Yahoo Movies May December's Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore respond to real-life criticism
May December stars Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore have responded to criticism from the man at the centre of the case which served as a loose inspiration for the story.
The movie sees Portman play an actress who meets Gracie, the real-life inspiration for a role she is playing. Gracie is infamous for a 23-year-long relationship with a man that began when she was 36 and he was just 13.
The story mirrors the real-life case of teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, who was imprisoned after starting a sexual relationship with Vili Fualaau when he was 12-years-old. Screenwriter Samy Burch has said this loosely inspired the project.
Related: Julianne Moore explains her lisp in May December
However, Fualaau recently spoke out against May December, claiming that the filmmakers never reached out to him.
“I’m still alive and well,” he recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “If they had reached out to me, we could have worked together on a masterpiece. Instead, they chose to do a rip-off of my original story.
“I’m offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me – who lived through a real story and is still living it."
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Moore reacted to Fualaau's criticism, saying: "I'm very sorry that he feels that way.
Related: May December’s Charles Melton responds to awards wins and Oscar buzz
"I mean, [director] Todd [Haynes] was always very clear when we were working on this movie that this was an original story, this was a story about these characters.
"So that's how we looked at it too. This was our document, we created these characters from the page and together."
Portman added of the criticism: "I’m so sorry to hear that. It's not based on them, it's, you know, obviously their story influenced the culture that we all grew up in and influenced the idea.
"But it's fictional characters that are really brought to life by Julianne Moore and Charles Melton so beautifully, and yeah, it's its own story, it's not meant to be a biopic."
May December is available on Sky Cinema in the UK, and on Netflix in the US.
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