It’s December, and you know what that means — the best films of the year see their shadow and climb out of their cave and into the theaters and our homes. That’s right, prestige films bombard audiences in December before the new year cutoff and the real beginning of awards season. From The Boys in the Boat and Wonka to Poor Things and Silent Night, through Ferrari and American Fiction and more, December is overflowing with critically acclaimed films, and May December is likely the best of the bunch, or at least near the top of the list.

The new film from the great director Todd Haynes (I’m Not There, Carol, Velvet Goldmine) stars Natalie Portman as an actor researching a role for a biopic, which is based on the true story of an adult woman who sleeps with a 12-year-old boy and marries him after being released from prison for rape. Portman’s character, Elizabeth, becomes enmeshed in the life and family of this woman, Gracie, and that includes her husband, Joe, now all-grown-up from the 12-year-old she fell in love with.

It’s a lurid, sometimes morbidly funny, always unpredictable, and incredibly thought-provoking film about artifice and acting, truth and tabloids. It’s also a master class in acting, thanks to the trio of Portman, Moore, and Charles Melton as Joe. Haynes and Melton spoke with MovieWeb about the character of Joe, the film, and Haynes’ long working relationship with Julianne Moore, and you can watch our interview video above.

Casting Charles Melton in an Award-Winning Performance
May December Release Date December 1, 2023 Director Todd Haynes Cast Natalie Portman, Charles Melton, Julianne Moore, Andrea Frankle Rating R Runtime 1hr 57min Genres Drama

Charles Melton is already familiar to younger audiences thanks to Bad Boys for Life, Riverdale, and The Sun Is Also a Star, but his performance as Joe in May December is becoming his big breakthrough into Hollywood acclaim and recognition. The New York Film Critics Circle recently announced their awards for 2023, one of the earliest announcements of awards season, and Melton won for Best Supporting Actor (Samy Burch also won Best Screenplay for May December, another category that May December will likely dominate this season). it’s understandable, as Melton gives one of the year’s best performances as Joe.

RELATED: Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore Get Candid About Acting, Todd Haynes, and May December

When Joe was 12, he had sex with the adult Gracie, who became pregnant. She had the baby while she was in prison, and when she was released, she and Joe got married and had two more children. Joe is a handsome adult, but there’s obviously something slightly off with him, an old wound that has stopped his development in certain emotional ways. Melton is quiet and makes himself small despite his wide, muscular frame; he’s subtle, and is never solely a victim. It’s a complicated, devastating performance. We asked Haynes why he decided on Melton for the role.

“The casting process of the movie can be such a mysterious experience, and I’ve worked with Laura Rosenthal since 1998 on Velvet Goldmine,” said Haynes. “So we have this very long and intimate working relationship, and when we’re handed a challenge like finding Joe from May December, it’s a thrill. Because it means, one suspects that we’re going to be going somewhere we haven’t with actors I may not know and places we haven’t gone before, and that’s exactly what happened with Charles.” He continued:

“And I didn’t know Charles’ work from what he’d done, and so this interpretation of Joe was so distinct from any other actor, and there were some really fine actors in the mix. But Charles did something so nuanced and so delicate and sensitive, in which I saw, sort of for the first time, the past of Joe and the present. His instincts for me just filled in the story, and that’s just the thing you hope for […] It was an amazing, amazing process.”

“It was an incredible process,” agreed Melton. “Once I first got the script, I immediately felt this connection to Joe and who this man was and what he represented. And I had so much source material to pull from, and even from my own life, in a way where the experience was different, but the feeling was very similar.” He elaborated, painting a picture of memories which seems cinematic itself:

“It was this sense of responsibility that I really understood at such a young age. I’m an Army brat; my father was in the military for 20 years. And when we were stationed in Germany — my mother’s Korean — he met my mother in Korea, and I have two younger sisters. My dad sat me down when I was 11 and gave me this very inspirational talk about really stepping up and being a leader and a protector and a provider for my two younger sisters and my mother, and how my Jack Russell Terrier, Diamond Jack, would be by my side the whole way, and how he was going away for the next year to serve in Desert Storm.”

“That unknown sense at that time, at being 11, that responsibility,” explained Melton. “I mean, I had no other choice but to hear my hero and just say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do this. Even if these shoes are a little too big, I’m gonna step into them and just take that on.’ So that was one of the many layers that I found with Joe when it came to exploring his story that really helped inform those 23 days we spent in Georgia.”

Todd Haynes Explains His Julianne Moore Relationship

You can see from our video interview with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman above that both actors adore and respect Haynes. Moore, in particular, has deep roots with the director going back nearly three decades. They have worked together on five films now, and Haynes has directed Moore in some of her greatest performances (Safe, Far from Heaven), and now May December is one of them. We asked Haynes how their collaboration began and why it’s so special:

It’s one of those miracles. I first met Julianne, as you may know, Matt, for my second feature film, Safe, and she was still moving from TV stuff to films and was still relatively new. You know, word on the street was that this was an actress to look out for, for sure. But I didn’t know her work. I hadn’t seen her in anything, and Short Cuts from Altman had not yet come out. So we saw an advanced screening of that film, and I was astonished.

Related: May December Review: Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore Psychologically Duel Over the Truth

“It wasn’t until I met her and she read for me that I feel like I found this creative counterpart to what I was conceiving in that script, and to things that interested me, and challenging things that I didn’t think I’d seen in a lot of other films, that I wanted to try to explore in this one and that one,” continued Haynes.

“And I think she would say something similar in how she felt when she read the script, and how we met. That’s just such a rarity, especially when you’re both interested in things that aren’t necessarily part of the commercial discourse and filmmaking. And we keep having the opportunity and the incredible blessing of being able to keep working together through the years and applying that partnership from role to role.”

Here’s to many, many more years and roles.

From MountainA, Gloria Sanchez Productions, Killer Films, Taylor & Dodge, and Project Infinity, May December hit select theaters Nov. 17, and is coming to Netflix Dec. 1 in the US and Canada. You can watch the trailer below and find the link to stream the film when it’s on Netflix:

Stream on Netflix