User:KSimoneweb/May December

Criticisms
The film has faced criticism from viewers who feel that the producers and stars failed to acknowledge the similarities between their story and the 1996 case of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau.Throughout the film’s press, the cast and crew attempted to create distance between the real life story and the film. However, director Todd Haynes, has publicly acknowledged the similarities and mentioned that it was helpful to get inspiration from that case for the film's story. Fualaau was only 12 years old when a 34-year-old Letourneau pursued him. Letourneau pleaded guilty to two counts of child rape. Recently, Fualaau has spoken out against the film stating that they should have consulted him first saying "I'm still alive and well [...] If they had reached out to me, we could have worked together on a masterpiece. Instead they chose to do a ripoff of my original story." He added "I'm offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me -- who lived through a real story and is still living it."