Moore recalled the journey Burch’s screenplay went through on its way to her:
“The script, initially, for ‘May December’ went to Natalie. And Natalie was the person who sent it to Todd Haynes, who I’ve made many, many movies with. And Todd right away thought of me for Gracie and said, he wrote me an email saying, ‘I’m gonna slip you a script.’ Because he didn’t want to tell Natalie that I might be interested unless he knew that I was gonna be interested in the script. And I was so excited to get an email like that from him. I was like, ‘Wow, yes, yes, I am in!'”
It’s worth noting that Portman is one of the producers of “May December,” and she was one of the key players involved in assembling the project. It seems, though, that Moore and Haynes briefly squirreled away the script, pretending that it was all theirs. Moore and Haynes have indeed made many, many films together. Moore starred in the excellent 1995 film “Safe,” as well as Haynes’ Douglas Sirk riff “Far From Heaven” in 2002. She also played a singer in Hayne’s Bob Dylan pseudo-biography “I’m Not There” and was one of the main characters of his kid-friendly museums-are-great film “Wonderstruck.” They’re wonderful collaborators who both bring their A-game to “May December.”
Once the actor and director had conspired enough, they went back to their eventual star/producer and the cast was formed. Part of me suspects Portman wanted Moore to play Gracie anyway, but thought it was wiser to contact Haynes first, knowing he would call his muse. However things were arranged, it all worked out.