Sundance 2016: ‘Author: The JT Leroy Story’ turns a forgotten controversy into a thrilling exploration
“Author: The JT Leroy Story” director Jeff Feuerzig and Laura Albert at the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
For many people, the JT Leroy scandal of a decade ago was a passing headline, a story that had lasting resonance to a few publishing insiders at best.
But as the indie-film director Jeff Feuerzeig discovered, the Leroy affair was much more than we know -- a strange, existential and ultimately thrilling story of a woman donning identities with a degree of spy-novel ambition (and, sometimes, Mel Brooks absurdity).
Feuerzeig is the director of “Author: The JT Leroy Story,” a new documentary about the nearly decade-long invention pulled off by the writer Laura Albert. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend ahead of playing on A&E and likely in theaters later this year. With vast access to Albert’s copious archives and thoughtful on-camera remembrances, Feuerzeig constructs a tightly woven and almost unbelievable yarn.
Sundance Film Festival 2016: Full coverage
“If I didn’t live through making the movie, I don’t know if I would have believed what happened,” Feuerzeig said in an interview at a condo here shortly after the film premiered this weekend.
She also created a rather rich biography. Rather than the 30-ish woman living with her boyfriend in San Francisco she actually was, Albert claimed she was Terminator (later Jeremiah Terminator, later JT, later JT Leroy), a 20-year-old, gender-questioning boy who grew up in truck stops with a prostitute mother, a young man who had struggled with drugs, suffered from HIV and flived 100 lives in just a few years.
Soon her (his) celebrity grew, Leroy’s fiction (and back story) attracting a raft of famous fans--not just in the publishing world but superstar musical acts like U2 and global celebs including Asia Argento.
What follows is the kind of identity-swapping scheme that a Hollywood producer would reject as too fantastic. At first Albert just pretended Leroy was a recluse (in one of several remarkable bits of video, she attended a reading in which other authors read from the work as she sat anonymously in the audience).
Imogen Poots, from the film “Frank and Lola,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Imogen Poots poses for a portrait at the Sundance Film Festival.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Imogen Poots and director Matthew Ross from the film “Frank and Lola” pose for an L.A. Times photo at the Sundance Film Festival.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Louis Black and Karen Bernstein, filmmakers from the film “Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny,” in a portrait taken at the L.A. Times studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Chris Hegedus, left, Steven Wise and D.A. Pennebaker of the film “Unlocking the Cage” pose for a portrait in the L.A. Times studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Chris Hegedus, director of “Unlocking the Cage,” in a portrait at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jon Shenk, left, subject Daisy Coleman and Bonni Cohen, director from the film “Audrie & Daisy,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Vincent Piazza from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Daisy Coleman, subject from the film “Audrie & Daisy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director Clea DuVall from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Melanie Lynskey from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Shannon from the film “Complete Unknown.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ben Schwartz from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jason Ritter, left, Ben Schwartz, Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Piazza, Clea DuVall, director, Melanie Lynskey from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ben Schwartz, left, and Jason Ritter from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jason Ritter from the film “Intervention.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Aaron Brookner, director from the film “Uncle Howard.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Executive producer/narrator Katie Couric, right, and filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig from the film “Under The Gun.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Executive producer/narrator Katie Couric from the film “Under The Gun.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Amandla Stenberg from the film “As You Are.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Chernus, left, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Marston from the film “Complete Unknown.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Chernus, left, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Marston from the film “Complete Unknown.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Danfung Dennis, filmmaker, and Casey Brown, producer from the virtual reality experience “Condition One.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ciro Guerra, writer-director from the film “Embrace of the Serpent.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Josh Fox, director from the film “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Christopher Waldorf, left, Chi Chi Mizrahi,, MikeQ, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, co-writer/subject, Sara Jordeno, writer-director, Gia Marie Love, Kenneth “Symba McQueen” Soler-Rios from the film “Kiki.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Kahane Cooperman, showrunner/executive producer from the film “The New Yorker Presents.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Frankie Shaw, director-writer stars in “Too Legit.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Dawn Porter, director from the film “Trapped.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Keith Fulton, director, Lou Pepe, director, Jennifer Coffield and A.J. Wright from the film “Bad Kids.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Lou Pepe, left, and Keith Fulton, directors from the film “Bad Kids.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jennifer Coffield and A.J. Wright from the film “Bad Kids.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Villar from the film “Carnage Park.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Mickey Keating, director from the film “Carnage Park.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rebecca Hall from the film “Christine.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Tahir Jetter, director from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Alex Ross Perry from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jenny Slate from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Thomas Middleditch from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Nick Kroll, left, Brett Gelman, Thomas Middleditch, Adam Pally, Alex Ross Perry, Jenny Slate, Jeff Baena, director, and Lauren Weedman from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jeff Baena, director, from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Paulina Garcia from the film “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Diego Luna, director of “Mr. Pig.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Maya Rudolph, star of “Mr. Pig”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Actors Danny Glover, from left, Maya Rudolph and “Mr. Pig” director Diego Luna.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Writer-director Richard Tanne, from left, Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, from “Southside With You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Tika Sumpter from “Southside With You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Actor Waleed Zuaiter from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Writer-director Jason Lew, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Boyd Holbrook, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Elisabeth Moss, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Elisabeth Moss, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Boyd Holbrook, from left, Octavia Spencer, writer-director Jason Lew, Elisabeth Moss and Waleed Zuaiter, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Octavia Spencer, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Octavia Spencer, from “The Free World.