Hunter Harris

NY Mag’s Vulture Staff Writer Hunter Harris is an entertainments and arts enthusiast with jokes for days. Harris deconstructs cultural happenings, from the fandom of Timothee Chalamet to the latest sliver of information Rihanna subtweets our way and does it with flair. The Dandy started following Harris on Twitter for her clever one-liners and has since become a devotee for her relatable-style arts reporting that infuses keen intellect with observational humor. Harris got her start at Refinery29 and worked her way up the editorial ropes to NY Mag, where she currently fields pitches, watches movies, listens to music, and writes about what she sees and hears. Her animated writing, sharp-witted opinions and general aura of cool and confident are just some of the things that make Hunter Harris so damn Dandy!

Was NY Mag fairly WFH friendly before this pandemic? How has the adjustment been for you regardless?

My team has always been pretty WFH flexible, which I really appreciate. In normal times, I'd work from home in the mornings and leave my apartment for the office around noon or 1pm. I have a hard time working around clutter, which has been an adjustment. I have to wash dishes or throw in a load of laundry before I can really start my day and feel satisfied — totally nuts, I know.

What's your day-to-day work load like at Vulture? Do you get access to TV shows/movies before everyone else?

I love that my work is different every day. There are seasons and cycles of releases — awards season in the fall, summer blockbusters, etc. — but there's always something new to watch or listen to or write about. In the morning I check in with my editors about outstanding assignments, and in the afternoons I'll watch a TV or movie screener and have Zoom interviews or meetings. My beat as a staff writer is primarily movies and music; the writers and critics that focus on TV get way more screeners. In normal times, I'd usually end the work day by heading uptown to a 6 pm movie screening in some hotel or studio screening room.

Book recommendations to get us through quarantine:

I just finished Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, which was really excellent. I'm revisiting two works for my book club: Jeremy O. Harris's Slave Play, and Kathleen Collins' collection of short stories, Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? I saw Slave Play on Broadway, and Jeremy is a friend — his work is hilarious and moving and urgent. That's the only way I can describe that ferocious, fearless quality of his writing. There's a short story Kathleen Collins wrote that may be the my favorite thing I've ever read, about how a haircut changed a woman's life. (Her movie Losing Ground is also streaming on Criterion Collection, and it's a great quar watch.)

Five beauty products you always use:

Quar has really taught me that I don't care about makeup as much as I thought I did. I love the ritual of it, but I don't experiment a lot. I like the Anastasia foundation, because it's has a medium, buildable coverage that doesn't get to dewy. I use the Sephora concealer under my eyes, because I always have bags. I'm obsessed with Rihanna's Fenty bronzer — it warms my face up just the right amount. And then brows: Benefit's brow gel in a dark brown-black for more pigment, topped with Anastasia's clear gel to brush them up.

This unreasonably annoys you:

I've thought long and hard about this: I hate being tapped. It just feels so infantilizing, you know? It happens on planes or on the subway — what a way to ask someone to move out of your way! I also really cannot stand wearing wrinkled clothes.

Not sure if you're in a relationship or not--but if you're single, have any ghosts popped up? If you're in a relationship, has quarantine changed your dynamic at all?

My boyfriend and I are living alone, separately, during quar; on the weekends I walk to his apartment, which is nice. It's early in the relationship, so I feel better about creating a bit of distance, since we are the only people we hang out with during this time. When I'm over we take turns cooking, but I'm always the one picking the movies. Not even by choice! The only thing that drives me nuts is that I wake up hungry but he doesn't care about breakfast. That is a lifestyle I cannot understand.

How are you combatting your moods these days?

I'm big on naps. My mom is big on naps. Even my most extreme, cruelest moods can be cured by letting myself rest for 40 minutes in the mid-afternoon.

You have to order _________ at this place:

The grilled cheese sandwich at Sadelle's in Soho: an everything bagel turned inside out (is that how you say seasoned-side down?) with a few slices of cheese in the middle. It's divine. I miss it dearly.

Photo Credit: Brent Herrig

Something that made you laugh today:

I saw a tweet that said "Keep posting y’all fresh cuts.. im putting together a slide show for the Governor" and absolutely screamed.

You know your music. Share any of your playlists or songs of the day:

I've been listening to a lot of my aunt's music because I miss her and I haven't been home in ages: Teddy Pendergrass, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, The Pointer Sisters, Al Jarreau. I have the new Empress Of and Moses Sumney albums on repeat. During the workday I like to listen to Nina Simone or The Internet.

