Natalie PortmanandJulianne Moorestrike up an unsettling dynamic in their latest film.
Netflix debuted the first trailer forMay Decemberon Tuesday, the latest from director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven,Carol).
The movie is about an actress named Elizabeth Berry (Portman) who prepares for her next role as the older woman in a scandalous tabloid romance 20 years after making headlines.
Elizabeth travels to Savannah, Georgia, to study the real-life couple behind the story — Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Moore) and Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) — whose illicit affair previously landed Gracie in prison due to their age difference. After her release, the two married.
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in “May December”.Francois Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix
Francois Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix
A press release for the film (which premiered at theCannes Film Festivalearlier this year) says the couple “buckles under pressure” when Elizabeth “arrives to do research for a film about their past.”
Director Haynestold Netflix’s Tudumhow he worked with Moore to capture the complexities of her character.
“I think Julianne was needing to really get to the core of what could make this kind of relationship occur,” he 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.”
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in “May December”.Francois Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix
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May Decemberopens the New York Film Festival on Friday. It’s in select theaters Nov. 17 then on Netflix Dec. 1.
source: people.com
