Todd Haynes’ soapy romantic drama “May December,” starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, will open the 61st New York Film Festival.
The movie is scheduled for Sept. 29 at Alice Tully Hall with the director and cast expected to attend in person. Following its NYFF premiere, “May December” will be released theatrically on Nov. 17 before landing on Netflix on Dec. 1.
“May December,” which centers on a scandalous age-gap relationship, premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews and sold to Netflix for $20 million. Moore and “Riverdale” star Charles Melton play Gracie and Joe, a married couple with a 20-year age gap. Their relationship sparked a national tabloid scandal because Joe was just 13 when the two fell in love. Decades later, their union is put to the test when Portman’s character Elizabeth, a popular TV actress, travels to Georgia to study the life of Gracie, whom she’ll be playing in a movie.
“‘May December’ is a tour de force of writing, acting, and directing: a film built on moment-to-moment surprise, as thought-provoking as it is purely pleasurable,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director of New York Film Festival. “It cements Todd Haynes’ place as one of American cinema’s most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors. Todd has been a consistent presence at the New York Film Festival for almost his entire career, and we are very excited to open this edition with one of his most dazzling achievements.”
Haynes, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Far From Heaven,” has a long history with NYFF, where he’s screened the pop star-inspired “Velvet Goldmine,” romantic period drama “Carol” and the music documentary “The Velvet Underground.”
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American premiere of May December,” said Haynes. “It is a festival that plays a role in my work and life like no other in the world, since it enshrines the cultural life of this city, which is both my creative home as a filmmaker and, as ever, the eternal site of artistic possibility.”
Samy Burch penned the screenplay for “May December” based on a story she wrote with Alex Mechanik. Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell of Gloria Sanchez Productions and Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler of Killer Films were producers on “May December” alongside Portman and Sophie Mas of MountainA.
Recent NYFF opening night films have included Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise,” Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”
New York Film Festival, presented by Film at Lincoln Center, takes place from Sept. 29 through Oct. 15.
