JT Leroy is a 2019 biographical drama about a young woman who spends six years pretending to be a celebrated author, the made-up literary persona of her sister-in-law.
You might not know the story of Jeremiah “Terminator” LeRoy, a persona created by American writer Laura Albert, credited with writing three semi-autobiographical stories in the 1990s, tracking his life through drugs, abuse, and poverty. Albert remained highly reclusive and the real identity of Leroy was always sort of in question among fans until 2001 when Albert convinced her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop to don a wig and play the part of JT in public. The story gained all kinds of coverage in certain circles and was eventually exposed as a scandal, now earning a second film about it, with director Justin Kelly‘s movie, based on Knoop’s memoirs, a curious venture into a bizarre tale made sound by two terrific lead performances.
Laura Dern is Laura Albert, the kooky and eccentric girlfriend of Geoffrey (Jim Sturgess), a talented member of a local band that she’s part of. She’s also a bestselling author of a book called Sarah but refuses to disclose that she’s the writer, using the made up name and backstory of JT LeRoy as the author. Meanwhile, Savannah (Stewart) arrives in San Francisco to live with her brother, her scruffy looks and introverted personality drawing Laura in, seeing an opportunity to bring JT to life. As Savannah works as a waitress, she agrees to play the part, dressing up in wigs and loose clothes, wearing big sunglasses and pretending to be hopelessly shy as Laura plays the part of ‘Speedie,’ his British manager. The ruse gains the attention of Hollywood, where Eva (Diane Kruger), a French actress works to make the story of Sarah into a movie.
This is all about the acting, with Stewart and Dern, teaming up again after 2016’s Certain Women, and making this decidedly odd story worth the effort. Stewart has continued to work hard in changing perceptions about her acting career, proving herself to be one the more serious and dedicated of her generation. She’s the pulse of this movie, her burdened take on Savannah and JT especially good. Dern is equally strong, turned up to eleven as Laura becomes drawn into the rabbit hole of the deception and growing fame. This is a clearly one-sided story.
The film is about masks with the women at the core adopting personas to tell the their stories in hiding. It’s fairly tricky but fun to watch, Kelly weaving the whole thing like a 60s spy story with playful, mystery music and a host of people who seem incapable of seeing what we do as obvious. That’s half the point of course with many swept up into what they want to believe rather than dig beyond the surface.
As things begin to crumble between Laura and Savannah, with Laura unable to corral the circus as well as she hopes, the story leans on Savannah’s plight, eventually painting Laura into darker corners. That’s to be expected of course with the 2016 documentary, Author: The JT LeRoy Story, already taking Laura’s side of the story.
Still, putting aside the bitter reality of it all, the film on its own is a challenge as these characters grow darker and more complicated. It’s an undoubtedly intriguing story where the story behind the story is as compelling as the story itself. It’s not quite as sustainable as it wants, running out of steam in the middle, and strangely, it never feels as if it’s based on anything real, but I enjoyed the dynamic between Dern and Stewart enough to say it’s worth a look.