Last month, American novelist JT Leroy was exposed as a fraud. But not before one of The List’s best film critics had been thoroughly taken in by the scam. Here, he explains why it was so good to have the wool pulled over his eyes.
We been duped. The last issue of The List included an interyiew with the filmmaker and actress Asia
Argento. which I conducted in London last year
during the Lesbian and (iay l’ilm liestiyal at which eyent her lilm. 'I'llr' Ht'rll'l is Deceit/ill :l/mt'r' All Things. was premiered to a packed house at the National liilm 'l'heatre. Argento's harrowing lilrn is an adaptation of the autobiirgraphical book of short stories by cult young American writer .l'l' LeRoy. whose tough yet tender tales of a youth scarred with abuse (not least from his own
mother. Sarah) haye made .leremiah LeRoy the talk of
the towns. from his Angeles to Rome (where Al'gelttt) says .she first met her film‘s subject).
The shy and retiring LeRoy famously neyer read at his own book readings. Instead. all manner ofA-list film and music celebrities did. Shy or otherwise. l.eRoy"s celeb courting extended to interyiews he conducted with the likes of Debbie Harry for Rolling Stone maga/ine. Then there was his apiwarance at the Hill last year. where LeRoy. wearing his trademark Andy Warhol shock wig and dark glasses. locked arms with Argento and mumbled a few words of thanks to an appreciatiy‘e film audience. And the next day I met l.eRoy. in the swanky (‘harlotte Street Hotel where l interyiewed him alter Argento.
llow surprised was I. then. to discoy‘er that .IT LeRoy does not. in fact. exist'.’ lixposed by the journalist Stephen Beachy in New )irrk maga/ine. LeRoy turns out not to be a waif from North (‘arolina who used to dress up in his mom‘s clothes and whore himself out to truckers. but a «ll-year-old woman named Laura Albert who lives in (‘alifornia where she is a singer in a rock band and also. as we now know. a writer of fiction. With each follow-tip news story further details haye emerged: that Albert posed as l.eR()_\"s guardian and manager limily l-‘rasier (a friendly. self-styled bohemian whom I also met in (‘harlotte Street last year): that her sister-in-law Sayannah Knoop played the part of Jeremiah when he was needed to appear in person; that the whole thing was dreamed tip in order to get a publishing deal off the ground.
So I. like many others. haye been well and truly duped.
l lime to say. I'm thrilled. Aside from writing it in books. Albert has manufactured a fiction that‘s as impressiye in its conception as it is bold in execution. I wonder how far her fictional creation carried before Albert was exposed? l)id Argento know she was making a moyie about someone who didn't exist‘.’ l)id (ius Van Sant. upon the credits of whose lilrn [flip/run! LeRoy is named as associate producer. realise his AP was non- e\i.stent‘.’ ()r Winona Ryder when she read from LeRoy 's book in public‘.’ ()r Lou Reed when be endorsed LeRoy's prose? And now I know the truth (although who‘s to say what fresh rey'elations are forthcoming). I‘m delighted by
10 THE LIST 3‘ Aiv-wf May gout:
IF ONLY EVERYONE WHO LIED TO THE PUBLIC WAS THIS ENTER- TAINING
the little details of .-\ll)el'l\ liction: |.cR()} dressing as Warhol (that lamous manulactur'cr of art); the ‘l)es‘l‘ 'l‘hroat‘ who first confirmed Beachy's suspicions on record turning out to be Albert‘s e\. (icofft‘ey Kriirop.
If only eyeryone who lied to the public was this entertaining. lfonly the \ery famous people. moy ie stars. pop stars. politicians. footballers. etc. could/would do the same. They haye the money. the motiyation and (with a bit ofcreatiye thinking) the methods to really entertain us with their lies. But no. In an age in which we are lied to like neyer eyer before \ia political spin and PR rtmaround. adyertising campaigns and marketing initiatiyes the lies w e‘re bombarded with 2-1/7 are merely tedious irritants. Tony Blair and George Bush haye managed to make lying about illegal wars dull. for (‘ltt'ist‘s sake. Lying has become commonplace. and indeed is considered to be good business practice. but no longer is it eleyated to an art.
Look at the maelstrom of gossip and publicity spin surrounding 'l'om (‘ruise. The world's most successful moy ie star is rumoured to be gay and to have concealed
romances and marriages. As a high— ranking Scientology. he is rumoured to be planning to consume the placenta of his newborn child. has decided to stop being a media control freak and open his mouth to the press to e\plain what a down-to-earth guy he really is. That mi\ of truth and lies ought to be enormously enteitaining. But none of this is particularly interesting. because behind those facts and libs there‘s not enough imagination and playfulness and too much serious-minded business-i)rientated thinking.
So. I don't mind being taken for a ride by a 4 l -year-old ('alifornian woman. who wanted to get a book published. or wanted to stage some theatrics for the media. or perhaps just enjoys being creatiye with the truth. Because I enjoyed Laura .-\lbert/l".mily lirasier/l'l‘ LeRoy being creatiye with the truth.
his true sexuality behind a number of
member of the cult of
PlUCKlllG fRUITS FROM THE CULTURAL BUSH
qra me
I He might only have been doing the comedy game for about a decade. but that's clearly long enough to be handed the chance to write an autobiography. The life of Peter Kay wrll be on the bookshelves in the summer . . And his pal Dave Spikey is busy too. having already been confirmed as the new Bullseye host and new writing a pilot episode for the BBC about a firm of painters and decorators called Magnolia . . . One unlikely collaboration of the future is that of Snoop 0099 and ex-Seinfe/d star Jason Alexander. The pair will be unmasked in forthcoming scary movre, Hood of Horror . . . Neil Young once rocked in the free world and he's back on the political trail wrth his next album due out later this year. A too- strong choir will 10in him on LIV/ng Wit/i War which features a track entitled 'lmpeach the President' . . . Renee Zellweger has agreed to star in Case 39 about a socral worker who saves an abused ten~year-old girl from her parents only to discover that things might not be as they first appear . . . Will Smith has confirmed that he'll star in action thriller Greenbacks which focuses on an American in Morocco who discovers a plot to destabilise the global economy through the production of counterfeit money . . . Look out Christmas as Peter Andre and Jordan are to release an album of duets just in time for the Yuletide bargain bins. The delightful couple are planning a mixture of famous cover versions and their own material. Shouldn't that be aimed for the Halloween market?