Appreciation

Happy 20th Birthday Entertainment Weekly, Part 6: Amid Capeci

February 16, 2010 marked the 20th anniversary of the publication date of the first issue of Entertainment Weekly. We're concluding our six-part, year-long celebration with a look at the EW covers of the magazine's sixth design director, Amid Capeci. Here are covers from the years 2009-2010, plus comments from Amid about how they were created. For all of these covers, the director of photography is Lisa Berman.

Above: July 30, 2010. Typography by Joe Zeff Design.

10 covers for the finale of Lost, May 14, 2010. Photographs by Michael Muller.

Amid Capeci: We did four Lost covers this year and they were amazingly popular on the newsstand. But when you are designing a weekly and the editor tells you that this week we are going to do 10 covers, you have to take a deep breath. This collector series went to subscribers. Really fun, everyone looks great. On location in Hawaii, photographer Michael Muller captured gritty closeups in a marathon sunrise to sunset shooting day.

(Left) October 2, 2009, photograph by Peggy Sirota. (Right): December 10, 2010, photograph by Robert Trachtenberg.

Amid Capeci: Sometimes the best covers come from not too much planning, and letting talented actors and great photographers like Peggy Sirota work their magic, like creating this simple but elegant photo of Jim & Pam from The Office. For Taylor Swift, we felt strongly about doing away with her typical sequins and ultra-feminine style for the cover. So we went for a classic, sophisticated white-tie look inspired by Marlene Deitrich in the film Morocco. Taylor loved the opportunity to wear a top hat.

(Left): July 23, 2010. (Center): November 12, 2010. (Right): January 22, 2010.

Amid Capeci: Often we get some really cool access to a production and work directly with the filmmakers to create an image for the cover. Lisa Berman and I will look at images of, say, Ryan Reynolds in a beige leotard, then I'll rough out some covers, and months later...he's the Green Lantern! A "First Look" cover can sometimes be a year before the film is released, so these character reveals create a lot of buzz on the geek-s-sphere.

October 8, 2010. Photograph by Martin Schoeller.

Amid Capeci: Although we adore Justin Timberlake, we needed to get across the idea that we loved the film The Social Network and that it was going to be a big award season movie. In our collaborative back and forth, photo editor Michele Romero suggested the "we like this" line. One of our great designers Mike Schnaidt rethought the thumbs-up hand, and some folks were caught staring too long at Justin's flexy forearm.

November 26, 2010. Photograph by James White.

Amid Capeci: The comfort level and comraderie on the set between Jake Glyhenhall and Anne Hathaway gave us a shoot with so many amazing images that EW editor Jess Cagle decided to do a split-run of three of the best images for the cover.

October 1, 2010. Photograph by Art Streiber.

Amid Capeci: There is a real energy brought to a shoot when a brand new show like Modern Family starts to achieve hit status. The cast had not yet done many magazine covers, and they were very jazzed to be on the cover of EW, which had supported them from the beginning. Thy all love working with each other and loved playing to the "mirror."