We just can’t seem to get enough of scammer stories. There was the Netflix Fyre Festival documentary, the Anna Delvey scandal, the recent college admissions scandal and even the film Can You Ever Forgive Me which received Oscar nominations — all dominating pop culture conversations. Well now we have a new scandal and film to obsess over: J.T. Leroy, starring Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern, based on a real story of literary scandal in the mid 2000s.
The trailer for the film sees Kristen Stewart star as Savannah Knoop, who poses as elusive author J.T. Leroy. In reality J.T. Leory was a fictional name created by real life author Laura Albert to add weight to “autobiographical” writing about a hard upbringing in America. Laura (played by Laura Dern) made up the pseudonymous persona to be the face of her novels and roped in Savannah for the role of J.T. for a series of sold-out speaking events. The result is a lot of bad wigs, big glasses and lying to reporters who think there’s more to J.T. than meets the eye.
Justin Kelly directed the film with the real Savannah Knoop serving as co-writer, together they present the story as a personal and in-depth interpretation of the scandal and how it all fell apart after a New York Times expose in 2006. Just months after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, it’s set to be released this April. Check out the trailer below: