The Cannes Film Festival has never been known for its pricey acquisitions of films in competition. Most movies wind up playing Cannes with a distributor already in place. However, this year Todd Haynes’ buzzy May December showed up at the festival without American distribution in place, and following some rave reviews, it’s been picked up by Netflix for an award-season play. Deadline is reporting that the deal was worth $11 million.
The film stars Natalie Portman as a famous actress researching her next role, that of a woman who had a scandalous affair with a minor and spent years in jail, only to marry the now grown man when she got released. Julianne Moore plays the woman in a role that’s apparently inspired by the real life of the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau, a teacher who had an affair with a 13-year-old student, got pregnant, and eventually married the man when he was no longer underage.
The film co-stars Charles Melton as the husband, and early reviews suggest this is a twisted drama heavily inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s classic two-hander, Persona. To note, even though Letourneau’s story inspired the case, the film itself is entirely fictional. One has to imagine Netflix knows they’ve got a hot-button movie on their hands, with the buzz being that both Portman and Moore deliver award-worthy performances.
Todd Haynes is no stranger to the Oscars, having directed Carol, Far from Heaven, and the recent, criminally underrated Dark Waters. The Netflix deal appears to only be for North American rights and no news yet on whether the film will have a theatrical component to its release. One could logically assume it’ll get some theatrical play in NY/LA towards the end of the year, which seems to be standard for the streamer’s awards fare.
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