The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a 2004 drama film co-written and directed by Asia Argento and starring Argento, Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse (with Bennett and the Sprouse brothers sharing the role as Jeremiah). The screenplay by Argento and Alessandro Magania is based on JT LeRoy's novel of the same name. The film received a limited release in North America on March 10, 2006, shortly after Laura Albert was revealed to be the actual author of the JT LeRoy books. The film concerns a tattered relationship between Sarah, a drug addict, and her young son, Jeremiah. Their life together is marked by Sarah's substance abuse. The title is taken from Jeremiah 17:9. Plot Sarah (Asia Argento) is the young mother of Jeremiah who has him move back in with her after spending his early years with a stable foster family. Their life soon becomes hectic with Sarah not only giving her young son drugs, but also giving him a chaotic life on the road. Sarah becomes involved with a series of men who treat her and seven-year-old Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett), poorly, and she uses them as an excuse to abandon her son. She disappears to Atlantic City with her boyfriend, Emerson (Jeremy Renner), and then deserts him; Emerson returns to their home and rapes Jeremiah. After a trip to the hospital, Jeremiah's grandmother (Ornella Muti) takes him to a West Virginian radical Christian cult led by his grandfather (Peter Fonda). After he has been three years with the cult, Sarah returns to reclaim the 11-year-old Jeremiah (Dylan and Cole Sprouse). Sarah's current lover, Kenny (Matt Schulze), a truck driver, eventually abandons them at a truck stop while Sarah is soliciting. Sarah realizes that if she is going to keep her men, she cannot say Jeremiah is her son. She persuades Jeremiah to cross-dress so that he can act as her "little sister"; and Jeremiah's cross-dressing evolves to include his mother's seduction techniques. After dressing up as a "baby doll" version of Sarah which consisted of her makeup, her white nightgown and her red high heel pumps, Jeremiah seduces Jackson (Marilyn Manson), his mother's latest man, who initially tries to rebuff the boy's advances, but then gives in. Sarah is furious with Jackson for giving in to the boy's advances and also with Jeremiah for ruining her panties with drops of blood on them. She then