Letter from the editor: February 2008

This month's cover subject, Amy Adams of Castle Rock, Colorado, has been on tuned-in movie watchers' radars for a while, mostly for her performances in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Junebug (2005), but it is now that her moment has come. This is, in part, due to how enchanting she is to all generations in this past winter's hit Enchanted. It's a kind of delicious turn of events that the vehicle that really did the trick for her is a fairy tale. But not just any fairy tale. This one is a hilarious deconstruction of the prototypical Disney fantasy--in which she does a fantastic job of sending up the whole idea of perfection, and of fairy tales themselves.

One could say that Adams's own story is a fairy tale, too--girl hails from a small town, has a dream, works like the dickens, takes her licks, and ultimately triumphs. In addition to the critical kudos Adams has received because of Enchanted, there is strong advance word of mouth on her performance in the forthcoming Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, out in March, and from the fact that her next two projects have her sharing the screen with the actress who has people genuflecting at the sound of her name: Meryl Streep. But all that high-profile resume stuff is not what makes Adams stay on the mind, which she does. One connects with her because there's something about her--Brad Goldfarb, who interviewed her (the story begins on page 100) calls it "a sense of yearning"--that makes her stand out.

It struck us that this quality rendered her exquisitely right as the person to put on the cover; after all the issue is titled "Falling in Love With America, All Over Again." One can feel a sea change in the air. No one can know yet if it'll be slow or fast but the sense that America is waking up again, from a period that can only be described as a kind of numbness, is palpable. So is the feeling that the world wants America to be all that it can be, again.

We took our liberties putting this issue together. We didn't try to cover all bases. Instead we followed certain touch points and of course focused on talent, which is so important to Interview. So whether you're reading a conversation with Mary J. Blige, or with Dolly Parton, or with Norah Jones, or whether you're checking out our portfolio on the people who are making Harlem shine today, we hope you get the same pleasure in the issue's breadth of subjects as we had working on it.

There's something else that you shouldn't miss. Whether it's from a brilliant comic like Diane Keaton (page 128), who says, "I just feel very invigorated about the future, particularly now," or from a streetwise tabloid favorite like Kevin Federline (page 112), what comes up often in this issue is hope in the future. Here's how Amy Adams put it when we asked her to describe, for herself, what it is that makes her American:

I think it's my sense of possibility, which is what this country was founded on--what's possible and what will happen if we try this? I think that that's a part of the American spirit that's still alive today: a sense of freedom. I'm so grateful to have that when you look at the rest of the world. Nothing's perfect now, nor was it ever, but we always have a choice and that is huge. It's like what Gandhi said: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." As Americans, each of us has that opportunity

Opportunity knocks, not just for America, but for the world.

INGRID SISCHY

EDITOR IN CHIEF

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