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Bobby Naderi, from “Under the Shadow.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Bobby Nader, from “Under The Shadow.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jeff Daniels Phillips, right, and Richard Brake from the film “31.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ashley Bell, left, Pat Healy, Mickey Keating, Michael Villar and James Landry Hébert from the film “Carnage Park.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ashley Bell from the film “Carnage Park.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rebecca Hall from the film “Christine.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rebecca Hall and director Antonio Campos from the film “Christine.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Dylan Gelula from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Writer-director Kerem Sanga from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Brianna Hildebrand, left, Kerem Sanga, writer-director, Brianna Hildebrand, Dylan Gelula and Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Brianna Hildebrand, left, Kerem Sanga, writer-director, Brianna Hildebrand, Dylan Gelula and Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Brianna Hildebrand from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Thomas Middleditch from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Lauren Weedman from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Brett Gelman from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Adam Pally from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Nick Kroll from the movie “Joshy.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Maya Rudolph from the film “Mr. Pig.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Maya Rudolph from the film “Mr. Pig.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Danny Glover from the film “Mr. Pig.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Haerry Kim from the film “Spa Night.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Haerry Kim, left, director Andrew Ahn and Joe Seo from the film “Spa Night.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director Andrew Ahn from the film “Spa Night.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Joe Seo from the film “Spa Night.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Asif Kapadia, filmmaker from “Ali & Nino,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Alysia Reiner, left, and Sarah Megan Thomas from the film “Equity.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Alysia Reiner from the film “Equity.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Sarah Megan Thomas from the film “Equity.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Steven Caple Jr., writer and director for the film “The Land.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jorge Lendeborg Jr. from the film “The Land.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Moises Arias from the film “The Land.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rafi Gavron, left, Ezri Walker, Steven Caple Jr., Moises Arias and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. from the film “The Land.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ezri Walker from the film “The Land.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Moises Arias from the film “The Land.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Yoshiki from the film “We are X.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Stephen Kijak, left, and Yoshiki from the film “We are X.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Co-directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg from the film “Weiner.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Penelope Ann Miller from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Armie Hammer from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Gabrielle Union from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Gabrielle Union, left, Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer, Nate Parker, director, Penelope Ann Miller and Jackie Earle Haley from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Nate Parker, director from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jackie Earle Haley from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Aja Naomi King from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jessie Kahnweiler, star-director-producer, from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Illeana Douglas, star-producer, left, Jill Soloway, executive producer, Rebecca Odes, executive producer, Jessie Kahnweiler, star-director-producer, and Andrea Sperling, producer, from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jill Soloway, executive producer from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jessie Kahnweiler from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rebecca Odes, executive producer from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Illeana Douglas from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Illeana Douglas from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Andrea Sperling, producer from the film “The Skinny.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)DeWanda Wise from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jenna Williams, from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Alano Miller, left, DeWanda Wise, Tahir Jetter, Charles Brice and producers Julius Pryor IV and Marttise Hill from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jennifer Ehle, from the film “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jennifer Ehle, left, Michael Barbieri, Mauricio Zacharias, Paulina Garcia, Ira Sachs, director, Theo Taplitz and Greg Kinnear, from the film “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Greg Kinnear from the film “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michael Barbieri, left, and Theo Taplitz from the film “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director and co-writer Ira Sachs, left, and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias from the film “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ira Sachs, director/co-writer from the film, “Little Men.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Mary Stuart Masterson from the film “As You Are.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Miles Joris-Peyrafitte from the film “As You Are.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Amandla Stenberg from the film “As You Are.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Scott Cohen from the film “As You Are.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Owen Campbell from the film “As You Are.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Parker Sawyers from the film “Southside With You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Tika Sumpter from the film “Southside With You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Richard Tanne, writer-director from the film “Southside With You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jeff Feuerzig, director from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Robert Jumper, left, director Tim Sutton, Anna Rose and Maica Armata from the film “Dark Night” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director Pieter-Jan De Pue from the film “The Land of the Enlightened.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Michal Huszcza, left, Michal Marczak, director, and Kris Baganski from the film “All These Sleepless Nights” get cozy.
