Production on John Waters’ new film, Liarmouth, is moving ahead with Aubrey Plaza set to star.
First announced in 2022, Liarmouth is slated to be Waters’ first new movie in 20 years. Though it was delayed by last year’s strikes, new reports claim that progress is coming along and filming is expected to begin in Baltimore, Maryland later this year. According to Word of Reel, Waters has completed the script, a budget is currently being assembled, and beyond confirmation of Plaza’s role, “further casting should be announced shortly.”
The film itself is based on Waters’ 2022 novel-of-the-same-name, which follows the story of Marsha Sprinkle, a smart, desperate, and disturbed con artist dubbed “Liarmouth” who’s wanted dead by even her own family. Speaking in a 2022 interview with Dazed, Plaza explained that she wanted to be involved as soon as the film adaptation was announced.
“I emailed [Waters] immediately and said, ‘You better let me audition for you,” she said. “I even look like the girl on the cover [of the novel Liarmouth].” Continuing, she revealed that she was told she was “on [Water’s] list” at the time, but wanted “to be top of the list.” The interview even ends with Plaza suggesting “the John Waters thing” as a pull quote over another option, saying “I’m throwing myself at his feet. I’ll do anything to get the part. And I mean anything.”
As for Waters, he credited the novel Liarmouth with jumpstarting the “engine of [his] film career,” calling it “the craziest thing I’ve written in a while” His last film was 2004’s A Dirty Shame, and now, he’s “thrilled to be back in the movie business, hopefully to spread demented joy to adventuresome moviegoers around the world.”
For more on Waters, revisit Consequence’s 2022 interview with him in which he discussed punk, Baltimore, and more.