In Todd Haynes’ new film May December, Natalie Portman takes on her most challenging role yet — playing Julianne Moore. The new film from the Carol filmmaker sees television star Elizabeth (Portman) preparing for the role of Gracie (Moore), half of a notorious tabloid relationship that’s now part of the distant past. But as Elizabeth digs for inspiration, the past begins to invade the present, and long-forgotten feelings take center stage. The trailer above captures the film’s swampy mix of melodrama and delusion. Read on for everything you need to know about the movie.
In May December, popular television actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) heads to Savannah, Georgia, to research a part in a new film that follows a scandalous tabloid romance. That love affair — between Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) — was once a fixture of the gossip pages. After all, Joe is significantly younger than Gracie, who served time in prison when they were caught together. When she was released, the pair were married, and they now have three children together who are about to graduate from high school. At first glance, their untraditional marriage looks more predictable than Elizabeth expected. But soon, her observation brings long-dormant feelings to the surface, and the decades-old scandal reveals deeper and deeper layers. From first-time screenwriter Samy Burch, May December is a deliciously witty film about performance and exploitation that juggles surreal melodrama with humane perception.
“The seed of it for me was always the character of Joe, this idea of being a 36-year-old man who was about to be an empty-nester, who hadn't processed what happened to him when he was young or the media blitz that followed,” Burch told Netflix about her inspiration for the script. “That was the first thing that really excited me about it, and then also the chance to look more closely at 1990s tabloid culture and how it has pretty seamlessly transitioned into this true-crime frenzy that we’re living in.”
Short answer: both. Like many of Haynes’ other films, May December walks a tightrope between melodrama and comedy. “[Humor] was evident in Samy Burch’s script, but I don’t think you can fully imagine how it plays out until actors of this caliber are navigating it,” Haynes tells Tudum.
As producer Pamela Koffler says about Haynes: “...stylistically, in Todd's approach, there's a looseness, there's a humor, and there's a control, and there's a tension that I feel are held in such exquisite balance that takes such an understanding and a skill in filmmaking to achieve.”
The film’s score also helps set that tone before the actors even appear on the screen. “The music is so assaultive and so right in your face,” Haynes says. “There's a sense of irony or foreboding that is implicit.” The music, by the late French composer Michael Legrand, was originally written for Joseph Losey’s 1971 film The Go-Between. In that film, Haynes says, the score serves a crucial purpose that he sought to capture for May December. “It sets you up in this state of expectancy,” Haynes says. “And you're kind of in this excited state of reading the frame and searching for signals and clues.” In other words: You’re laughing with May December, not at it.
In an episode of the podcast Skip Intro, Krista Smith digs into the making of the film with director Todd Haynes Haynes, actors Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, and Charles Melton, as well as writer Samy Burch and producer Christine Vachon.
Listen to Todd Haynes as he talks about casting Charles Melton, reuniting with Julianne Moore for their fifth cinematic collaboration and why he was so eager to work with Natalie Portman. The filmmaker also explores his past work, and the precise moment he decided to become an artist.
Listen to Krista Smith in conversation with Julianne Moore on Skip Intro.
Listen to Charles Melton on Skip Intro below:
Twenty years after she went to prison for what she claimed was a love affair with a 13-year-old boy — now her husband, Joe (Melton) — Gracie remains steadfast and loyal to the life they’ve built together. Still, Gracie has something brewing beneath the surface. She is not as put together as she appears and wants to feel in control of her life. Throughout the duration of Elizabeth’s visit with the family, Gracie’s façade — and the reality she lives in — begins to crack, as it becomes clear how fragile she really is.
“She talks a lot about this great love story that they had, how they fell in love and he was really her prince,” Moore tells Krista Smith in a new episode of the podcast Skip Intro. “So I was like, ‘Aha, okay, she’s not a queen. She's remained a princess.’ And in order to have this great romance with 13-year-old boy, she has to elevate him to manhood just to make it work culturally.”
In her role as Gracie, Moore teams up Haynes for the fifth time in a long career partnership dating back to the ’90s. Together, the pair have worked on such movies as Safe, Far From Heaven, I’m Not There, and Wonderstruck. Naturally, she felt like the perfect person to take on the role of Gracie. “It didn't take very long for me to think about Julianne Moore for this role,” Haynes told Netflix.
The director trusted Moore’s process of figuring out through her own research how she would ultimately become Gracie. “I think Julianne was needing to really get to the core of what could make this kind of relationship occur.” Haynes said. “The complexity of the character of Gracie as written, and I think as it unfolded, particularly in conversations with Julianne, represents a myriad of contradictions and fascinating elements of willfulness, and then a resolute, almost stubborn lack of self-reflection, a determination to stick to the choices that she’s made.”
Magnolia, The Kids Are All Right, Still Alice
Elizabeth is a talented actress who heads to Savannah to study Gracie and Joe’s family life as she prepares to play the former in an independent film about their scandalous love affair. At first, Elizabeth appears curious and nonjudgmental; she is genuine in her desire to learn more about Gracie and Joe’s relationship. But her motivations become questionable at times, as her participation in the family’s day-to-day begins to unravel their lives.
“I was excited to explore an actress,” Portman told Netflix about taking on the role. “I've never really played an actress, and, of course, it's something I have insight into by being one myself for a long time. It's interesting to me the kind of performance that people create in their own lives that is akin to acting.”
Portman, of course, is an Oscar-winning actress known for her incredible range. She’s done everything from period pieces like The Other Boleyn Girl to thrilling dramas like Black Swan and romantic comedies such as No Strings Attached, making her a perfect fit to dive into the complex performance of Elizabeth.
“Both women are circling each other and trying to get a handle on each other. I think a lot of it is about a process of trust, which is Natalie’s character, Elizabeth’s goal to make Gracie feel toward her,” said Haynes. “It’s Elizabeth’s project to try to navigate around these resistances piece by piece.”
Black Swan, V For Vendetta, Annihilation, Jackie, The Other Boleyn Girl
Joe is Gracie’s quiet and boyish 36-year-old husband. The pair have three kids together, and they are preparing to become empty nesters. Joe seems to go with the flow, afraid to take control of his life. But when Elizabeth visits with the family to learn more about Gracie, he begins to question his marriage and the life they built together. For the first time since he met Gracie, Joe seems to consider whether the life he has is the one he really wants.
“You kind of see this child rising to the surface where there really wasn’t anything resolved,” Melton tells Tudum. “Being a great father, being a loving husband, being a provider — all these things come before he does, and he’s never really had the chance to really look at himself.”
Playing Joe was a departure for Melton, whose transformation into a suburban husband and father really impressed Haynes. The director said he was “stunned by the understatement and a sense of understanding” Melton had of the character during the audition process. “The way he depicted somebody who was so stuck, so caged up, so bound up in this marriage, and who really had not learned yet how to take steps on his own behalf.”
The Sun Is Also a Star, Poker Face
May December is a term for a relationship with a wide age gap between partners — in this case, Gracie and Joe.
Yes. At the 96th Academy Awards, Samy Burch and her partner Alex Mechanik, who shares a story credit with Burch, were nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
At the 81st Golden Globe Awards, May December was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. Its three stars also picked up nominations — Natalie Portman for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy; Julianne Moore for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture; and Charles Melton for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture.
The film is now streaming in the Netflix in the U.S. and Canada.