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Abigail Spencer from the series “Rectify.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director Robert Greene and actress Kate Lyn Sheil from the film “Kate Plays Christine.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Actress Kate Lyn Sheil from the film “Kate Plays Christine.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Executive Producer Jim McNiel from the film “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”
( L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Werner Herzog, director of the film “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”
( L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Laura Albert from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jeff Feuerzig and subject Laura Albert from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jason Benjamin, director from the film “Suited.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jenni Konner, producer, left, Jason Benjamin, director, and Lena Dunham, producer, from the film “Suited.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jared Harris from the film “Certain Women.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jared Harris from the film “Certain Women.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Q., director of the film “Brahman Naman.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Q., director of the film “Brahman Naman.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Naman Ramachandran, left, Q., and Shashank Arora with Werner Herzog.
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Tanmay Dhanania, left, Shashank Arora, Naman Ramachandran, Steve Barron, producer, Q., director, Sid Mallya, screenwriter, from the film “Brahman Naman.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ralph Rodriguez, left, Brian “Sene” Marc, Morgan Saylor, Adrian Martinez, India Menuez, Justin Bartha, Elizabeth Wood, filmmaker, and Anthony Ramos from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Brian “Sene” Marc from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Morgan Saylor from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Anthony Ramos from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Adrian Martinez from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)India Menuez from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Justin Bartha from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Elizabeth Wood from the film “White Girl.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Gavin Free for Lazer Team levitates.
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Anne Fontaine, director from the film “Agnus Dei.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Chloe Sevigny, left, Danny Perez and Natasha Lyonne from the film “Antibirth.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Chloe Sevigny from the film “Antibirth.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Chloe Sevigny from the film “Antibirth.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Natasha Lyonne from the film “Antibirth.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rachel Grady, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Heidi Ewing, co-director, Norman Lear, Rachel Grady, co-director, from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Norman Lear from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Heidi Ewing, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Heidi Ewing, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Kenneth Lonergan, director from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Lucas Hedges, left, Kenneth Lonergan, director, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Lucas Hedges from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Writer-director Sian Heder from the film “Talullah.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)John Benjamin Hickey, left, Allison Janney, Ellen Page, Sian Heder, writer-director, and Tammy Blanchard from the film “Talullah.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Ellen Page from the film “Talullah.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Allison Janney from the film “Talullah.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)John Benjamin Hickey from the film “Talullah.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Tammy Blanchard from the film “Talullah.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Riley Keough, left, So Yong Kim, director-writer, and Jena Malone from the film “Lovesong.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Riley Keough, left, Jessie Gray, Bradley Rust Gray, co-writer/producer, Jena Malone, So Yong Kim, director-writer, Rosanna Arquette, Sky Gray, Brooklyn Decker, Ryan Eggold for the film “Lovesong.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Brooklyn Decker from the film “Lovesong.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Rosanna Arquette from the film “Lovesong.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jena Malone from the film “Lovesong.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jena Malone, left, and Riley Keough from the film “Lovesong.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Jonathan Freeman, left, Owen Suskind, Gilbert Gottfried and director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)John Krasinski, left, Charlie Day, Margo Martindale, Sharlto Copley and Josh Groban from the film “The Hollars.”
