May 28
John Waters' 'Liarmouth' Movie Might Not be Happening
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
John Waters' anticipated return to the director's chair with an adaptation of his novel "Liarmouth," slated to star Aubrey Plaza, is in danger of never going before the camera thanks to a lack of funding, Collider reported.
"Waters himself is here to tell you that it's probably never going to happen," Collider related, pointing to comments Waters made to IndieWire.
In a promotional interview for the 4K reissue of his 1990 Johnny Depp movie "Cry-Baby," Waters discussed the prospect of a "Pink Flamingoes" opera and a "Serial Mom" TV series adaptation before declaring that the "Liarmouth" movie is stuck in limbo due to a lack of money.
"I'll say it one more time, and there is no scoop here, there's nothing new I'm telling you, but," Waters plunged in when asked about the status of the film, Village Roadshow "optioned the book, I wrote the script, they liked it, Aubrey likes the script, wants to be in it, I want her to be in it, and every person said, 'No, we don't have a penny of the budget.'"
"That is where it is today," Waters concluded. "Hopefully that will change."
AV Club recalled that the adaptation, which was first announced in 2022, "would be his first [film] since 2004's 'A Dirty Shame.' Then, it was later revealed that Aubrey Plaza wanted to star in the film, and Waters wanted her to do it, too. It seemed almost too good to be true."
"For the financially minded," AV Club went on to add, "a John Waters flick is hardly a safe return on investment; in the same interview, he mentions how 'Cry-Baby,'... one of his more mainstream [movies], has never turned a profit."
Though it's been two decades since he directed a film, Waters has kept busy with a number of non-film projects, including his solo show "This Filthy World," as well as having hosted a televised film series called "John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You" (2006), appearing as an actor in a number of films and television series, and authoring a number of books apart from "Liarmouth," including "Role Models" (2010), "Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America" (2014), "Make Trouble" (2017), and "Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder" (2019).
Waters got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
