they wouldn't see them.

Which is a nice touching story about a difficult childhood ... except, didn't I see this same story in a made-for-TV-movie called The Loneliest Runner back in 1976, starring Michael Landon and Brian Keith? I can't tell if Vince is being sarcastic or if he's imagined this horrific childhood for himself.

FRANK ROGAN via the Internet

editor's response:

The Loneliest Runner was indeed a 1976 made-for-TV movie which depicted a similar scene. That does not, of course, preclude the possibility that Vince Vaughn had such an experience himself.

THE OTHER ELECTION?

Dear Interview,

I am inclined to disagree with your statement that Hilary Swank is the hottest actress in Hollywood (June 2000). In my opinion, the hottest actress now is Angelina Jolie. Angie has won not only the Oscar and Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in Girl, Interrupted, but in the past three years she's won three Golden Globes. On the other hand, Hilary has only won awards for one movie (Boys Don't Cry). Angelina has proven she's a consistently good actress, while Hilary may be just a one-performance wonder. Only time will tell, but I think it's safe to say that five years from now Jolie will be the household name.

JENNY GRAY Blue Hill, ME