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)David Wheeler, left, Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden from the film “Newtown.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Kim Snyder, left, director, and Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, from the film “Newtown.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Nicole Hockley, David Wheeler, Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, Kim Snyder, director, and Mark Barden from the film “Newtown.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Todd Solondz, director of the film “Wiener-Dog,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)Soon, though, Albert needed more characters to feed the beast. Savannah Knoop, the sister of Albert’s husband, was enlisted to pose as Leroy in public appearances, in sunglasses and colorful headwear.
Sound crazy? It gets wilder. Albert herself started becoming different people too, including “Speedie,” an assistant who was always accompanying Leroy. This was as complicated as it sounded--not only because Albert had to find ways to pull the strings, puppeteer-style, with her sister-in-law when Leroy appeared in public but because she had to keep track of who was saying what to whom. When Savannah met, as Leroy, with Gus van Sant over a planned film adaptation, Albert had to line up that conversation with what she was saying to Van Sant on the phone as Leroy.
This became even more complicated when Savannah, as Leroy, had an affair with Argento.
“My reaction to this story was the same as everyone else’s,” Feuerzeig said. “It’s a great literary hoax, and that was that. But as I started reading all these stories I thought, ‘There’s more here; there’s something we’re not hearing.’”
Albert had never told her story in full before, and might have turned down Feuerzeig if he hadn’t directed “The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” a Sundance standout from a decade ago about another notable but tortured artist, the titular songwriter. That had helped convince her, Fuerzeig said, that he would give her fair hearing and her tale full weight. (Albert also said at the screening that she was won over by the fact that “he was Jewish and he was punk rock,” which, she said, meant he rejected certain societal norms.)
The movie offers some intriguing theories about why Albert, who had an exceedingly difficult childhood, was so prone to creating these personae. (As a teenager she was using other people as “avatars” in the real world, which is as unusual as it sounds.) But it also raises universal questions about identity and selfhood. After all, who hasn’t adjusted or even created guises depending on context? Was Albert fundamentally different from the rest of us, the movie asks, or just more ambitious and public about it?
Albert did mislead a lot of people, and the sight on-screen of publishing stalwarts, like the agent Ira Silverberg, coming to terms with what she had done is pointed and won’t win Albert any sympathy.
But as the director said, it’s also clear the story was not as simple as that of a con man -- as seen here, Albert was less a fame-hungry opportunist than a confused person and artist who, in struggling to figure out who she was, fell backward into fame.
“This wasn’t something she was looking for. The books stood on their own. and the fans -- including the celebrity fans -- came to her,” Feuerzeig said.
Noted Albert at the screening: “My motives were not the motives that were attributed to me.”
(Most of her celebrity relationships, it should be said, were of the superficial sort--with two major exceptions. She formed a close relationship with “Deadwood” creator and resident Hollywood philosopher-poet David Milch, even working on an episode of the HBO show, as well as Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. Long before journalists began uncovering her deceptions, she spilled all her secrets to both of them; they maintained her confidence.)
Whether her books would have been as successful without the Leroy biography is a question the movie leaves open. Certainly it’s fair to think they fueled her success.
But Albert was also, in the end, a fiction writer. Her books, especially bestseller “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” garnered attention because of the quality of its prose. Her biography, mattered, but only partly.
“Author” also implicitly raises the question of whether our demands from fiction writers are unfair and contradictory. On the one hand, we want them to possess the flair for wild imagination that leads to great work, but we want that imagination to stop short in every other realm of life.
The film provides no easy answers, choosing instead to become a more complex exploration on the nature of self and story. “I don’t blame anyone on the receiving end of what Laura was doing,” Feuerzeig said in the interview. “But I don’t want to judge and I don’t want to moralize. I just want to show what this woman did, and what she went through.”
Whatever one’s conclusions, it’s clear that categorizing the Leroy affair as a simple huckster tale is insufficient. “I’m not a hoax, I’m a metaphor,” Albert says in the film to a skeptical reporter. She may be splitting the atom. Or she may be engaging in one more brilliant creation.
Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT
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Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.
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