May December, the new movie by Todd Haynes, starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, was inspired by the Mary Kay Letourneau case, the woman who had a sexual relationship with a child 22 years younger.
Letourneau’s relationship with Vili Fualaau continued once she was released from prison, and now Fualaau has responded to the movie, claiming he was not consulted by writers nor Haynes during production and has felt offence from not being so.
“I’m still alive and well,” Fualaau recently said (via The Hollywood Reporter). “If they had reached out to me, we could have worked together on a masterpiece. Instead, they chose to do a ripoff of my original story.
He continued, “I’m offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me — who lived through a real story and is still living it.”
Fualauu recently watched May December and felt disappointed by the fact that Hollywood had yet again exploited someone’s trauma and pain for their own benefit, only this time it was his own.
“I love movies — good movies,” the 40-year-old noted. “And I admire ones that capture the essence and complications of real-life events. You know, movies that allow you to see or realize something new every time you watch them.”
“Those kinds of writers and directors — someone who can do that — would be perfect to work with because my story is not nearly as simple as this movie [portrays],” Fualaau concluded.
Check out the trailer for May December below.
