Photographed by Jeremy Liebman
Bob Colacello‘s 13-year reign as editor of Interview involved the mighty task of turning Andy Warhol’s many fascinations into a full editorial sensibility. The job spilled far beyond the magazine, taking Colacello from the Factory to endless galas, nightclubs, and dinner parties across Europe, and eventually even to the White House. Along the way, they didn’t just chronicle the glitterati of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, they led it, looking for real personalities in movie stars and artists, politicians, bohemians, socialites, and assorted hangers-on. “I think I have a natural talent for picking people, and that’s really what Interview is about,” Colacello says. “It’s about people.” He eventually put those years of glamour and disarray into Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up, his full-throttle account of life translating Warhol’s vision. He went on to become a longtime special correspondent for Vanity Fair and write Ronnie and Nancy, his sprawling biography of the Reagans. This past summer, Interview’s current editor-in-chief, Mel Ottenberg, sat down with Bob at Sant Ambroeus in the West Village and unearthed some of the juiciest highlights from his tenure, including Warhol’s jewelry fixation, brushes with Trump, and the special alchemy that made, and continues to make, Interview like no other publication around.