Hannah Einbinder on Genre Swapping, Socialism and the Importance of Collaboration
Words: Ione Gamble | Photography and Super 8 video: Sandy Honig | Styling: Angelina Cantu | Hair: Gregg Lennon Jr | Makeup: Molly Rebecca Greenwald | Social video: Jenn Lehwald | LA editor: Camille Mariet | Styling assistants: Madeline Davis, Fatima Reyes | Art department: Lana Dvorak | Art assistant: Larry Claudin | Lighting assistant: James Armas
The Spring/Summer issue is out soon - you can pre-order your copy here.
On a too-hot March morning in LA, Hannah Einbinder arrives at the Universal Studios backlot, a place she’s driven to countless times over the last half a decade, arriving fresh to set for her Polyester cover shoot - despite spending the night before at Vanity Fair’s Oscar afterparty. It’s a familiar environment - the studio’s home offers the backdrop to season four of Hacks - but one in which her place is about to change, as the much-loved show, following the best friendship between two comedians from very different generations, concludes its fifth and final season.
Behind the lens of our cover shoot is Hannah’s IRL bestie, Sandy Honig, who can also be found within the pages of this print issue. The pair worked jointly on creative direction for the cover, spending an afternoon scouting locations on the backlot, dreaming up characters for shots, and consulting closely with styling. After meeting in 2014 through Hannah’s brother Spike, the two have spent years collaborating endlessly - from photoshoots to Hannah’s first comedy special, Everything Must Go, which Sandy directed. She tells me, “We work together a tonne, and it's so easy. It's so second nature, because we have similar interests and influences. We also have similar taste. So it's super, super easy.”
While the intimacy she shares with Sandy is special, Hannah is the rare type of person that not only makes everyone feel at ease when walking into a room, but who fosters genuine connection with everyone on set. As the final season of Hacks rolls out, she has dedicated multiple Instagram posts to the behind-the-scenes crew on the show. When asked about her creative community, she cites her glam team, Molly Greenwald and Jared Roberts, for their “their encyclopedic knowledge of film, culture and fashion. I learn a lot from them”.
Dress: Vintage Courtesy of NY Vintage | Earrings: Karma El Khalil | Gloves: Courtesy of Last Looks Archive | Shoes: Schutz
“These creative relationships that we have, and these working relationships that we have can be and are meaningful. Just because you meet someone through your work doesn't mean that that's all the relationship has to be.”
Full Look: Versace
The word “family” is bandied around endlessly when discussing workplaces; from millennial startup culture, to the subsequent Gen Z backlash that this provoked. But for Hannah, fostering closeness only enriches the process. She says that working with people she is also friends with provides “a shorthand and understanding. For creative people, I think one of the ways that we connect in this world is through our work. Sharing that collaboration with someone you love is like a love language in and of itself.” The promotion for Hacks has been less your standardised press tour and more like an insight into an actual family - whether through short form video of the cast and creators eating food and painting together, or BTS photos published from the making of the show, it’s clear that this is a group of people who know each other inside out.
In a case of life imitating art, the focus of Hacks has always been the friendship (or sometimes lack thereof) between Hannah and Jean Smart's characters, Ava and Deborah. By the final season, they’re spending practically every waking moment together. “Some people would say that that's toxic. Maybe they'd be right”, Hannah says. It’s an onscreen friendship that has spawned hundreds of thousands fancams and even more sapphic ships. But beyond memes, Hannah is keen to impress that “these creative relationships that we have, and these working relationships that we have can be and are meaningful.” She continues: “Just because you meet someone through your work doesn't mean that that's all the relationship has to be.”
Shirt: Archival Courtesy of Last Looks Archive | Earrings: Nicole Romano | Skirt: Miss Claire Sullivan
“As long as we have a voting body in this country, you know, two voting bodies, the House and the Senate, who make decisions on our behalf, we can't ignore that. We must engage with it, and we have to hold them accountable. The ways that corporations can influence politicians is just vile, and I think there's a mass awakening to that fact here in the States.”
Hat: Willy Chavarria | Suit: Archival Thierry Mugler Courtesy of Last Looks Archive | Earrings: Grown Brilliance | Ring: STATEMENT Paris
Hacks was Hannah’s first acting job: the series premiered in 2021, filmed during a pandemic and coincided with her Saturn return. She tells me, “I feel like I've had a lifetime of Saturn Returns. It felt just as they do, which is painful, chaotic and really rewarding to be on the other side.” Her character, Ava, has also undergone her own transformation - from borderline maligned by the viewership to loved. “I feel so changed by my experience over the past few years. Personally, and professionally, there's been a synergy. I think of all of these lessons that I've learned that have yielded a great present for me, to be where I am.”
The fact Hannah feels a deep kinship with everyone she works with is no coincidence, and her choice of projects following the giant success of Hacks seem intentional. Her next project is Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma - Schoenbrun being a filmmaker who has built her reputation by casting a queer gaze across a still largely heteronormative industry while Ava in Hacks assumes a decidedly leftist worldview, much to the chagrin of her scene partner Deborah.
