More than 26 years after convicted sex offender Mary Kay Letourneau became a tabloid staple, a new film loosely based on her shocking case is making a big splash as awards season begins.
On Tuesday, Netflix unveiled a trailer for “May December,” which is set to hit theaters on November 17 ahead of its streaming release in December. Directed by Todd Haynes, the film follows Elizabeth Berry (played by Natalie Portman), a television actress who hopes to portray Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) in a biographical film.
As it turns out, Gracie is a former pet store owner who, after being released from prison, now lives in relative seclusion with her husband Joe (Charles Melton) and their children. The couple met when Gracie was 36 and Joe was a 13-year-old seventh grader.
Watch the trailer for “May December” below.
“May December” is clearly reminiscent of Letourneau’s case, although many details have been changed. In 1997, Letourneau pleaded guilty to raping Vili Fualaau. The former Seattle-area teacher began abusing Fualaau when he was a student in her sixth grade class.
The couple eventually had two children, one of whom was born while Letourneau was in prison. They married in 2005, about a year after Letourneau was released after spending more than seven years in prison.
Early reviews for “May December,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, were mostly positive. Vulture described the film as “both humane and devastating,” while praised Moore and Portman’s “riveting” performances. Both actors are widely expected to be among the top contenders of awards season.
Open image ModalNatalie Portman (left) and Julianne Moore in “May December”.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published on Tuesday, Haynes made no mention of Letourneau, who died in 2020 at the age of 58. Still, the “Far From Heaven” and “Carol” filmmaker acknowledged that his latest film “raises pressing questions that confront a society and…” The legal system had every right to interrogate.”
“It’s about the problems that women have to deal with in their lives and the contradictory roles they are often asked to play as objects of desire, and yet as mothers and protectors of the family and the institution of marriage they have to navigate all these complicated ones Demands that come from society,” said Haynes. “I think that’s where so much universal experience lies.”