Sundance 2016: 'Author: The JT Leroy Story' turns a forgotten controversy into a thrilling exploration

"Author: The JT Leroy Story" director Jeff Feuerzig and Laura Albert at the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Jan. 25, 2016 1:47 PM PT

Reporting from Park City, UTAH — For many people, the JT Leroy scandal of a decade ago was a passing headline, a story that had lasting resonance to a few publishing insiders at best.

But as the indie-film director Jeff Feuerzeig discovered, the Leroy affair was much more than we know -- a strange, existential and ultimately thrilling story of a woman donning identities with a degree of spy-novel ambition (and, sometimes, Mel Brooks absurdity).

Feuerzeig is the director of “Author: The JT Leroy Story,” a new documentary about the nearly decade-long invention pulled off by the writer Laura Albert. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend ahead of playing on A&E and likely in theaters later this year. With vast access to Albert’s copious archives and thoughtful on-camera remembrances, Feuerzeig constructs a tightly woven and almost unbelievable yarn.

Sundance Film Festival 2016: Full coverage

“If I didn’t live through making the movie, I don’t know if I would have believed what happened,” Feuerzeig said in an interview at a condo here shortly after the film premiered this weekend.

Albert, the film tells us, was a depressed person struggling with body image and a penchant for calling phone-help lines when she decided to seek out the experimental writers Bruce Benderson and Dennis Cooper in the mid-1990s. Albert had been noodling with some gritty experimental fiction, and soon enough she had accrued some allies and, eventually, a publishing deal.

She also created a rather rich biography. Rather than the 30-ish woman living with her boyfriend in San Francisco she actually was, Albert claimed she was Terminator (later Jeremiah Terminator, later JT, later JT Leroy), a 20-year-old, gender-questioning boy who grew up in truck stops with a prostitute mother, a young man who had struggled with drugs, suffered from HIV and flived 100 lives in just a few years.

Soon her (his) celebrity grew, Leroy’s fiction (and back story) attracting a raft of famous fans--not just in the publishing world but superstar musical acts like U2 and global celebs including Asia Argento.

What follows is the kind of identity-swapping scheme that a Hollywood producer would reject as too fantastic. At first Albert just pretended Leroy was a recluse (in one of several remarkable bits of video, she attended a reading in which other authors read from the work as she sat anonymously in the audience).

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Imogen Poots, from the film “Frank and Lola,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Imogen Poots poses for a portrait at the Sundance Film Festival.

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Imogen Poots and director Matthew Ross from the film “Frank and Lola” pose for an L.A. Times photo at the Sundance Film Festival.

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Louis Black and Karen Bernstein, filmmakers from the film “Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny,” in a portrait taken at the L.A. Times studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Chris Hegedus, left, Steven Wise and D.A. Pennebaker of the film “Unlocking the Cage” pose for a portrait in the L.A. Times studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Chris Hegedus, director of “Unlocking the Cage,” in a portrait at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Jon Shenk, left, subject Daisy Coleman and Bonni Cohen, director from the film “Audrie & Daisy,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Vincent Piazza from the film “Intervention.”

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Daisy Coleman, subject from the film “Audrie & Daisy.”

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Director Clea DuVall from the film “Intervention.”

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Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”

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Melanie Lynskey from the film “Intervention.”

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Michael Shannon from the film “Complete Unknown.”

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Ben Schwartz from the film “Intervention.”

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Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”

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Jason Ritter, left, Ben Schwartz, Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Piazza, Clea DuVall, director, Melanie Lynskey from the film “Intervention.”

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Ben Schwartz, left, and Jason Ritter from the film “Intervention.”

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Jason Ritter from the film “Intervention.”

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Aaron Brookner, director from the film “Uncle Howard.”

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Executive producer/narrator Katie Couric, right, and filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig from the film “Under The Gun.”

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Executive producer/narrator Katie Couric from the film “Under The Gun.”

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Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”

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Amandla Stenberg from the film “As You Are.”

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Michael Chernus, left, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Marston from the film “Complete Unknown.”

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Michael Chernus, left, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Marston from the film “Complete Unknown.”

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Danfung Dennis, filmmaker, and Casey Brown, producer from the virtual reality experience “Condition One.”

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Ciro Guerra, writer-director from the film “Embrace of the Serpent.”

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Josh Fox, director from the film “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change.”

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Christopher Waldorf, left, Chi Chi Mizrahi,, MikeQ, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, co-writer/subject, Sara Jordeno, writer-director, Gia Marie Love, Kenneth “Symba McQueen” Soler-Rios from the film “Kiki.”

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Kahane Cooperman, showrunner/executive producer from the film “The New Yorker Presents.”

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Frankie Shaw, director-writer stars in “Too Legit.”

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Dawn Porter, director from the film “Trapped.”

