Author: The JT LeRoy Story Page #5

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I'm watching

JT go off with Asia.

It was made very clear

that I was in the way.

It was kinda like,

"Speedie, go home."

I feel really lonely,

because my Barbie dolls

have come to life,

and there's definitely

that feeling that

they wouldn't mind

killing me off.

JT comes back to the hotel

where we are

with lipstick

all over her face,

smelling like Asia's perfume.

And she was high,

and her wig had come off.

And she had had something

happen.

[ "La Donna e Mobile"

by Giuseppe Verdi plays ]

And she was on cloud nine.

And she just didn't

want to talk to me.

And what I have to remind her is

you're on the clock.

You're on the dime.

This is about a movie.

I have to know,

because when we're on the phone,

she might be calling me,

not necessarily JT,

and I have to match that stuff.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

Laura Albert:

Asia was gonna get that book

one way or the other.

She would do whatever it took,

whatever needed to be done,

and I respected that,

and I thought,

"Yeah, you can make this movie."

So Gus and J are talking all the time,

and they get along so well

that Gus agrees to do

a photo shoot

for Abercrombie and Fitch,

where JT is literally

walking on water.

Gus's option on "Sarah"

had already expired,

but he had a project,

which I really loved.

It was based on Columbine...

[ Gunshots ]

...and seeing kids

taking guns into schools,

and killing everybody.

[ Voice breaking ]

They, like, started blowing up

and shooting everyone

in the cafeteria.

And then you could

hear them laughing.

And, having been bullied

in the hallways

of my grammar school,

I couldn't wait to get home

and escape into my dolls,

because school was just torture.

I was constantly being mocked

and laughed at

and taunted for my weight.

My name's Laura Albert,

my last name's Albert,

and I was chubby.

And when I'd come into school

all the kids would yell...

Man:
Hey, Hey, Hey.

It's Fat Albert.

It -- it was horrible.

It just --

it never ever, ever stopped.

So when Gus said,

"I have this project,"

that's all he needed to say.

That night, I just sat

and wrote the first scene,

which he ended up using.

It was a girl

that was unattractive,

she was overweight,

she was in the library.

And she gets shot.

Michelle:
Hey, you guys --

[ Gunshot ]

[ Gun c*cks ]

I wrote a whole script,

but the problem was,

Gus had gone through a portal.

He was really inspired by

the auteur Bla Tarr

who would do these

really long tracking shots,

and he was also really into

improvisation.

Hey,

what are you guys doing?

Just get the f*** out.

Don't come back.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

In my dreams,

I'm a rock star,

and I'm Miss America,

and I'm a tap dancer,

and, you know.

There's so many things

I'd like to do,

but I think I'm --

I'm more interested in --

I mean music is

even more than literature.

It's a more immediate impact

of, um, an artist

getting through to someone

and sharing their vision.

By the time his name

became JT LeRoy

and "Sarah" was published,

I was already having misgivings

about the way that Terminator

was managing his career.

I had wanted to nurture

a pure literary presence.

And more and more,

I heard about

these celebrities

being added to the mix.

Ira Silverberg:
It was

a revolving door of celebrity,

both marginal and real.

My fear was that JT LeRoy

wouldn't be taken seriously

if the only thing that existed

was a veneer of celebrity.

I pulled JT aside and said,

"it's time to get back to

the writing."

It's time to become

a writer again.

It's the only thing you have.

Gianopaolos:
I worried

that he was getting too pulled

into the art world,

the cinema world,

the fashion world,

especially as the book

started to do well,

and he was interested

in more of the music world.

LeRoy:
It's about me.

Oh, it's about the story.

Gianopaolos:

I remember this enormous

amount of time

that JT spent

writing lyrics for this band.

Okay, we're Thistle.

I fell in love with Geoff

because he was a born musician.

His dream, his goal was always

to be a rock star.

And I really wanted

to be a singer.

And we just worked together

all the time on our music.

I would write

the melodies and lyrics,

and he would put it together.

And I loved

what he had come up with,

so we started a relationship.

And now,

even though Geoff and I

were still

creating music together,

it felt like

I was moving more towards

a life with his sister

instead of a life with him.

And I really wanted to

keep our connection

and his goal and dream alive.

So we'd start

sending the music out,

and of course,

who wrote the lyrics?

JT LeRoy.

Who wrote the melodies?

JT LeRoy.

Who sang it? Speedie.

[ Tape player clicks ]

And Speedie actually morphs into

a new character.

Instead of being JT's handler,

fat, hiding in the background,

now I am Emily Frasier,

lead singer of Thistle,

and we appear at

all of JT's readings.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

[ Guitar chord plays ]

Albert:

I'm on stage singing --

me, Speedie,

now Emily Frasier.

And next to me playing guitar,

is Geoff, my partner,

Savannah's brother, Astor --

Terminator's former lover.

And then, dancing in front of us

in the audience

is Savannah, my son's aunt --

JT LeRoy.

So the levels of it are absurd.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Indistinct conversations ]

Albert:
For the release

of JT Leroy's third book,

"Harold's End,"

the Deitch Gallery

is hosting a mega event.

Lou Reed is onstage,

bringing Natoma Street to life.

He crosses his legs.

"18," I say.

Albert:
And everybody's

trying to have a moment with JT.

I go over to the balcony,

and I look down at

the throngs of people.

And I see my dad.

I'd invited him.

And he's just laughing.

And it's a moment of pride.

He's seen me hospitalized.

He had to sign his

rights away as a parent.

And this feels like

a really nice gift.

He can't tell anyone,

but he knows.

And that's all that matters.

LeRoy:
I showed just

enough to make them interested

in who this mysterious girl

could be.

[ Catcall ]

I convinced myself

I was a comic book hero...

[ Zoom! ]

...hiding in the shadows.

I want to say something,

something that will

explain everything.

But my eyes stay down.

[ Smashing Pumpkins'

"Disarm" plays ]

Disarm you with a smile

And cut you like

you want me to

Cut that little child

Albert:
I really loved

the Smashing Pumpkins,

and no male artists at the time

were talking about child abuse.

So I really had hoped one day

that JT would have

an opportunity

to talk to Billy.

[ Tape player clicks ]

So later that night,

there's a show -- Spaceland.

We get there, and the door

people say, "Where's JT?"

And I say, "Oh, you know,

he's already in there.

He's all back in the crowd,

so, you know,

he'll meet Billy after."

I've got this red hair,

and I've lost weight,

and I'm feeling

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