NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The will kick off with Todd Haynes' 鈥淢ay December,鈥� a juicy drama starring Natalie Portman as an actor preparing for a film about a years-ago tabloid scandal.
Film at Lincoln Center, which puts on the New York Film Festival, announced Tuesday that 鈥淢ay December鈥� 鈥� 鈥� will be the opening night film at this year's edition. The gala will take place Sept. 29 at Alice Tully Hall.
In it, Portman plays a well-known TV star who, to research a role, spends time with Gracie (Julianne Moore) and her much-younger husband, Joe (Charles Melton). They're a seemingly happy suburban family whose initial affair 20 years earlier, when Joe was 13, was a national story. Their backstory is loosely based on the case of , a Washington State schoolteacher convicted of raping her sixth-grade student, Vili Fualaau. They later married.
鈥�'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,鈥� said Dennis Lim, the festival's artistic director, in a statement. 鈥淚t cements Todd Haynes鈥檚 place as one of American cinema鈥檚 most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors."
Following its Cannes premiere, Netflix acquired 鈥淢ay December鈥� and will release it in theaters Nov. 17 and on the streaming platform Dec. 1. The NYFF launch will return Haynes to a festival he's regularly attended over the years. His 鈥淰elvet Goldmine,鈥� 鈥淚'm Not There," 鈥淐arol,鈥� 鈥淲onderstruck鈥� and 鈥淭he Velvet Underground鈥� have all previously played at the festival.
鈥淚t 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," Haynes said in a statement.
The New York Film Festival runs Sept. 29鈥擮ct. 15.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
