You may know Owen Thiele for his podcast or his breakout role on FX’s Adults, but for Vogue’s October 2026 cover launch, he took on the role of guest reporter.
Thiele’s subject? One Mikey Madison, and her extremely eventful two years, which culminated in a starring role as Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s forthcoming and long-awaited follow-up to The Social Network.
Madison is a well-known animal lover—she’s a proud dog mom to Chihuahuas named Peaches, Birdie, and Jam—but it’s safe to say Thiele wasn’t expecting to meet her extremely noisy houseguest: a red-bow-festooned pony named Penelope, who has extremely specific and urgent lunch needs.
It takes a very intrepid journalist to conduct an in-depth interview with a horse, but Thiele understood the assignment. More importantly, he understood that you can’t get to “the real Mikey Madison” without going through Penelope. Granted, she may not have the best table manners (messily eating a plate of grass? She’s so LA for that!), but trust that she knows all the best watering holes in town.
Director & Scriptwriter: Nina Ljeti
Director of Photography: Chris Hadland
Editors: Katie Wolford, Michael Suyeda
Assistant Director: Austin Kolodney
Senior Producer: Bety Dereje
Coordinating Producer: Chase Lewis
Associate Producer: Julia Garcia
Camera Operator: Geneviève Agar
Assistant Camera: Michael Foo
Gaffer: Kealan O’Connell
Grip: Michael Cotaya
Audio: Gloria Marie
Set Designer: Paris Peterson
Set Design Assistant: Sadie Spazzano
Production Assistants: Hope Millner, Danielle DellaPorta, Betty Smith, Fernando Barajas
Stylist: Jared Ellner
Tailor: Sulpan Ishakova
Makeup Artist: Melissa Hernandez
Hairstylist for Mikey Madison: Bobby Eliot
Groomer: Shannon Pezzetta
Hairstylist for Owen Thiele: Darine Sengseevong
Horse Wrangler: Four Legs on Set
Production Coordinator: Tanía Jones
Production Manager: Kristen Helmick
Line Producer: Jen Santos
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew
Senior Motion Graphics Designer: Samuel Fuller
Supervising Colorist: Oliver Eid
Colorist: Adam Raickovich
Supervising Editor: Kameron Key
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Global Entertainment Director: Sergio Kletnoy
Executive Producer: Rahel Gebreyes
Senior Director, Digital Video: Romy van den Broeke
Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson
VP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri
