Infamous Aussie interview resurfaces online after May December movie release

A controversial new movie has viewers flocking to the source material for one scene - a truly shocking interview by Seven’s Matt Doran.

A truly shocking interview aired by Channel Seven several years ago has suddenly resurfaced on social media, after a new film based on the real-life crime dropped internationally on Netflix.

The film May December is the latest offering from director Todd Haynes, starring Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton. Portman plays an actress who visits with her latest subject: A woman named Grace (Moore) who, 20 years earlier, was caught having sex with her son’s 13-year-old friend Joe Yoo (Melton). The case had become a tabloid sensation, and years later, despite the illegal nature of their initial relationship, the couple were married with children.

Portman (left) plays an actress tasked with playing an infamous female sex offender, played by Moore (right). Picture: Francois Duhamel / courtesy of Netflix

The story should ring some bells for those with a memory for 90s tabloid scandals: It’s loosely based on the infamous case of Mary Kay Letournau.

In 1996, when school teacher Letournau was 34, she was caught having a sexual relationship with one of her students, 12-year-old Vili Fualaau.

Despite several jail stints for her crime, Letournau couldn’t stay away from Fualaau - they later married and had two children together (they eventually separated in 2019, months before Letourneau’s death from cancer).

Letourneau was jailed for her crime...

...but the couple stayed together and had two children.

While the film is “loosely based” on the case, some scenes seem to hew very closely to the real-life details - like this scene, which viewers are comparing to the couple’s infamous 2018 interview with Seven reporter Matt Doran.

Take the shocking clip at the top of this story, which has been viewed more than one million times on Twitter, where Letourneau defends the origins of their relationship to a horrified Doran.

Letournau concedes that she was the adult “by age,” but not by maturity, before goading her husband into stating that he was the agressor, despite being 12 years old.

“Who was the boss? Who was the boss? Who was the boss back then? Who was the boss back then? Who was? Just say,” she instructed him.

“This is ridiculous... this is getting weird,” Fualaau said, before finally conceding he was the “pursuer.”

Mary Kay Letournau speaks to Seven.

Reporter Matt Doran was horrified.

She told an exasperated Doran that it “doesn’t matter” Fualaau was a child at the time.

That exact moment appears to be the inspiration for this scene in May December, where Joe confronts Gracie some questions about the origins of their relationship.

“Who was the boss?” Gracie asks him in the bedroom scene. “Who was in charge?”

Watch the clip below (language warning):

This scene will likely be his Oscar clip if Charles Melton is nominated. Everything in May December leads to this, a barely-contained meltdown where Joe realizes his whole life has been a twisted, manipulation. And Julianne Moore is magnificent exposing Gracie’s true cunning. pic.twitter.com/DpVVGxeIkX

— Brandon Lewis (@blewis1103) December 2, 2023

Australians eager to see the film are in for a bit of a wait: While it’s now available on Netflix in other terrories, it’s not yet available here but will be in Australian cinemas on February 1 next year.

Doran’s deeply uncomfortable half-hour interview with the couple came before what appeared to be something of an awakening for Fualaau: A year later, he filed for a separation for Letournau for what would be a second and final time.

He was, however, by her side when she died of colorectal cancer in July 2020. Months earlier, an unnamed source close to Fualaau had told People magazine he now had a different view about the relationship he’d been in since he was a child.

“He’s starting to get some perspective,” the source said. “He sees things clearly now, and realizes that this wasn’t a healthy relationship from the start.”