In her personal life, Hannah is an anti-Zionist Jewish woman; having attended protests for the liberation of Palestine and used whatever platform she has - be it an awards show podium or her Instagram story - to draw attention to the ongoing genocide. On her own political awakening, Hannah says, “I've had a couple throughout my life. I was raised in a very capital D Democrat house, had sort of a liberal upbringing. When I got to college, I started to deconstruct that and became radicalised towards the left. Bernie Sanders was my gateway to more socialist ideology.”
Being openly pro-Palestine in Hollywood is still a rarity, with fellow actors such as former Polyester cover star Melissa Barrera and Susan Sarandon experiencing blacklisting from the industry for vocalising their views. Hannah explains that after college she began to “deconstruct Zionism, which was another political system that I had been raised with. That was another awakening and another layer that I peeled back of sort of this societal conditioning that I and many undergo. That led me to become much more conscious of the effects of imperialism on the world.”
Working directly with organisations in Palestine such as Pal Humanity, she calls mutual aid “one of the great anarchist tools that we have.” She continues: “I look at Pal Humanity and I look at them as a model of hope, because they can't afford to be hopeless. I think of them, and it doesn't allow me to fall into nihilism or apathy, because they set the standard for me and for everybody else who's attempting to contribute to liberation.” When I ask how to deal with our generational wide dissatisfaction with governments - the US in her case, UK in mine - she says “as long as we have a voting body in this country, you know, two voting bodies, the House and the Senate, who make decisions on our behalf, we can't ignore that. We must engage with it, and we have to hold them accountable. The ways that corporations can influence politicians is just vile, and I think there's a mass awakening to that fact here in the States.”
Camp Miasma marks Hannah’s first foray into horror, (although she impresses that there are “definitely comedic elements to the movie”), as well as a jump in format, from TV to film. She grew up with horror films, describing her mum as “a big horror nerd, so she's put me on to a lot of incredible stuff,” and naming Silent Hill, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Housebound as her favourites. Much like Schoenbrun’s last film, I Saw The TV Glow, Camp Miasma burrows deep into the nostalgia we feel towards our favourite films, becoming a love letter to and reckoning with the genre itself.
I ask Hannah the differences in experience between shooting TV and film: “I think a large scale television show is very different from an independent film,” she says. “What's the same is the sensitivity and the care, that's cool.” Shooting over a summer in Vancouver, the film debuted at Cannes to critical acclaim, and follows Hannah’s character Kris, who’s tasked with reviving a slasher franchise - and becomes enamoured with the film’s final girl, depicted by Gillian Anderson, in the process. “Horror for an actor is a very liberating genre, because you are able to exercise a lot of huge emotions. It's incredibly primal work at times,” Hannah explains. “I loved everybody that I worked with, and felt so deeply enriched by the process of making it”
Following on from what is already shaping up to be a career-defining summer, we may not know what’s next for Hannah, but nothing is off the table. “I feel that first and foremost I'm definitely genre agnostic after doing horror. I'm like, ‘Oh I would do absolutely anything genre wise.’” As for the big picture, she says she “really would love to facilitate and be a part of bringing back an era of good comedies on a large scale, theatrical level. It's so possible, and it just involves putting your money on red. We've become, as an industry, incredibly risk averse, and creativity is inherently risky.”
“Horror for an actor is a very liberating genre, because you are able to exercise a lot of huge emotions. It's incredibly primal work at times - I loved everybody that I worked with, and felt so deeply enriched by the process of making it”
After watching her, together with Sandy, take charge on our cover set - moving through different green rooms housing different teams, feeding in on creative direction and acting as part of the crew rather than talent - I wonder if Hannah has any aspirations of her own to work behind the camera? “I, like many people, especially women, sort of had a little bit of a ‘oh, I couldn't possibly do that this early on.’” Saying that, those feelings are unlikely to stop her. “I think I've always had those instincts, and being able to be involved hand in hand with Sandy on the creative for my stand up special felt really affirming that that is something I want to do."
What is not only impressive about Hannah but also deeply inspiring is her commitment to doing everything she wants in the best way possible. Whether that be meaningful activism, a queer cult horror film, a TV show that’s earned its spot as an all-time great, or a photoshoot. When discussing the ending of Hacks, she tears up, and waxes lyrical about the people she works with and loves. It reminds me of a line her co-star Robby Hoffman delivers in the penultimate episode of Hacks, about the state of Hollywood: "It's 90% the most delusional, lazy people you’ve ever seen in your life. And 10% are the most delusional workaholics. And I, for one, am proud and honored to be part of that latter 10%. Let's go! Let's fucking go!" Not only is Hannah Einbinder’s vulnerability rare - her commitment to doing things that are good with her whole heart is too.
The Spring/Summer issue is out soon - you can pre-order your copy here.
