When Carol was first released in 2015, the film near-instantly became queer canon. Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as brooding, impermissible 1950s lovers who consider uprooting their lives for each other, it went on to amass a tsunami of critical acclaim and be nominated for six Oscars. It was snubbed for every last one — yet not before rallying together one of the most vibrant fandoms in queer cinema (and introducing the phrase “I like the hat” to the gay vocabulary).
Now its director, the legendary American independent filmmaker Todd Haynes, is back with another pair of star actresses: Natalie Portman and his frequent collaborator Julianne Moore.
As Variety reports, the two Oscar winners will appear in May December, an upcoming film about an actress (Portman) who travels to Maine to study the real-life inspiration for her next character. Moore plays a woman who caused a tabloid scandal two decades earlier by marrying a man 23 years younger than her. No surprise here: Things go haywire for the couple and their two high school-aged daughters when Portman arrives.
This will be the sixth collaboration for Moore and Haynes. In 2003, she received an Oscar nomination for playing an unraveling 1950s housewife in his film Far from Heaven. They most recently worked together on the 2017 film Wonderstruck.
As for Portman, it’s her first pairing with Haynes. But worry not, gays; it sounds like the script may have a little Black Swan thriller energy to it. Writer Samy Burch is behind the screenplay, and Deadline reports Haynes praised the script in a recent press release.
“What so appealed to me about Samy Burch’s exceptional script was how it navigated potentially volatile subject matter with a kind of observational patience that allowed the characters in the story to be explored with uncommon subtlety,” Haynes said.
Todd Haynes is one of Hollywood’s leading openly gay directors. He also received an Oscar nomination for Far From Heaven for Best Original Screenplay, and his most recent film was 2019’s Dark Waters starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway.
The girls, gays and theys will have to wait a while for May December. According to The Hollywood Reporter, filming isn’t set to commence until 2022. Luckily, though, Portman and Moore are gracing our screens soon.
Portman is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thor: Love and Thunder (directed by Taika Waititi, who is allegedly having a hot summer), where she’ll reprise her character Jane Foster.
Moore, for her part, is currently starring in the Apple TV+ series adaptation of Stephen King’s book Lisey’s Story. Later this year, she’ll play Evan Hansen’s mother in the film adaptation of the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, starring Ben Platt.
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