Author: The JT LeRoy Story Page #6

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maybe even a little pretty.

And it's just amazing.

I'm right -- right out front

in this small little club.

And it -- it feels like

he's -- he's looking at me.

[ Cheers and applause ]

So after the show,

we go backstage,

and I'm really nervous.

Billy's sitting there

in the back,

and he asks me, where's JT?

And I explain, "I'm Speedie.

Hi, nice to meet you."

JT, he got really...

[Imitates vomiting ]

You know, he ran away, sorry."

And we just start talking,

and we're connecting in ways

that...language doesn't

even capture.

And I'm picking up

that I can tell him anything...

...and I realized everything

had been moving me

up to that point.

And he motioned for me

to sit down next to him,

and you can barely

hear each other,

but I turned to him

and into his ear, I said...

I remember this feeling.

It felt like I was Tarzan,

and I was just grabbing

hold of the vine,

and I was swinging

out over the gorge,

and I knew,

"I'm going to f***ing let go."

[ Tarzan screams ]

Albert:
And I said to him,

"JT was an accident."

And he said, "I understand

what you're saying.

I don't get all the details,

but I get it."

And the rest of the night,

we just talked about

the details.

It was the most freeing,

amazing feeling ever,

and we were together constantly.

Even Geoff was with us,

and Billy was his hero, too.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

Laura Albert:

We were at the Chateau Marmont

and Geoff was downstairs hanging

out with the rest of the band,

and I was in Billy's room.

And it was amazing

to lay with my ear on his chest

as he played and sang.

I was coming alive on all kinds

of different levels.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

And finally,

I don't know

what time in the morning,

Geoff knocked on the door.

[ Knocking ]

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

[ Door opens ]

And he said,

"I'm here for my wife."

[ Door closes ]

But who really wasn't happy

was JT LeRoy.

JT was really pissed

and he felt like, "Oh, great.

Laura is going to steal him

away."

I outed myself to Billy

but that doesn't mean

their relationship ends.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

So I told him JT is not happy.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

JT still wants a relationship

with you.

And this is something

I have never done.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

While I'm there with Billy,

physically with him,

JT in my body, spoke to him.

Now you're gonna leave me

and I don't want you

to leave me.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

And Billy assured him

that that was not true.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

That he could be there for me,

he could be there for JT,

and for anybody else

that came through this body.

So "The Heart Is Deceitful"

is being made by Asia Argento.

It's a go.

So we fly into Knoxville.

[ Airplane whirs ]

And we drive to the set,

and it's an actual truck stop

and I've never been

on a real working truck stop.

And I'm walking

down a long corridor,

and all the sleeping trucks

are on the sides

and it's absolutely

picture perfect.

They wanted to make every part

of the book true to life.

And they're shooting

one of my favorite scenes,

it's lizards, where Asia is

playing Sarah, Jeremy's mother,

and she's gonna

go turn some tricks.

So I join the set

and nobody knows I'm there.

And I'm watching on the monitor,

and Asia, this Italian actress,

is playing a West Virginian

truck stop prostitute.

And somehow it f***ing works.

It was like a mirror

in a mirror in a mirror

because everything

was created from my dream,

which was based on reality.

Which was based on a dream.

-And cut.

-Cut.

Laura Albert:

And everyone's waiting to see

what's gonna happen

when JT sees his world.

And I feel it, too.

And I'm watching J taking it all in.

And I'm like,

"It's pretty good right?

They kind of got it?"

And JT is like, "Wow.

You guys really made it real."

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Wolf whistles ]

Astor:
Hey doll,

how you doing?

Speedie:
More coffee, babe?

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Airplane whirs ]

Laura Albert:

We get there at night

and descend down into Cannes,

which to me looked like Miami.

We're introduced

to all these celebrities

and they know who JT is.

[ Tape player clicks ]

Laura Albert:
They're having

this huge press interview.

Reporter:
Question for JT.

Laura Albert:
They're asking

what's like to be on the street,

to turn tricks,

what it's like

to dig coal mines.

Reporter:
Can you talk

close to the microphone?

JT LeRoy:
Yeah.

Laura Albert:
Nobody can

understand what he says.

It doesn't matter

if they can't translate it,

they are just riveted.

[ Applause ]

Laura Albert:
And I realize

that it's like Mark Twain's

"Prince and the Pauper."

I could try to prove

that I am really the writer --

I am LeRoy,

the real king --

and no one would believe me.

I was there

watching JT get dressed up,

and they are gonna walk

the red carpet,

[ Camera shutter clicking ]

and I'm a mile away.

I'm not even allowed

on the perimeter.

Man:
We should get going.

If you see Speedie go,

then we waited too long.

Laura Albert:
This

is the big screening.

Everyone is in the house.

We've got the Weinsteins.

Laura Albert:
And it feels like

the whole world is watching.

Laura Albert:
So, we go

into the packed Cannes cinema

and every head turns,

they've spotted JT.

[ Applause ]

Laura Albert:
I'm sitting

there and the crowd is roaring.

[ Applause ]

Laura Albert:

So the lights go down,

the curtain goes up,

and the film begins.

There's young Jimmy Bennet

singing the Sex Pistol's,

slamming down a Bible.

And then a meth house explosion.

Buddy running out on fire

as he chases

after Sarah and Jeremy

as they drive away from him.

And that amazing scene where

Asia, playing JT's mother,

is accused outside Piggly Wiggly

of shoplifting,

and opens her black rain coat

to reveal herself

completely stark f***ing naked.

Film Clip:

Wanna check my c*nt?

Film Clip:
No, I don't.

Now leave [ INAUDIBLE ].

She gonna be all right?

Film Clip:
She's tired.

She'll be okay.

Laura Albert:
And I'm sitting

there, watching our movie,

waiting for our cameos,

and all of them are left

on the cutting room floor.

And after,

there's just this silence.

Except JT is sobbing.

And I know I need to comfort JT.

[ Applause ]

Laura Albert:
It wasn't a game,

this wasn't a joke.

[ Applause ]

Laura Albert:
We know it

as JT's true story life.

But we also know it as fiction.

[ Applause ]

[ Page turns ]

Laura Albert:
I was watching

this HBO show "Deadwood."

And this voice in my head keeps

getting louder and louder.

Go to Deadwood.

Go to Deadwood.

Go to Deadwood.

So as JT, I call the magazine

and I ask them

"Hey, can I cover 'Deadwood'

for you?

And they say, all right JT,

anything you want.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Beep ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

Laura Albert:
I just felt

the realm of possibility

of being inside myself

as an artist

and owning my own art

suddenly materialized.

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