What is it about?
To prepare for her new role, a famous actress visits the woman she will play on screen, whose love life 20 years ago set the tabloids ablaze and excited the nation.
He is one of the biggest names in American independent cinema, directing such iconic films as Velvet Goldmine, Far From Paradise and Carol.
Todd Haynes, who had the honor of a major preview at the Center Pompidou last May, on which occasion he gave us a lengthy interview, is once again in the news with a May December release in competition for Cannes 2023. The filmmaker gave an interview to AlloCiné.
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Todd Haynes on Deauville’s board
AlloCiné: May December is interesting in regards to the gaze question. There is a juxtaposition, an abundance of views. It definitely affects the way you stage this story. Can you tell us about it?
Todd Haynes: What I felt when I read that script was finding a voice through the camera and as a film. There was something, a little gap in view where you question what you thought.
Elizabeth Berry’s (Natalie Portman) character is the one that will allow me to enter this story. We say to ourselves: I can trust him. And then, we say to ourselves, I’m not sure I can believe it. So you’ll be shifting your level of trust and investment to another character’s, your kind of moral constitution. The assumptions you bring up regarding ethical behavior are wrong, unbalanced… and that’s what I love about the scenario. (Signed Sami Burch, a casting director, who here signs his first feature film script, editor’s note.
). There is wit and a kind of humor.In the film, we have this privileged position of observer
Then I wonder if the camera is not also occupying a position in the landscape some distance from the action, and we feel in the position of an observer. And so mirrors and scenes with mirrors became a very important motif throughout the film. Because you are watching the actress look at herself in the mirror, and try to match what she sees in the photo or the real subject next to her in the mirror.
And you could observe the relay of Natalie’s (Portman) gaze as if she saw the lens herself. So he sees Julian (Moore) through the lens. Julian looks at the camera as if it were himself and sees Natalie through the lens.
May December Productions 2022 LLC
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore
So there was this constant ricochet of looks that we, the viewers, could see. We have this privileged position of observer, but we are also outside. So this mostly motivates the long-term, direct address of restrained cameras and lenses.
Did you get a chance to meet Marie Kay Letourneau, from whom the film is inspired?
No. We have kept a creative distance from this story. Mary Kay Letourneau died before we started filming. When I first read the script, it obviously reminded me of Marie Kay Letourneau’s story. But I loved all the things Sammy Burch added, to separate it from the original story. I was very interested in the idea of trying to believe the differences between the two.
We kept a creative distance from Mary Kay Letourneau’s story
Sammy (Burch) started the script in Camden, Maine, in the northeastern United States. In the fall of 2022, when we got a normal shooting schedule with the actresses, Camden, Maine, was too cold to shoot, especially in May. The film is slated to premiere in May. We started thinking about Savannah. This place became more and more interesting, strange and special for us. This also allowed us to differentiate it from the story of Mary Kay Letourneau.
I would also like to discuss with you a current topic, which is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is perceived as a threat to the future of actors, screenwriters and other actors, and which has been a cause of long-standing strikes. Hollywood. What is your position on this topic?
I, personally, am not paralyzed by anxiety caused by AI. Because I have high hopes for how it can help science and medical research, for example. I don’t see it as a direct threat to creation, to creative minds. I don’t think computers can easily replace the creative process. Creation exists through mistakes and disorder. These are things that a computer cannot create.
If there was a formula for making the perfect money-making blockbuster, Hollywood would have done it by now.
Hollywood has always sought to make the perfect film, from its beginnings, in the 1910s, to the dawn of talkies. If there was a formula for making the perfect money-making blockbuster, he would have created it by now. It doesn’t work like that. You can’t do that. It all happens by accident.
Another topic I’d like to discuss with you is…Barbie! You made an even lesser-known film with Barbies, and it was the first…
The reason for not watching the film is that it was banned because we didn’t have the rights to the music, Carpenters’ songs in the film. Legally the film cannot be released. But it gave Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story a somewhat underground aura and value.
To see it, you have to roll VHS copies under cover
To watch it, you had to pass around the VHS copies under the counter. This contributes to the legend surrounding the superstar. Obviously that wasn’t my intention, but it contributes to something personal and private about the film. This earned it cult status.
This is a film that really marks the beginning of my career in many ways. It encompasses all the themes, which I continue to explore today, and all in one film.
It’s about a heroine, it’s about someone suffering from a serious illness, it’s about celebrity and pop culture. It’s about music, success and how difficult it can be, especially when you’re a woman. And there is a stylistic approach to the way the story is told that sets this film apart from other biopics. In a lot of ways, it combines a lot of things that I still do today, and all in one film.
Comments collected in Paris, September 12, 2023
May December, Todd Haynes’ 10th feature film, was released in France on January 24. Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton play the lead roles. To prepare for her new role, a famous actress visits the woman she will play on screen, whose love life 20 years ago set the tabloids ablaze and excited the nation.