Author: The JT LeRoy Story Trailer (2016)

Trailer for the documentary Author: The JT LeRoy Story, featuring celebrities such as Winona Ryder.

In 2006, The New York Times sent shockwaves through the literary world when it unmasked “it boy” wunderkind JT LeRoy, whose tough prose about a sordid childhood had captivated icons and luminaries internationally. It turned out LeRoy didn’t actually exist. He was the creative expression of 40-year-old San Francisco former phone-sex operator turned housewife, Laura Albert. From the director of The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Author: The JT LeRoy Story takes us down the infinitely fascinating rabbit hole of how Laura Albert—like a Cyrano de Bergerac on steroids—breathed not only words, but life, into her avatar for a decade. Her epic and entertaining account plunges us into a glittery world of rock shows and fashion events, ultimately revealing that channeling her brilliant fiction through another identity was the only possible path to self-expression.