Esteemed filmmaker Brian De Palma has lined up an adaptation of Sascha Arango’s The Truth and Other Lies as his next project, according to Deadline.
Pitched as a black comedy, Arango will pen the screenplay, flanked by producers Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz and Wechsler. It’s a tale that centers on one Henry Hayden, a seemingly genuine author and all-round stand-up guy who has carved out a living as a writer.
Little does the literature world know that it’s actually his wife that penned the novels that shot him to stardom, and complications begin to arise thick and fast when the identity of Henry’s mistress is revealed – and to add fuel to the fire, she’s also pregnant.
Here’s a synopsis of Arango’s source material:
Henry Hayden seems like someone you might admire, or even come to think of as a friend. A famous bestselling author. A loving and devoted husband. A generous and considerate neighbor. But Henry Hayden is a construction, a mask. His past is a secret, his methods more so. Only he and his wife know that she is the actual writer of the novels that made him famous.
When his hidden-in-plain-sight mistress becomes pregnant, it seems his carefully conceived façade is about to crumble. And on a rain-soaked night at the edge of a dangerous cliff, his permanent solution becomes his most terrible mistake.
Not since 2012’s Passion has Brian De Palma stepped behind the lens, after HBO’s Happy Valley – once set to place old cohort Al Pacino in the lead role – ground to a halt. Lights Out, meanwhile, continues to languish in pre-production. That means today’s announcement of The Truth and Other Lies ought to be welcome with open arms if it heralds De Palma’s return. Providing this project remains on course in its path to production, that is.
