Controversial figures are always fodder for biopics, and JT LeRoy is a case in point. Now the movie version of the story will head before the cameras with James Franco attached to star and Kristen Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter negotiating to join him.
Justin Kelly, who worked with Franco on the film I Am Michael, has written the script, which draws from the real-life case of literary personal Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy, a transexual figure who wrote for newspapers magazines and produced novels while claiming a background of childhood abuse and prostitution.
But the reality came to light in 2005, when an expose in New York magazine cited writer Laura Albert as the person behind LeRoy, who had worked with actress Savannah Knoop to portray LeRoy in public. After years of tricking celebrities and the fashion world, she was accused of fraud for having signed legal documents in the character's name.
The story has been through the usual waypoints for this sort of tale - legal arguments, denouncement in the press, inspiring a Law & Order episode and, er, becoming the basis for a Brazilian rock musical. Kelly should be rolling the cameras later this year.