Nowadays, being a great fan of Brian De Palma means getting burned time and again by projects that are announced, linger, and taper off, and so I can only react to a new deal with some cautious optimism. But news is news, and word has it he’s signed to adapt Sascha Arango‘s black-comic novel The Truth and Other Lies, which the author himself has penned for the screen. [Deadline]
The basic outlines make it sound like an endeavor right up the filmmaker’s alley, following a celebrated author, Henry Hayden, whose messy personal life — his wife writes his books, for one, and he’s impregnated his mistress — and hidden past begin coming to light, necessitating the need to “manage a growing series of lies and complications.” It’s fair to say De Palma has some vested interest in lies, conspiracy, danger, suspense, and spinning these into sickly amusing scenarios — so who better, really, than him to make it happen?
Assuming this all moves faster (or simply has a better fate) than Therese Raquin, Lights Out, and the Al Pacino-led Retribution and Happy Valley, I mean. Fingers crossed De Palma, Nick Wechsler Productions, and Chockstone Pictures can make something work. As great as Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s upcoming De Palma may be, I don’t want it to be the last film he has some hand in.