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Keith Fulton, director, Lou Pepe, director, Jennifer Coffield and A.J. Wright from the film “Bad Kids.”

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Lou Pepe, left, and Keith Fulton, directors from the film “Bad Kids.”

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Jennifer Coffield and A.J. Wright from the film “Bad Kids.”

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Michael Villar from the film “Carnage Park.”

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Mickey Keating, director from the film “Carnage Park.”

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Rebecca Hall from the film “Christine.”

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Tahir Jetter, director from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”

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Alex Ross Perry from the movie “Joshy.”

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Jenny Slate from the movie “Joshy.”

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Thomas Middleditch from the movie “Joshy.”

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Nick Kroll, left, Brett Gelman, Thomas Middleditch, Adam Pally, Alex Ross Perry, Jenny Slate, Jeff Baena, director, and Lauren Weedman from the movie “Joshy.”

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Jeff Baena, director, from the movie “Joshy.”

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Paulina Garcia from the film “Little Men.”

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Diego Luna, director of “Mr. Pig.”

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Maya Rudolph, star of “Mr. Pig”

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Actors Danny Glover, from left, Maya Rudolph and “Mr. Pig” director Diego Luna.

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Writer-director Richard Tanne, from left, Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, from “Southside With You.”

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Tika Sumpter from “Southside With You.”

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Actor Waleed Zuaiter from “The Free World.”

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Writer-director Jason Lew, from “The Free World.”

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Boyd Holbrook, from “The Free World.”

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Elisabeth Moss, from “The Free World.”

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Elisabeth Moss, from “The Free World.”

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Boyd Holbrook, from left, Octavia Spencer, writer-director Jason Lew, Elisabeth Moss and Waleed Zuaiter, from “The Free World.”

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Octavia Spencer, from “The Free World.”

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Octavia Spencer, from “The Free World.”

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Bobby Naderi, from “Under the Shadow.”

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Bobby Nader, from “Under The Shadow.”

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Jeff Daniels Phillips, right, and Richard Brake from the film “31.”

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Ashley Bell, left, Pat Healy, Mickey Keating, Michael Villar and James Landry Hébert from the film “Carnage Park.”

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Ashley Bell from the film “Carnage Park.”

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Rebecca Hall from the film “Christine.”

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Rebecca Hall and director Antonio Campos from the film “Christine.”

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Dylan Gelula from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Writer-director Kerem Sanga from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Brianna Hildebrand, left, Kerem Sanga, writer-director, Brianna Hildebrand, Dylan Gelula and Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Brianna Hildebrand, left, Kerem Sanga, writer-director, Brianna Hildebrand, Dylan Gelula and Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Brianna Hildebrand from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”

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Thomas Middleditch from the movie “Joshy.”

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Lauren Weedman from the movie “Joshy.”

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Brett Gelman from the movie “Joshy.”

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Adam Pally from the movie “Joshy.”

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Nick Kroll from the movie “Joshy.”

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Maya Rudolph from the film “Mr. Pig.”

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Maya Rudolph from the film “Mr. Pig.”

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Danny Glover from the film “Mr. Pig.”

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Haerry Kim from the film “Spa Night.”

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Haerry Kim, left, director Andrew Ahn and Joe Seo from the film “Spa Night.”

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Director Andrew Ahn from the film “Spa Night.”

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Joe Seo from the film “Spa Night.”

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Asif Kapadia, filmmaker from “Ali & Nino,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Alysia Reiner, left, and Sarah Megan Thomas from the film “Equity.”

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Alysia Reiner from the film “Equity.”

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Sarah Megan Thomas from the film “Equity.”

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Steven Caple Jr., writer and director for the film “The Land.”

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Jorge Lendeborg Jr. from the film “The Land.”

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Moises Arias from the film “The Land.”

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Rafi Gavron, left, Ezri Walker, Steven Caple Jr., Moises Arias and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. from the film “The Land.”

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Ezri Walker from the film “The Land.”

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Moises Arias from the film “The Land.”

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Yoshiki from the film “We are X.”

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Stephen Kijak, left, and Yoshiki from the film “We are X.”

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Co-directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg from the film “Weiner.”

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Penelope Ann Miller from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Armie Hammer from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Gabrielle Union from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Gabrielle Union, left, Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer, Nate Parker, director, Penelope Ann Miller and Jackie Earle Haley from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Nate Parker, director from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Jackie Earle Haley from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Aja Naomi King from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”

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Jessie Kahnweiler, star-director-producer, from the film “The Skinny.”

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Illeana Douglas, star-producer, left, Jill Soloway, executive producer, Rebecca Odes, executive producer, Jessie Kahnweiler, star-director-producer, and Andrea Sperling, producer, from the film “The Skinny.”

