First look at the movie based on the true-life literary controversy.
Director Justin Kelly's J.T. LeRoy sees Laura Dern play author Laura Albert, who famously pulled off a literary hoax by passing off her fiction as the biographical work of a fictional teenage boy named JT Leroy. When LeRoy became required to make public appearances, Albert roped in her boyfriend's younger sister, Savannah Knoop, to play the role.
Kelly's film tells the story from the perspective of Knoop, played by Kristen Stewart. The film also stars Diane Kruger, Jim Sturgess and Courtney Love.
J.T. LeRoy is in US cinemas and VOD April 26th. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
Check out the trailer below.
The official synopsis reads:
Based on Savannah Knoop’s memoir Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy, this captivating true story goes beyond the headlines to tell the story of the most compelling literary ‘hoax’ of recent times. Laura Albert (Laura Dern) writes as her “avatar,” a disenfranchised young queer man named JT LeRoy. When her debut novel becomes a best-seller and JT becomes the darling of the literary world, she comes up with a unique solution to preserve her anonymity but give life to her nom-de-plume.
Enter her boyfriend’s androgynous fun-loving sister Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart), who connects with Laura’s punk, feminist, outsider universe and agrees to be JT in the public eye. Together, they embark on a wild ride of double lives, infiltrating the Hollywood and literary elite, only to discover who they are while pretending to be someone else.