How to follow Charli XCX? That was a key question when it came to conceiving who would be the cover stars for the 14th issue of A Rabbit’s Foot. As an independent magazine, we will be the first to admit that securing one of the globe’s biggest and most bankable stars for the cover of our “Tomorrow” issue was a bit of a coup. The timing was undeniably right—our team first reached out to Charli as the dust was (sort of) settling on Brat summer and the popstar was making the move to movies. The cover shoot, which saw the pop star emulating Monica Vitti in Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte, was a celebration of her move into cinema. 

For our next step, we decided to go sideways. Picking an issue theme is always quite an intuitive process: from A Rabbit’s Foot HQ in London, we will gather around in our Editor-in-Chief Charles Finch’s office, where he will name an idea that has been inspiring him. “California” were the words that came out of his lips when we started working on the issue late last year. He had been inspired by the landscape and atmosphere of recent travels to the West Coast, but also the recent difficulties the region has experienced: from the wild fires of early 2025 to a generalised sense of so-called crisis in cinema. The fact that we launch an issue every year during the Oscars, made the theme a no-brainer. 

Rather than focus on the California of celebrity—which reaches its apex with the Academy Awards ceremony later this week—for our covers we wanted to celebrate a less familiar face of the Golden State. Namely: independent California. We decided to cast not one, but four covers with five faces spanning cinema, literature and music—to show what, for us, truly is the DNA of the region historically and today.

First up was Jeff Bridges. Our Creative Director Fatima Khan first collaborated with Bridges in 2017 when she curated an exhibition titled The Art of Behind the Scenes that launched during the Cannes Film Festival. “Jeff’s photography (shot on the widelux camera) on the set of The Big Lebowski were included. This exhibition then made its way to New York and then California,” recalls Fatima. Recently the pair were reunited for a special project—where Fatima spoke with Susan Bridges (Jeff’s wife) about her on-set photography of Heaven’s Gate for the film’s 45th anniversary. This—and more—is explored in the issue alongside Jeff’s interview where he gives his rules for living. “Jeff Bridges feels like California in human form: creative, laid-back, and endlessly expressive. Actor, photographer, singer, songwriter… and always a gentleman,” says Fatima. That rare mix of artistry, authenticity, and quiet grace is exactly why we chose him as one of our California cover stars,” says Fatima. 

Also in the land of independent cinema, we also decided to feature Charles Burnett. The so-called Cassevetes of Los Angeles and the founder of Black Independent Cinema, our Deputy Editor Chris Cotonou had the task of tracking Burnett down. This involved long calls with universities where he had lectured, before finally finding Milestone Films, a distribution company for Burnett’s DVD releases. “Finally I got a reply: “Charles doesn’t have internet right now, but we’ll tell his son and get back to you,” recalls Chris. Once secured, our Features Writer Luke then had the genius idea of putting him in conversation with Boots Riley whose film I Love Boosters is coming out this May. “Riley, who is from the Bay Area, is one of the most radical contemporary Black filmmakers. His work has the same fearlessness that Charles did. The result feels like a meeting of two generations, beautifully orchestrated by Maya S. Cade [of the Black Film Archive],” says Chris. 

Next up: music! We’ve been fans of Alana Haim for a long time. Both as a musician in sibling mega trio Haim, but also in her work as an actor and she of course came to our attention with her role as Alana Kane in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 Licorice Pizza. Alana is a proud California girl, born and raised in the San Fernando Valley (like PTA). So she was a natural fit. Not born and bred—but nonetheless representing California today—is Ottessa Moshfegh. I first interviewed the author—who is from the East Coast—in 2023 (for our Film Noir issue), where she told me about her move West and in particular her forays into Hollywood. Catching up with her again, she told me how she hopes one day to turn her Pasadena home into a writer’s retreat. She felt like the perfect name to represent the world of literature in this issue. 

To execute this vision creatively we worked with the renowned Magnum photographers Jim Goldberg as well as Maddy Rotman (who shot Alana’s cover). “My inspiration was the visual style of emotional realism,” says Fatima. “I think we’ve been able to present these timeless visions of great Californians.” Black and white was key to this. “This draws the subject’s naked personality into the frame. Alexander Roth’s styling was vital for achieving this.” The covers we created with the support of Bottega Veneta, and Jeff, Boots, Charles and Ottessa are dressed in their SS26 campaign—the debut from Louise Trotter (we’re particularly fond of Ottessa’s tassel dress). “We’d like to especially thank Bottega Veneta for supporting three of these covers. Their commitment to craftsmanship resonates deeply with us, and we feel a real affinity with Louise Trotter’s vision for the house,” says Fatima.

Although mighty, A Rabbit’s Foot are a small team, and believe it or not, the cover shoots were all completed over a period of five days. For the first stop, Fatima and Anna Pierce, our Managing Editor, flew out to New York for Alana Haim’s shoot (although a Valley Girl through and through, the actor had found herself in a freezing Big Apple, although was sweetly accompanied for the day by her sister Danielle Haim). This was followed by three more shoots in Los Angeles. Anna fiercely led the production effort from start to finish: from setting the creative deck in motion to working closely with Alice Jacobs on set design to realise the visual world of each portrait.

As a print magazine, it goes without saying that it was important to think about how these images would look on the page. There’s a feature in Issue 14 exploring the graphic design of female artists in California (Chris will be telling you more in the behind-the-scenes piece) and, for our covers, we wanted a similar freedom and joy in our graphic design. Fatima designed unique borders for each cover, which pulls out quotes from each subject’s interview—candid and unscripted—to frame the photograph. “It invites dialogue between the viewer and cover star and what they stand for. At least that’s what we intended,” says Fatima.

Peace and love from the A Rabbit’s Foot team. Enjoy the issue.