Eighteen years after his last movie came out, Baltimore writer and filmmaker John Waters is apparently headed back to the director’s chair.
Deadline.com reported today that Village Roadshow Pictures has optioned Waters’ 2022 novel, “Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance,” and that Waters will write the script and direct the film.
Deadline called the news “a high-profile return to filmmaking” for Waters, whose last film was “A Dirty Shame” in 2004. It comes six months after Waters’ book, his first novel, hit bookshelves; it hasn’t even come out in paperback yet.
“’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,” Deadline quoted Waters as saying. “Thrilled to be back in the movie business, hopefully to spread demented joy to adventuresome moviegoers around the world.”
Waters today declined to comment further, but he confirmed the accuracy of Deadline’s report.
Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, “Liarmouth” tells the story of Marsha Sprinkle, a thief and scammer who steals luggage at the airport, and her efforts to stay ahead of the law.
“Dogs and children hate her,” the book jacket says. “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.”
According to the website, Steve Rabineau will produce alongside Village Roadshow Entertainment, backed by financier Steve Mosko. The deal was made by Paradigm’s Jack Tantleff for The Clegg Agency, and Waters’ lawyer Jason P. Hendler at Hansen Jacobson Teller, deadline said.
Other details, such as who might star in the film, when and where it will be filmed, and when it might be released, have not been disclosed. Waters has said he did not write Marsha Sprinkle with any particular actress in mind.
Waters, 76, has written and directed 16 previous movies, including “Hairspray,” “Pink Flamingos,” “Serial Mom,” “Cry-Baby,” “Cecil B. Demented,” “Polyester,” “Multiple Maniacs,” and “Female Trouble.” Last year, just before its 50th anniversary, “Pink Flamingos” was added to the National Film Registry of the U. S. Library of Congress, the first Waters film to make that list.