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Jill Soloway, executive producer from the film “The Skinny.”

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Jessie Kahnweiler from the film “The Skinny.”

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Rebecca Odes, executive producer from the film “The Skinny.”

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Illeana Douglas from the film “The Skinny.”

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Illeana Douglas from the film “The Skinny.”

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Andrea Sperling, producer from the film “The Skinny.”

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DeWanda Wise from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”

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Jenna Williams, from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”

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Alano Miller, left, DeWanda Wise, Tahir Jetter, Charles Brice and producers Julius Pryor IV and Marttise Hill from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”

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Jennifer Ehle, from the film “Little Men.”

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Jennifer Ehle, left, Michael Barbieri, Mauricio Zacharias, Paulina Garcia, Ira Sachs, director, Theo Taplitz and Greg Kinnear, from the film “Little Men.”

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Greg Kinnear from the film “Little Men.”

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Michael Barbieri, left, and Theo Taplitz from the film “Little Men.”

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Director and co-writer Ira Sachs, left, and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias from the film “Little Men.”

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Ira Sachs, director/co-writer from the film, “Little Men.”

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Mary Stuart Masterson from the film “As You Are.”

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Miles Joris-Peyrafitte from the film “As You Are.”

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Amandla Stenberg from the film “As You Are.”

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Scott Cohen from the film “As You Are.”

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Owen Campbell from the film “As You Are.”

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Parker Sawyers from the film “Southside With You.”

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Tika Sumpter from the film “Southside With You.”

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Richard Tanne, writer-director from the film “Southside With You.”

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Jeff Feuerzig, director from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”

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Robert Jumper, left, director Tim Sutton, Anna Rose and Maica Armata from the film “Dark Night” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

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Director Pieter-Jan De Pue from the film “The Land of the Enlightened.”

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Michal Huszcza, left, Michal Marczak, director, and Kris Baganski from the film “All These Sleepless Nights” get cozy.

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Abigail Spencer from the series “Rectify.”

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Director Robert Greene and actress Kate Lyn Sheil from the film “Kate Plays Christine.”

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Actress Kate Lyn Sheil from the film “Kate Plays Christine.”

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Executive Producer Jim McNiel from the film “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”

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Werner Herzog, director of the film “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”

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Laura Albert from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”

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Jeff Feuerzig and subject Laura Albert from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”

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Jason Benjamin, director from the film “Suited.”

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Jenni Konner, producer, left, Jason Benjamin, director, and Lena Dunham, producer, from the film “Suited.”

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Jared Harris from the film “Certain Women.”

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Jared Harris from the film “Certain Women.”

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Q., director of the film “Brahman Naman.”

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Q., director of the film “Brahman Naman.”

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Naman Ramachandran, left, Q., and Shashank Arora with Werner Herzog.

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Tanmay Dhanania, left, Shashank Arora, Naman Ramachandran, Steve Barron, producer, Q., director, Sid Mallya, screenwriter, from the film “Brahman Naman.”

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Ralph Rodriguez, left, Brian “Sene” Marc, Morgan Saylor, Adrian Martinez, India Menuez, Justin Bartha, Elizabeth Wood, filmmaker, and Anthony Ramos from the film “White Girl.”

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Brian “Sene” Marc from the film “White Girl.”

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Morgan Saylor from the film “White Girl.”

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Anthony Ramos from the film “White Girl.”

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Adrian Martinez from the film “White Girl.”

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India Menuez from the film “White Girl.”

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Justin Bartha from the film “White Girl.”

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Elizabeth Wood from the film “White Girl.”

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Gavin Free for Lazer Team levitates.

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Anne Fontaine, director from the film “Agnus Dei.”

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Chloe Sevigny, left, Danny Perez and Natasha Lyonne from the film “Antibirth.”

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Chloe Sevigny from the film “Antibirth.”

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Chloe Sevigny from the film “Antibirth.”

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Natasha Lyonne from the film “Antibirth.”

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Rachel Grady, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”

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Heidi Ewing, co-director, Norman Lear, Rachel Grady, co-director, from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”

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Norman Lear from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”

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Heidi Ewing, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”

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Heidi Ewing, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”

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Kenneth Lonergan, director from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Lucas Hedges, left, Kenneth Lonergan, director, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Lucas Hedges from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”

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Writer-director Sian Heder from the film “Talullah.”

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John Benjamin Hickey, left, Allison Janney, Ellen Page, Sian Heder, writer-director, and Tammy Blanchard from the film “Talullah.”

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Ellen Page from the film “Talullah.”

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Director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”

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Allison Janney from the film “Talullah.”

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John Benjamin Hickey from the film “Talullah.”

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Tammy Blanchard from the film “Talullah.”

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Brooklyn Decker from the film “Lovesong.”

