‘May December’s Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore & Todd Haynes On “The Stories We Tell Ourselves” In Looking To “Survive Our Lives” – Contenders Film L.A.
19.11.2023 - 03:23
/ deadline.com
When Julianne Moore first was approached for May December, a dark dramedy that would have her star opposite Natalie Portman under the direction of frequent collaborator Todd Haynes, she said yes immediately. But only in looking more closely at the material and her Gracie character did she come to understand the complexity of what she’d just signed on for.
“I called up Todd and said, ‘I can’t do this. This is too hard!’” the actress admitted Saturday in conversation with Joe Utichi at Deadline’s Contenders Film L.A. “I was really struggling. I’m like, ‘Who is this woman?’” The character was difficult to get a handle on, she said, given how strongly she was holding on “to her own narrative, to her own performance,” with regard to her life and who was. “And what is that performance?” she wondered.
In examining the script by Samy Burch, when producer Portman sent it over through her newly launched production company MountainA, Haynes resonated immediately with exactly the theme Moore was referencing, in terms of “the stories we tell ourselves” and others, as we look to “survive our lives.” What made the material all the more amazing was its “tone and sense of confidence” in navigating what was truly “disturbing territory.”
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Loosely based on the story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the film revolves around a married couple who, 20 years ago, fell into a scandalous romance as teacher (Moore) and underage student (Charles Melton), remaining together even after being intensely scrutinized for their decisions. Imposing a new sense of pressure on the pair, all these years later, is the