I c o n s

JENNIFER COOLIDGE Fascinating and fabulous BY MIA FARROW

“Let’s make a video where you and I are beating the sh-t out of each other,” Jennifer Coolidge texted me one night a few months ago. “. . . Does that seem too desperate???” The proposal for catching a filmmaker’s eye, like everything Jennifer says and does, was one-of-a-kind and irresistible. We met last year, while shooting the Netflix series The Watcher on a cavernous soundstage in Brooklyn. I asked the woman beside me in the makeup room, who without her usual glamorous styling looked for all the world like a sweet-faced kid, if she was Jennifer Coolidge, whose work I’ve long admired. She said she was, and I spent a rainy, slow-paced day sitting alongside her at the edge of set, chatting and laughing and just delighting in her company. When she left for Sicily to make the second season of The White Lotus, I missed her. She returned, of course, to a tsunami of prestigious awards recognizing her mesmerizing performance. Adoration for Jennifer, initially led by discerning cinephiles and, of course, the gay community, was now everywhere. Impressions of her, and merchandise ranging from ceremonial candles to T-shirts bearing her face, proliferated. So many of the qualities that have made everyone fall in love with her are outside of what is mainstream or expected: her eccentric mannerisms, hilarious improvisations, and, most of all, aching vulnerability. She is uncompromisingly, exquisitely herself. Jennifer’s honesty and kindness make her a friend anyone would be lucky to have. I’ve got tufts of fake hair and ketchup to stand in for blood at the ready. Who wouldn’t want to be beat up by Jennifer Coolidge? She’s a national treasure. Farrow is an actor

Brittney Griner SHOW OF STRENGTH By Sue Bird

Brittney Griner’s story represents so much. First off, it’s about resilience. BG spent nearly 10 months in Russian prison, wrongfully detained, but never lost hope or her sense of humor. She was BG, through and through, throughout her horrible ordeal.

But underneath this story of inner strength is so much more. BG’s wrongful detainment brought attention to issues like the inequities in pay for women athletes, which sometimes compel us to put ourselves in dangerous situations to maximize our financial worth. It brought to light the dozens of Americans wrongfully detained around the world, and BG continues to use her platform as a sports superstar to advocate for their release. It speaks to the power of the women who rallied around her—Black wom