Andrew Garfield, Carla Bruni Biography and More Yes List Culture Picks

Why It’s Andrew Garfield’s Year

Andrew Garfield, the Los Angeles-born, British-bred star of two of Hollywood’s most buzzed-about films, David Fincher’s The Social Network and Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, is having a fantastic year—despite being troubled by the crass commerciality of the movie business. The Daily Beast’s Nicole LaPorte met up with the rising star at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills and talked with him about his two new films, and an upcoming project as the star of the next Spider-Man movie. Of landing the role, Garfield said, “I’m one of millions and millions of guys who have been waiting for that phone call since they were 4 years old—for someone on the other line to say, ‘Hey, is that so-and-so?’ Fill in your name here. ‘Would you like to pretend you’re Spider-Man professionally?’” What the future will bring for Garfield remains to be seen, but his role in the quietly stirring and eerie Never Let Me Go, out this Friday, is already garnering rave reviews. But don’t think he’s letting it all go to his head: “I’m gonna work my ass off,” he said.

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Carla Bruni Exposed

The wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy is causing a frenzy in France after the release of an unauthorized biography, Carla: Une Vie Secrete, by French journalist Besma Lahouri. Based on dozens of interviews, Lahouri’s book focuses on, as The Daily Beast’s Eric Pape puts it, “opportunism in [Bruni’s] professional and personal lives.” Such opportunism includes, but is not limited to, a cadre of ex-lovers who Bruni remains involved with, an alleged nose job, her quick wedding to Sarkozy, and, perhaps most of all, her supposed influence on her husband’s politics, fashion, and lifestyle. As the music critic Pierre Siankowski explains, “Where Carla is strong is that she very quickly and effectively identified the people who mattered in the milieu that she wanted to evolve in. She knows perfectly which buttons to press and integrates rapidly in the rules of the game. With a certain cynicism, she knows who to seduce.” True or not—it makes for one juicy read.

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50 Years as Art’s Arbiter

“From Boston to Beijing, anyone who knows anything about art knows the Pace Gallery,” writes Paul Laster. Pace’s 50th anniversary exhibit is proof. Conceived a decade ago by Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher, the four-venue show will provide a wide-ranging retrospective of the gallery in its truest form: as art’s arbiter. Glimcher described the exhibit this way: “When you look at this show, it’s hard to beat the fecundity of the 20th century, but, in a way, it was the unraveling of everything that had been out together in the previous five centuries.” The gallery has a solid plan for the future, too, with future locations set to open in China—a country with a rapidly growing art culture. (Pace Beijing opened in 2008; galleries in Shanghai and Hong Kong are in the works.) “I don’t think anyone can be stronger than we are in Asia,” said Glimcher. “People are very familiar with artists like Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun, but the younger generation that nobody knows here yet is incredible. They have so much more to say than the Western world has to say. The Western narrative is over; the Chinese narrative is just beginning.”