Film Review: Author: The JT LeRoy Story

In the late 1990s, JT LeRoy was a force of nature in the book world — the street-hustling son of a truck stop prostitute came out of unknown obscurity and quickly became a bestseller. Along the way, LeRoy became the darling of the alternative music, film and art scenes, all seemingly without actually existing. For the first time we get the entire multi-layered story straight from Laura Albert, the actual creator of Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy and the author of his books.

In a year of fantastic documentaries, Author: The JT LeRoy Story may just top things off for me as the most fascinating of the lot, and while you may feel my above synopsis reveals too much, this film has much more in store for the viewer. A smart mix of talking head style interviews and archival footage reveals the strange journey that brought LeRoy into the real world to walk among us as well as the decades of complex emotional coping mechanisms that led to his inception.

Honestly I believe that the less said the better so that the actual story can unfold for you while viewing the documentary. I highly recommend you check this film out, especially if you are a fan of LeRoy or of 1990s “alternative” culture. Author: The JT LeRoy Story opens Friday, September 16, at the Cable Car Cinema.

Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016); Director: Jeff Feuerzeig; Starring: Laura Albert