Laura Albert is a middle-aged female author who, in the mid-’90s, fooled a lot of people into thinking she was a young male author. This is a centuries-old trick for ladies wishing to get published, but Albert took it one step further, voicing “JT LeRoy” on the phone and appointing a surrogate — her sister-in-law, Savannah Knoop — to be him at personal appearances, while Albert played his manager. It was one of the most creative literary hoaxes ever, until she was busted.
“Author: The JT LeRoy Story” might be too strong a descriptor. This kaleidoscopic documentary is a JT LeRoy story. I have a feeling some celebrities and publishers, who come out of this looking pretty gullible, might relate a different version. Either way, it’s a wild trip with a highly unreliable narrator. Director Jeff Feuerzeig (“The Devil and Daniel Johnston”) relies almost entirely on Albert to tell the “real” story, which leaves you with a lot of guesswork.
LeRoy, as invented by Albert, was an HIV-positive vagabond with a back story from hell, raised by an abusive truck-stop prostitute. He also happened to be a great writer. Her/his books “Sarah” and “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things” attracted a rock-star following, including Tom Waits, Courtney Love, Winona Ryder, Michael Pitt, Michael Stipe, Bono and Billy Corgan, all of whom are seen or heard fawning over JT. Disappointingly, Feuerzeig never interviews any of them. How must it feel to know someone you’ve publicly espoused as one of your closest friends (or more) is a fiction?
But Albert sticks to her manic guns, insisting it wasn’t a hoax, as the work should stand on its own merits. She chronicles her history of inventing male personas as a means of storytelling. Or possibly a genuine personality disorder; her own history of abuse is only briefly hinted at.
Feuerzeig employs animation, home movies, media footage and scenes from the 2004 Asia Argento movie “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things” to chronicle JT’s transformation into literary and fashion-world wunderkind. During the latter, the Italian director/actress actually began dating JT/Knoop. As Albert points out, there must have been a moment she realized her boyfriend didn’t have a penis. Why can’t we hear from Argento?
Still, if you can accept that this is Albert’s truth, whatever that means, “Author” is one of the most entertaining documentaries in recent memory — and, possibly, the origin story of catfishing.