The nominees for Best Director alone should tell you Hollywood still has a long way to go in terms of diversity, but Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue cover proves that at least some strides are being made. The spread, which features all of 2018's top movie stars (Chadwick Boseman, Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Nicholas Hoult, Yalitza Aparicio, Rami Malek, Regina King, John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, Tessa Thompson, and Henry Golding) is the magazine's most diverse yet, featuring, as Jezebel points out, a majority of actors of color for the first time in 25 years.
The photographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, hails from Mexico, and is a three-time Academy Award winner for Best Cinematography. There's perhaps no better person to be put in charge of portraying the changing landscape of Hollywood.
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As for the subjects, the importance of this moment was at the front of their minds.
“The actors who are within the pages of this issue give new breath to what Hollywood is and what Hollywood is going to be," Black Panther's Boseman said. "And that’s in terms of diversity, ethnicity, gender, and the type of work that we’re doing.”
“While my time in the business has been short, it has been a source of pride and hope for many people to see someone that looks like me—an indigenous person—starring in an Oscar-winning director’s film," Aparicio, who wowed in Roma, told the outlet. "And a big change for Hollywood."
“As I was putting this wonderful suit on, I realized it’s not about me," Washington, who plays Ron in BlacKkKlansman, said. "It’s about somebody who looks like me in Kansas or North Carolina, Middle America or in the South, who sees a cover like this and will be inspired to change their environment, to be motivated and say, I can be this, I can do this.”
The only representation missing this year? People with extra legs.