In huge news for the girls and gays, Todd Haynes is set to direct Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in a new psychodrama titled May December. The film will follow Gracie Atherton-Yu (Moore), previously the subject of tabloid scandal for marrying a man 23 years her junior, and Elizabeth Berry (Portman), an actress set to play Gracie in a movie. Elizabeth visits Gracie’s family in Maine in order to prepare for the movie-within-the-movie, and as May December’s official synopsis describes, “family dynamics unravel under the pressure of the outside gaze.†Further, the synopsis reveals, “as Elizabeth and Gracie study each other, the similarities and differences between the two women begin to ebb and flow.â€
It’s hard to pick an element most Haynes-ian about this premise — the meta-textual conceit, the possible psychosexual tension, the fact that it features Moore (in her sixth collaboration with the director) — but the one we’re most looking forward to is, of course, the inevitably gorgeous outerwear Portman and Moore will don in that chilly Maine weather. Written by Samy Burch and set to be produced by Will Ferrell’s Gloria Sanchez Productions, May December is scheduled to begin filming in 2022.