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How to measure a period of five years, you ask. It’s almost the length of time it took Bradley Cooper to create Maestro. Or, more fittingly, the span between the most recent and last times Julianne Moore wore Chanel on the red carpet. After a half-decade hiatus, the 63-year-old legendary actress has returned to the French luxuriate, opting for a Haute Couture creation worthy of every second of screen time.
Taking to the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards, Moore evoked the essence of Karl Lagerfeld’s tenure at the French luxuriate with a strapless purple charmeuse gown adorned with a gilded crucifix. The statement bejewelled fixture was quite literally the centrepiece of Moore’s ensemble, with the cross littered with high-octane precious gemstones and dropped pearls.
Moore walked the red carpet ahead of the highly-anticipated ceremony where she is nominated for her portrayal as “Gracie” in Todd Haynes’ critically acclaimed May December. Her performance may be one of the most internationally lauded, but on the red carpet, Moore decided to sartorially reference the January blues in her indigo gown.
Moore’s co-star, Natalie Portman, did not attend the critic-determined event, leaving Moore to represent the film with her on-screen husband Charles Melton. Earlier in the week, Moore and Portman dismissed the disapproval of Vili Fualaau who claimed that Haynes “chose to do a ripoff of my original story”.
For the uninitiated, May December is an original story partly inspired by Fualaau’s relationship with his late ex-wife and former school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau. The couple began an illegal sexual relationship in 1996 when Fualaau was only 12 years old. Letourneau was 34 at the time and was subsequently arrested and convicted of second-degree rape of a child for the crime.
Fualaau, now 40, told The Hollywood Reporter that he was “offended by the entire project and lack of respect given” to him. “I’m still alive and well,” he added. “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.”
Responding to his concerns, the film’s leads denied the claim that May December appropriated his life, with Portman asserting that the film is “its own story — it’s not meant to be a biopic”.
“It’s not based on them,” the Dior ambassador continued. “Obviously their story influenced the culture that we all grew up in and influenced the idea. But it’s fictional characters that are really brought to life by Julianne Moore and Charles Melton so beautifully.”
Moore also added that Haynes “was always very clear when we were working on this movie that this was an original story.” “This was a story about these characters,” she noted. “That’s how we looked at it too. This was our document. We created these characters from the page.”
May December arrives in Australian theatres next month on February 1st. To acquaint yourself with the subject matter, read GRAZIA’s deep dive into the film’s true story here, and watch the trailer below.
