The Cult of JT Leroy

A feature documentary about the ethically charged and controversial life of writer JT LeRoy. In collaboration with the director and editor, I designed and animated the titles, photo montages, and animated a series of illustrated sequences for the film.

Film Opening and Title Animation

The Cult of JT Leroy is a meditation on empathy, diseased ambition, con-artistry, the ugliness of the cult of celebrity. For this sequence I was given images and rough timing. I composited the images and designed and animated the main title text. I chose to skew the text over a shadowy background, stretching it to create a sense that it is not solid, that things are not as they seem. An image of a rose from the cover of JT Leroy’s book 'Sarah' is disintegrating, as did the crumbling path of JT Leroy's scam.