May December – written by our guest this week, Samy Burch – tells the serpentine tale of a TV actress, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) who descends upon the home of a family founded on scandal. Two decades have passed since Gracie, portrayed by Julianne Moore, and her now-husband Joe, played by Charles Melton, hit the headlines after beginning a relationship when Gracie was in her mid-thirties and Joe was just thirteen years old. Elizabeth, researching the couple ahead of a film based on their lives, joins the couple (now married with kids) and attempts to understand what makes them each tick. In the process, she discovers that debris still remains from the tabloid storm that engulfed their lives. And we, as an audience, discover that Elizabeth herself has exploitative, machiavellian tendencies of her own.
It’s a story that Samy wrote in 2019 after landing on the idea with her partner, Alex Mechanik. “What would make a 36-year-old woman start an affair with a seventh grader?” you may be wondering – in which case, you’re not alone. Gracie’s former husband echoes those exact words in the film. But May December isn’t interested in answering that – not declaratively, at least. This is a film that refuses absolutes, asking more questions than it answers.
Does the twenty years of stability and apparent happiness that Joe and Gracie have shared together justify the wrongs of how their relationship began? Does the family life they’ve built paper over how predatory and problematic Gracie’s behaviour was, in initiating a sexual partnership with a kid whose voice must only just have broken? And what does it say about us, that as a culture, we’re so drawn to the transgressions of people like Gracie? Are we as parasitic as the prying actress who dismantles their lives, almost on a whim? These are all questions left to us to ponder after its credits roll. They’re also questions that Samy was delighted to give her take on, in my revealing conversation with the first-time screenwriter. Spoilers ahead, so be sure to watch the fantastic May December first before tuning in.
Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.
Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Stowe Story Labs and WeScreenplay.
To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.
Support the Show.
The Suicide Squad with James Gunn
The Last Of Us Part II with Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross
Sound Of Metal with Darius Marder
The Trial Of The Chicago 7 with Aaron Sorkin
Wolfwalkers with Will Collins
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom with Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Terminator 2: Judgement Day with William Wisher
Inside Out with Meg LeFauve
Soul with Kemp Powers
Die Hard with Steven E de Souza
Carol with Phyllis Nagy
Edward Scissorhands with Caroline Thompson
Zodiac with James Vanderbilt
10 Things I Hate About You with Karen McCullah and Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith
The Nightmare Before Christmas with Caroline Thompson
John Wick with Derek Kolstad
The Simpsons Movie with Al Jean
In The Loop with Armando Iannucci
BlacKkKlansman with Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz
A Quiet Place with Beck/Woods
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Sackhoff Show
Prestige Junkie
Team Deakins
You Can’t Make This Up
Toon’d In! with Jim Cummings