EXCLUSIVE: In what marks a high-profile return to filmmaking for John Waters, Village Roadshow Pictures has optioned his new novel Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance. Waters will write the script and direct.
It will be Waters’ first time behind the camera since 2004’s A Dirty Shame. Steve Rabineau will produce alongside Village Roadshow Entertainment, which Steve Mosko revived as a producer and financier. Mosko and Waters hail from Baltimore.
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“Liarmouth is the craziest thing I’ve written in a while, so maybe it’s fitting that my novel was shocking enough to jumpstart the engine of my film career,” Waters said. “Thrilled to be back in the movie business, hopefully to spread demented joy to adventuresome moviegoers around the world.”
The novel follows Marsha Sprinkle, a suitcase thief, scammer and master of disguise. Dogs and children hate her. Her own family wants her dead. She’s smart, she’s desperate, she’s disturbed, and she’s on the run with a big chip on her shoulder. They call her Liarmouth ― until one insane man makes her tell the truth.
The novel was published in May by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It is described as a funny, filthy tale of sex, crime and family dysfunction — and why would Waters return to filmmaking for anything less?
The Baltimore-based indie icon’s work includes the classics Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom, Cry-Baby, Cecil B. Demented, Polyester and others. The deal was made by Paradigm’s Jack Tantleff for The Clegg Agency, and Waters’ lawyer Jason P. Hendler at Hansen Jacobson Teller.
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