It
was the biggest literary scandal to rock book groups until James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces was revealed to
be a fraud a few months later. At least, the books in question were always
billed as novels, even though heavy autobiographical elements were explicitly
implied—but implied by whom? In phone interviews, it was Laura Albert, the
author who wrote under the LeRoy name and played him in phone interviews, but
it was her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop who assumed the role for photo shoots and
public appearances. They really didn’t think they pulling a fast one until the
story broke according to Justin Kelly’s not so dramatic retelling of the tale
in JT LeRoy, which opens tomorrow in
Los Angeles.
By
the time Knoop moved to San Francisco, Albert was already a bestseller under the
LeRoy name. For reasons that are never made clear, she felt more comfortable
writing her emotional revealing fiction pseudonymously, yet she was still quite
possessive of her work. She also enjoyed the game-playing aspect, particularly when
she took on the persona of LeRoy’s brash British agent, Speedy. However, LeRoy
was developing such a following, she needed the boyish Knoop to serve as LeRoy’s
socially awkward, mono-syllabic “body.”
,
Weirdly,
when Knoop appears as the androgynous LeRoy, she looks and sounds a lot like
Johnny Depp. Regardless, it is hard to understand why so many people were
apparently so fascinated by a person who is presented to be so painfully shy
and charisma-challenged. Frankly, it is altogether baffling when the fictional
actress Eva (transparently modeled on Asia Argento, who directed the film
adaptation of LeRoy’s The Heart is
Deceitful Above All Things) becomes so preoccupied with him (as she knew
LeRoy).
To
her credit, Kristen Stewart totally dives in and completely immerses herself in
the role of LeRoy (or rather Knoop playing LeRoy), whereas as Albert, Laura Dern's homespun histrionics always sound like they were intended for the camera's benefit. Yet, the real problem is Kelly’s
screenplay has the depth of a USA Today article.
It provides a coherent chronology of events, but gives viewers no sense of
anyone’s motives, beyond the most cliched, bargain-basement psycho-sexual
analysis.
It
is too bad, because Diane Kruger is spectacularly vampy as Eva and Jim Sturgess
provides a humanizing dimension as Knoop’s brother (and Albert’s husband), Geoffrey
Knoop, but Kelly’s treatment of the material never goes below the superficial
surface level. Seriously, do we ever get tired of hearing how sometimes fiction
holds a higher form of truth? Arguably, JT
LeRoy would be better suited to airings on Lifetime than showings in
theaters. Not recommended, it opens tomorrow (4/26) in the LA area, at the AMC
Sunset and Laemmle Playhouse and Monica Film Center.
