Author: The JT LeRoy Story | |
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Directed by | Jeff Feuerzeig |
Written by | Jeff Feuerzeig |
Produced by |
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Starring | Laura Albert |
Cinematography | Richard Henkels |
Edited by | Michelle M. Witten |
Music by | Walter Werzowa |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Amazon Studios Magnolia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $96,604 (Worldwide) [1] |
Author: The JT LeRoy Story is a 2016 American documentary film about American writer Laura Albert and her literary persona JT LeRoy. [2] It examines the critical acclaim given the JT LeRoy books and their international popularity, and the subsequent scandal when it was revealed that LeRoy did not exist and Albert had written the books. Jeff Feuerzeig, the film's writer/director, told Kevin Lally of Film Journal International, “I thought it was the wildest story about story I had ever heard,” and noted, “one voice glaringly missing from all these accounts [was] the voice of the author of the fiction on and off the page, Laura Albert. She had held her story back, and I said: Wow! That’s the voice I would like to hear.” [3]
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016. [4]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 92 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Author: The JT LeRoy Story serves as a worthy primer on its fascinating subject as well as an insightful look at the ever-evolving nature of modern celebrity." [5] On Metacritic the film has a score of 72 out of 100, based on reviews from 24 critics. [6]
Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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2017 | Cinema Eye Honors | The Unforgettables | Laura Albert | Won | [7] |
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation | Ana Gomez Bernaus, Syd Garon and Chris Kirk | Nominated | [8] | ||
Writers Guild of America | Best Documentary Screenplay | Jeff Feuerzeig | Nominated | [9] | |
2016 | Sundance Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize: Documentary | Nominated | [10] | |
DocAviv | The International Competition | Nominated | |||
Champs-Élysées Film Festival | Prix du jury | Nominated | [11] |
Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a teenage boy of his experiences of poverty, drug use, and emotional and sexual abuse in his childhood and adolescence from rural West Virginia to California. Albert wrote these works, and communicated with people in the persona of LeRoy via phone and e-mail. Following the release of the first novel Sarah, Albert's sibling-in-law Savannah Knoop began to make public appearances as the supposed writer. The works attracted considerable literary and celebrity attention, and the authenticity of LeRoy has been a subject of debate, even as details of the creation came to light in the 2000s.
Jeff Dowd is an American film producer and political activist.
Savannah Knoop is an American artist and filmmaker. From 1999 to 2005, Knoop performed the public role of literary hoax JT Leroy.
Laura Victoria Albert is an American author who invented the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar." She published various works of purportedly autobiographical fiction under the LeRoy name before being revealed as the true author. Albert has also used the aliases Emily Frasier and Speedie, and published other works as Laura Victoria and Gluttenberg. After the true authorship was revealed, Albert was sued for fraud for having signed a film-option contract as the fictitious LeRoy; a jury found against her. The damages to be paid to the film company were settled out of court.
University ProfessorWalter Werzowa is an Austrian composer, producer and owner of LA-based music production studio Musikvergnuegen. He is most famous for composing the "Intel bong" jingle and the 1980s hit "Bring Me Edelweiss" as part of the band Edelweiss. Walter Werzowa joined an AI team to co-write Beethoven’s 10th symphony, that premiered October 9, 2021 in Bonn. The rock star Robbie Williams heard Walter's Beethoven work and asked to work on Robby's 2022 Angels remake. He is leading the music department for the immersive Mythos Mozart Experience Vienna. Walter collaborated with Refik Anadol in "Mozart Forever." Walter is heading the Filmmusik department at mdw University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Jeff Levy-Hinte is an American film producer. He serves as the President of Antidote International Films, Inc. based in New York City. He produced The Kids Are All Right, co-written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, which won the 68th Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, and Best Performance by an Actress for Annette Bening.
Antidote Films, also known as Antidote International Films, Inc., is an independent film production company founded by producer Jeff Levy-Hinte based in the Hudson Square neighborhood of New York City. In 2008, Antidote completed several documentaries, including Soul Power and The Dungeon Masters, both of which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a novel-like book of ten related short stories written by Laura Albert under the name JT LeRoy, a persona that she has described as an "avatar," asserting that it enabled her to write things that she was incapable of expressing as Laura Albert. These stories predate the 2000 JT LeRoy novel Sarah but were published in 2001, after Sarah was released. The title is taken from Jeremiah 17:9.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a 2005 documentary film about American musician Daniel Johnston.
Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author, playwright, speaker and human rights activist, best known for the 2017 documentary Icarus, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018.
Eddie Schmidt is an American director, showrunner, producer, writer, commentator and satirist. He is perhaps best known for producing several feature documentaries that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including Valentine Road (2013), This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), and Twist of Faith (2005), and for directing and showrunning television projects including Ugly Delicious (2018), Chelsea Does (2016), and The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey (2016).
Jeff Feuerzeig is an American film director and screenwriter best known for The Devil and Daniel Johnston, his profile of cult musician and outsider artist Daniel Johnston, for which he was awarded the Directing prize for Documentary at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and which was released theatrically in March 2006 by Sony Pictures Classics.
David France is an American investigative reporter, non-fiction author, and filmmaker. He is a former Newsweek senior editor, and has published in New York magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and others. France, who is gay, is best known for his investigative journalism on LGBTQ topics.
Justin Kelly is an American film director, screenwriter and film editor. He came to prominence as director and writer of Sundance Film Festival 2015 select I Am Michael, starring James Franco and Zachary Quinto. He then wrote and directed King Cobra, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival starring Christian Slater and James Franco, followed by Sony Pictures 2018 release Welcome the Stranger starring Riley Keough and Caleb Landry Jones, and most recently JT LeRoy (2018) starring Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern.
The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. The closing night film was Louis Black and Karen Bernstein's Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny.
JT LeRoy is a 2018 biographical drama film directed by Justin Kelly based on the memoir Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy by Savannah Knoop. It stars Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Diane Kruger, James Jagger, Dave Brown, Jim Sturgess and Courtney Love.
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This is a list of winners of the Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for documentary features.