'W' Invites Hollywood Ire with Art Stunt

On further review, I'm not sure that W's art-issue cover stunt is tacky so much as insanely ballsy. Either that, or the celebrity PR machine is losing its omnipotence.

The print run of the November issue was divided between eight different covers. Each is a paparazzi photo of a different Hollywood actress, with a mock inscription by pop artist Richard Prince.

Since W bought the rights to the photos from Getty Images, there was no need to obtain approval from the stars themselves -- and it didn't bother asking. A spokeswoman for W declined to comment, but the reps I contacted said they didn't know about the issue until it hit newsstands.

It's more than a little reminiscent of what happened a year ago, when Vanity Fair put a Brad Pitt on the cover of its own art issue, having secured the rights to still images from a Robert Wilson video he'd made. Pitt was furious, telling TMZ, "It seriously makes me question their integrity and motives."

Compared to Pitt, who appeared in his underwear, the actresses used by W have relatively little to complain about. But you can be sure neither Jennifer Aniston nor Angelina Jolie is happy about the "Who Will Sell Better?" narrative being used to hype the issue. (Lindsay Lohan's spokeswoman, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, says Lohan was "fine" with the unapproved use -- though the just-out-of-rehab starlet is hardly in a position to complain, given the state of her career.)

Lohan and the washed-up Britney Spears aside, it's a risky move for W, which has never before used unauthorized art on its cover. Nearly all of the actresses involved have powerful publicists with long memories and plenty of other A-list clients who might mysteriously be unavailable next time W comes calling.