Jeremiah “Terminator” LeRoy was a phenomenon. The HIV-positive, transgender, drug-addicted child of a truck-stop prostitute, his autobiographical novels were a literary sensation. The slight, softly spoken author, cowering behind oversized sunglasses and wig, was propelled into celebrity circles, and courted by Asia Argento, Madonna, Courtney Love and others. Except JT LeRoy didn’t exist. He was the invention of writer Laura Albert, who described him as an “avatar” through whom she could create with a freedom she didn’t have as herself. JT in the flesh was played by Albert’s sister-in-law, Savannah Knoop.
This film explores the story – which is rather more complex and knotty than the “literary hoax” it was described as at the time – from Albert’s perspective. And while it gives a fascinating insight into her near pathological compulsion to try on other voices and identities, it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. Albert’s then-husband, Geoff Knoop, and Savannah Knoop are both conspicuous by their absence. And as Albert peels back the onion layers of her alter egos, we are reminded that this is the “truth” authorised by a gifted fantasist.
