Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman Respond to Vili Fualaau’s Criticism

Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are standing by May December.

The actresses responded to Vili Fualaau‘s criticism over the Netflix movie, which he called a “ripoff” of his real-life relationship with late convicted sex offender Mary Kay Letourneau. While attending the 2024 Golden Globes, where the film was nominated for Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture, both Portman and Moore said they’re sorry Fualaau feels that way about their film.

“It’s not based on them,” Portman told Entertainment Tonight. “Obviously, their story influenced the culture that we all grew up in and influenced the idea. But it’s fictional characters that are really brought to life by Julianne Moore and Charles Melton so beautifully. It’s its own story, it’s not meant to be a biopic.”

Meanwhile, Moore insisted that director Todd Haynes “was always very clear when we were working on this movie that this was an original story, this was a story about these characters.”

“This was our document,” continued the Oscar winner, who also worked with Haynes on 2002’s Far From Heaven and 2017’s Wonderstruck. “We created these characters from the page and together.”