Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a 2018 American biographical film directed by Marielle Heller and with a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, based on the 2008 confessional memoir of the same name by Lee Israel. Melissa McCarthy stars as Israel, and the story follows her attempts to revitalize her failing writing career by forging letters from deceased authors and playwrights. The film also features Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Jane Curtin, Anna Deavere Smith, Stephen Spinella, and Ben Falcone in supporting roles. Israel took the title from an apologetic line in a letter in which she posed as Dorothy Parker.
Plot
In 1991, following the critical and commercial failure of her biography of Estée Lauder, author Lee Israel struggles with financial troubles, writer's block, and alcoholism. Although she hopes to write a biography of comedienne Fanny Brice, her agent, Marjorie, sharply rejects the idea and explains that Lee, with her difficult personality, is responsible for her own career slump. Some people suggested Lee was in fact a male.
Awards
More details
author | Jeff Whitty Nicole Holofcener |
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award | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
contentLocation | New York City |
director | Marielle Heller |
editor | Anne McCabe |
events | Lee Israel |
keywords | advance advance payment aid alcoholics anonymous blacklist build community service create dinner date dorothy parker end estée lauder expect fanny brice fbi federal bureau of investigation house arrest id katharine hepburn noël coward pass probation serve short story social phobia socially phobic steal store owner writer\'s block |
musicBy | Nate Heller |
producer | Amy Nauiokas Anne Carey David Yarnell |
publisher | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
theme | biographical buddy lgbt-related |