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Jena Malone from the film “Lovesong.”

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Jena Malone, left, and Riley Keough from the film “Lovesong.”

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Director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”

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Jonathan Freeman, left, Owen Suskind, Gilbert Gottfried and director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”

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John Krasinski from the film, “The Hollars,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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John Krasinski, left, Charlie Day, Margo Martindale, Sharlto Copley and Josh Groban from the film “The Hollars.”

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Josh Groban from the film, “The Hollars,” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. ( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Sharlto Copley from the film, “The Hollars,” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Margo Martindale, from the film, “The Hollars,” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. ( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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John Krasinski from the film, “The Hollars,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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David Wheeler, left, Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden from the film “Newtown.”

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Kim Snyder, left, director, and Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, from the film “Newtown.”

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Nicole Hockley, David Wheeler, Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, Kim Snyder, director, and Mark Barden from the film “Newtown.”

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Todd Solondz, director of the film “Wiener-Dog,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Soon, though, Albert needed more characters to feed the beast. Savannah Knoop, the sister of Albert’s husband, was enlisted to pose as Leroy in public appearances, in sunglasses and colorful headwear.

Sound crazy? It gets wilder. Albert herself started becoming different people too, including “Speedie,” an assistant who was always accompanying Leroy. This was as complicated as it sounded--not only because Albert had to find ways to pull the strings, puppeteer-style, with her sister-in-law when Leroy appeared in public but because she had to keep track of who was saying what to whom. When Savannah met, as Leroy, with Gus van Sant over a planned film adaptation, Albert had to line up that conversation with what she was saying to Van Sant on the phone as Leroy.

This became even more complicated when Savannah, as Leroy, had an affair with Argento.

“My reaction to this story was the same as everyone else’s,” Feuerzeig said. “It’s a great literary hoax, and that was that. But as I started reading all these stories I thought, ‘There’s more here; there’s something we’re not hearing.’”

Albert had never told her story in full before, and might have turned down Feuerzeig if he hadn’t directed “The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” a Sundance standout from a decade ago about another notable but tortured artist, the titular songwriter. That had helped convince her, Fuerzeig said, that he would give her fair hearing and her tale full weight. (Albert also said at the screening that she was won over by the fact that “he was Jewish and he was punk rock,” which, she said, meant he rejected certain societal norms.)

The movie offers some intriguing theories about why Albert, who had an exceedingly difficult childhood, was so prone to creating these personae. (As a teenager she was using other people as “avatars” in the real world, which is as unusual as it sounds.) But it also raises universal questions about identity and selfhood. After all, who hasn’t adjusted or even created guises depending on context? Was Albert fundamentally different from the rest of us, the movie asks, or just more ambitious and public about it?

Albert did mislead a lot of people, and the sight on-screen of publishing stalwarts, like the agent Ira Silverberg, coming to terms with what she had done is pointed and won’t win Albert any sympathy.

But as the director said, it’s also clear the story was not as simple as that of a con man -- as seen here, Albert was less a fame-hungry opportunist than a confused person and artist who, in struggling to figure out who she was, fell backward into fame.

“This wasn’t something she was looking for. The books stood on their own. and the fans -- including the celebrity fans -- came to her,” Feuerzeig said.

Noted Albert at the screening: “My motives were not the motives that were attributed to me.”

(Most of her celebrity relationships, it should be said, were of the superficial sort--with two major exceptions. She formed a close relationship with “Deadwood” creator and resident Hollywood philosopher-poet David Milch, even working on an episode of the HBO show, as well as Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. Long before journalists began uncovering her deceptions, she spilled all her secrets to both of them; they maintained her confidence.)

Whether her books would have been as successful without the Leroy biography is a question the movie leaves open. Certainly it’s fair to think they fueled her success.

But Albert was also, in the end, a fiction writer. Her books, especially bestseller “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” garnered attention because of the quality of its prose. Her biography, mattered, but only partly.

“Author” also implicitly raises the question of whether our demands from fiction writers are unfair and contradictory. On the one hand, we want them to possess the flair for wild imagination that leads to great work, but we want that imagination to stop short in every other realm of life.

The film provides no easy answers, choosing instead to become a more complex exploration on the nature of self and story. “I don’t blame anyone on the receiving end of what Laura was doing,” Feuerzeig said in the interview. “But I don’t want to judge and I don’t want to moralize. I just want to show what this woman did, and what she went through.”

Whatever one’s conclusions, it’s clear that categorizing the Leroy affair as a simple huckster tale is insufficient. “I’m not a hoax, I’m a metaphor,” Albert says in the film to a skeptical reporter. She may be splitting the atom. Or she may be engaging in one more brilliant creation.

Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT

Sundance 2016: ‘Author: The JT Leroy Story’ turns a forgotten controversy into a thrilling exploration

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