Lee Israel is months behind on her rent, her cat is sick, and she’s been told no one is going to pay for her writing. Urged to “find another way to make a living,” the biographer and freelance writer gets creative. “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” chronicles her foray into embellishing literary letters by famous authors. “Quite by accident I find myself in a rather criminal position,” Lee admits in the trailer. Based on Israel’s 1998 memoir of the same name, the pic is directed by Marielle Heller and stars Melissa McCarthy.
Lee does some of the best writing of her career — and receives the best compensation — for pretending to be other people, but her luck doesn’t last. It’s not long before her letters arouse suspicion and she finds herself facing jail time. “I can’t say that I regret any of my actions,” she says. “In many ways this has been the best time of my life.”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” marks Heller’s follow-up to 2015 Bel Powley-starrer “The Diary of a Teenage Girl.” The critically acclaimed coming-of-age story was named Best First Feature at the Indie Spirit Awards and Heller received a DGA nod for the pic.
McCarthy scored an Oscar nod in 2012 for her breakout supporting role in “Bridesmaids.” Her upcoming credits include mob drama “The Kitchen,” college-set comedy “Life of the Party,” and R-rated puppet comedy “The Happytime Murders.”
Co-written by Nicole Holofcener (“Enough Said”), “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” drops October 19.