When you die, bury you in:

I have this one black dress from Aritzia that's called the "gallery dress" or something. (I have no idea why.) Usually I live in white t-shirts and mom jeans, but this dress — this! dress! — it is just the simplest, most elegant thing I own. I can dress it up or down. I pull it out for every fancy event I'm covering. It has buttons all the way down the front, and when I'm sitting down, it shows my legs in a very appealing way. This is so lame, but whenever I put it on, I think about that line from the Eat, Pray, Love book: "You are young and beautiful; you only need the one dress."

Pretend it's post-quarantine. The world is somewhat back to "normal." What's your ideal day/night in NYC look like?

An early-ish breakfast bite at Bakeri in Greenpoint — they make the best focaccia, and I love their ham and cheese croissants. Then the rest of the morning at museum — literally any museum on the Upper East, just somewhere big where I can get lost. In my dream we get lunch at Barbuto's original location with the big garage doors, and I can people watch and get their kale caesar, and a spritz; in reality I'll settle for anything with a patio, anyplace where I can eat and drink outside. Maybe I'll walk around a little bit, window shopping. And then a movie at Metrograph, solo. After that, I'll come back to Brooklyn, change into a Reformation titty top, and get dinner at Le Crocodile. Then I'll jump into an Uber and meet more friends at any bar where we can dance.

Share any silver linings you've come to realize during this terrifying moment in time:

That cocktails can be delivered now.

Being an editor means your inbox is always full. Are you one of those have-to-get-my-inbox-to-zero people, or do you just pick and choose what you open based on interesting subject lines/email addresses you already know?

I never let my work email get out of control; It's never been higher than 1000 unread emails. First thing Monday morning I usually read through all the subject lines and mark what isn't relevant to me as read. I could do this Friday EOD but honestly if it's lasted this long without becoming urgent, a Monday morning reply will do.

A celebrity you were really excited about meeting and interviewing:

I think Sarah Jessica Parker is a really good interview. She's such a capital-c Celebrity, but she also has this working actor quality that I really like. She's very thoughtful; she doesn't give the same talking points a dozen times. (I'm usually drawn to mercurial, sort of mysterious people.) I talked to her for a half hour about The Family Stone once, and it's one of my favorite interviews. Everyone loves talking about masterpieces, but I was very interested that she was willing to revisit a movie that was great, but also odd, a misfit for its time.

Tips on writing a great pitch:

Your idea should be clear, relatively brief (150-200 words max) and also link to other stories/posts that you've written or that the site has posted that you're thinking this pitch will be similar to. I think it's important to give an editor a clear idea that you read the site and also give them an idea of what to expect. Pitching to the right person is important! (Too many people send me pitches when that's literally not my job.)

You know I have to ask it: what's your skin-care routine?

First I wash my hands — I never want to touch my face with dirty hands, pandemic or not! In the mornings I wash with Neutrogena's oil-free acne wash, then I exfoliate and tone with either the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta peel pads. I don't use a lot of serums or essences; I finish with the Cosrx hyaluronic acid moisturizer and a Supergoop SPF on top. At night I always double cleanse if I've been wearing makeup. I'll put on another something-something twice a week-ish before bed (Paula's Choice AHA Gel or the DDG Clinical Grade IPL Dark Spot Correcting Serum); on the nights that I don't, I just dab on prescription retinol. (My regimen is a merry go round of exfoliants that I alternate carefully.) I like the Cosrx honey ceramide full moisture cream at night. Every other week I do the DDG Clinical Grade Resurfacing Liquid Peel that has worked wonders on my hyperpigmentation.

You're currently obsessed with (music, art, people, etc):

I'm obsessed with Teddy Pendergrass. The music is so good, but the pure pageantry of his live performances — he's playing to the female gaze boldly, unashamed. It's really striking to watch. I'm shocked he wasn't a movie star in his prime, he has a charisma that I'd love to see on camera. I ordered an Ebony magazine that he was on the cover of from the late 70s, and I'm so curious to see what he says.

The last time you felt like a failure and why: 

Oh God. I was interviewing this director and his movies are really impossible to find online. It's been a goal of mine for a few years now to be more familiar with his work, but I promise it is so hard to find more than clips on YouTube from his movies. Anyway, so I have this guy on the phone, and he's in Paris and doesn't want to talk to me and the connection is shaky which is only more frustrating. It was obvious that I didn't know his work as well as I should've and I just felt really embarrassed. I knew a lot about his movies, but it was clear I hadn't seen them. I felt so guilty.

The last time you felt proud of yourself and why:

I got a new computer and successfully transferred all of my memes from my old computer to my new one. I have a lot of memes and they are all obsessively labeled in a folder on my desktop.

Your vices:

Tweeting. And also the Lesser Evil Himalayan Pink Salt popcorn.