An astounding true story is impeccably captured by writer-director Justin Kelly with the new to Blu-Ray and DVD release, J.T. Leroy.
Laura Dern stars as Laura Albert. She’s an author who pens her work under a pseudonym, or an “avatar” as she calls it. It is a pen name that is JT LeRoy, who she describes as a “young queer gentleman.” No big deal, right? Only thing, LeRoy’s books take off and become huge pop culture entities and suddenly Albert needs someone to be LeRoy as the demands of the media are reaching a fever pitch and if she doesn’t produce a soul to “be” her pen name, she may lose readers and at the worst—future writing opportunities.
What is she to do? Well, she turns to her boyfriend’s easy-going sister, Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart). Knoop has no problem becoming LeRoy and as portrayed in the film that carries the nom de plume’s moniker, she rather enjoys it. That is until things get challenging.
JT has become a darling of the literary world and Albert is facing a supreme challenge. She invented the author name because she wanted to keep treasuring her anonymity. When demand for LeRoy hits a fever pitch, she sends in Stewart’s Knoop, aka LeRoy, and for a period, things go swimmingly for all involved. The thing is, if the truth were to get out, this would become a literary hoax of the highest order and all who perpetuated the lie would be persona non grata in the literary world. Surely that won’t happen … or does it?
Knoop was drawn to being LeRoy since she identified with her persona. She’s a feminist. She’s rather radical and above all else, she isn’t Knoop—who Stewart’s character appears to be ready to take a break from being. This ride that Knoop and Albert go on finds them rubbing elbows with Hollywood and literary world elite.
Albert coaches Knoop on the finer points of being this “character” and the two form a bond that is brilliantly portrayed in Kelly’s script and of course on the big screen. These are two wildly rich characters that any pair of actresses would have done anything to inhabit. The fact that audiences got two stunning talents in Dern and Stewart adds layers of complexity and richness to these characters that are just brilliant. The two thespians put on a clinic and their J.T. LeRoy journey is beyond blissful and one of the more surprising home video releases of the year so far.
There’s an all-star cast beyond Dern and Stewart that features Diane Kruger, Courtney Love, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and the always awesome Jim Sturgess. Kruger’s character, Eva, is key to this thing and how it becomes complicated to say the least. She is passionate about this book and is doing everything she can to secure the rights to develop and direct the page-to-screen effort. Eva notices that Albert is heavily involved in the process and that starts to bring question marks into the equation when she believes all this detail wrangling should be solely through LeRoy (aka Knoop). JT (Stewart) starts to take control of the development of the page-to-screen effort and that does not sit well with Albert. Yup, there’s trouble in paradise. For starters, LeRoy is supposed to be a man and Knoop is clearly not.
As a drama, this is a powerful look at creativity, fame and the complexities that can occur when those two concepts meet while jealousies and insecurities rear their complicated heads. The acting throughout this entire flick is top notch and the direction is even-paced and solid.
It’s not that surprising that it didn’t catch fire in theaters. After all, we’re living in an era when audiences keenly know that a film like this will easily find its way onto home video within months (or even weeks) of its theatrical release. Look for it to garner a lot of attention on Blu-Ray and DVD (and of course digital download formats) because it is such a solidly made cinematic experience and it raises a slew of ethical questions that will make for fantastically rich discussions after the credits roll. It is the rare film that upon its conclusion, I could easily have stuck around with these characters a bit longer. I know, the rare film that we wish was longer! What a concept.
When it comes to bonus features, don’t even bother looking—there aren’t any. Then again, that’s fine because J.T. LeRoy is one of those movies that can stand all on its own without all those home video bells and whistles. One would probably like to own it because it is also one of those flicks that repeated viewings will reveal fresh elements one never discovered before and you’re going to want to share this with friends. So, purchase J.T. LeRoy and prepare to wear it out!
Film Grade: A