John Waters (filmmaker)
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John Waters (born April 22, 1946, Baltimore, Maryland) is an American filmmaker known for films displaying what some consider to be "bad taste" while still managing to be humourous to some audiences. He is also a professor of cinema and subculture at the European Graduate School.
Directing career
Waters and his muse Divine (then known as Glen Milstead) lived in Baltimore County, Maryland as boys, a short distance apart, where they met and became friends. Waters' films would become Divine's primary star vehicle.His earlier film works included Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living, sometimes referred to as the Trash Trilogy. These films pushed hard at the boundaries of conventional propriety and movie censorship and indeed, many felt, good taste. A particularly notorious final segment of Pink Flamingos, simply added in as a non sequitur to the end of the film, featured, in one take, a small dog defecating and then crossdressing actor Divine eating the dog feces.
Waters' early films were all shot in the Baltimore area with his regular team of local actors (the Dreamlanders) who starred in most of his films, including Divine, Mink Stole, Cookie Mueller, Edith Massey, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, and others. His early films were among the first picked up for distribution by New Line Cinema. His films often premiered at the Charles Theatre.
His 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite once-teen-idol Tab Hunter. His films have become less controversial and more mainstream, although works such as Hairspray, Cry-Baby and Serial Mom still retain his trademark inventiveness. The film Hairspray was turned into a hit Broadway musical, which swept the 2003 Tony Awards.
Waters' most recent film, the NC-17 rated A Dirty Shame, is a move back toward his earlier, more controversial work.
Writings
Waters has published collections of his writings including:- Shock Value (1981)
- Trash Trio: Three Screenplays: Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Flamingos Forever (1988)
- Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters (1987, Revised Edition 2003)
- Hairspray, Female Trouble, and Multiple Maniacs: Three more screenplays (2005)
- Director's Cut (1997)
- John Waters: Change of Life (2004)
Trivia
- John Waters guest-starred in an episode of The Simpsons (Homer's Phobia) and played a character called "John" (drawn in Waters' likeness), the owner of a pop culture memorabilia store who becomes friends with Homer until Homer realizes he is gay. There is also a scene where Smithers bumps into John and Homer and it is inferred that John and Smithers may have been together at some stage.
- Popular talk show host Ricki Lake started her career by appearing in various John Waters films including Hairspray, Cry-Baby (with Johnny Depp), Serial Mom and Cecil B. Demented.
- Waters was dubbed "The Pope of Trash" by writer William Burroughs.
- According to Waters himself, he is often mistaken for Steve Buscemi, and once sent Christmas cards containing photos of Buscemi to his friends just to see if any of them would notice. Buscemi, in kind, has been known to dress as John Waters for Halloween parties.
- For years, Waters has been seen in movie art houses announcing that "no smoking" is permitted in the theatre. In this brief filmed announcement, he stares into the camera and he is smoking and obviously enjoying a cigarette. He then goes on: "...which I think is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I mean, how can anyone sit through a feature-length film; especially a ... foreign film without smoking?" He then takes a heavy drag, with sneering "Mmm, mmm, mmm... Don't you wish you had one, right now?" He reiterates the "no smoking" rule, gently exhales and then snappily re-inhales/snorts the smoke through his nose to suddenly end the 20-second spot. [1]
- John Waters appeared twice on , once as a nameless bartender listening to a disconsolate Detective Bolander, and another time as a talkative prisoner awaiting transfer from New York to Baltimore (escorted by Detective Mike Logan who is turning the prisoner over to Detective Frank Pembleton).
- Waters is an avid fan of court TV and for a time was notorious for going to high profile court cases as an observer. Waters has been quoted as saying that he saw many of the same people who were court observers all around the country at different trials. John Waters eventually stopped going to trials when more fans started recognizing him and actually going to trials to meet him. He didn't feel it was appropriate to the seriousness of the court system.
- Played a member of the paparazzi in Seed of Chucky, in which he was killed by acid being poured on his face, melting it off.
John Waters filmography
- Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (8 mm) 1964 (b&w) starring Mary Vivian Pearce, Mona Montgomery; 17 minutes.
- Roman Candles (three 8 mm shown simultaneously) 1966 (color) starring Maelcum Soul, Bob Skidmore, Mona Montgomery, Divine, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary; 40 minutes
- Eat Your Makeup (16mm) 1968 (b&w) starring Maelcum Soul, David Lochary, Marina Melin, Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mona Montgomery; 45 minutes
- Mondo Trasho (16mm) 1969 (b&w) starring Mary Vivian Pearce, Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole; released through New Line Cinema; 95 minutes. $2,000 total cost
- The Diane Linkletter Story (16mm) 1969 (b&w) starring Mary Vivian Pearce, Divine, David Lochary; 15 minutes.
- Multiple Maniacs (16mm) 1970 (b&w) starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey; released through New Line Cinema; 90 minutes. $5,000 total cost.
- Pink Flamingos (16 & 35 mm) 1972 (color) starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Danny Mills, Edith Massey; released through New Line Cinema; 93 minutes. $10,000. A re-edited version including extra scenes was released in 1997.
- Female Trouble (16 & 35 mm) 1974 (color) starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Danny Mills, Edith Massey; released through New Line Cinema; 92 minutes. $25,000. A re-edited version including extra scenes was released in 1997.
- Desperate Living (16 & 35 mm) 1977 (color) starring Liz Renay, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, Edith Massey, Mary Vivian Pearce, Jean Hill; released through New Line Cinema; 90 minutes. $65,000.
- Polyester (35 mm) 1981 (color) starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, Stiv Bators, David Samson, Mary Garlington, Ken King, Mink Stole, Joni-Ruth White; released through New Line Cinema. This film was released in "odorama", which meant that a "scratch and sniff" card corresponding to moments in the film (eg, Divines husband Elmer farting) was issued to cinema goers.
- Hairspray (35 mm) 1988 (color) starring Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, Divine, Deborah Harry, Ricki Lake, Jerry Stiller, Ric Ocasek, Pia Zadora, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Mink Stole; released through New Line Cinema; 90 minutes. Waters' first true 'big budget' ($2,000,000) foray into 'the mainstream'.
- Divine 1990 (color) starring Divine. Video release, 110 minutes. Two films on one video, both starring Divine and directed by Waters. The first is The Diane Linkletter Story, originally released in 1969. The second is The Neon Woman.
- Cry-Baby (35 mm) 1990 (color) starring Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, Susan Tyrrell, Iggy Pop, Ricki Lake, Traci Lords, Kim McGuire, Stephen Mailer, Darren E. Burrows, Polly Bergen, Patricia Hearst, David Nelson, Troy Donahue, Mink Stole, Joe Dallesandro, Joey Heatherton, Willem Dafoe; released through Universal Studios; 85 minutes
- Serial Mom (35 mm) 1994 (color) starring Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, Matthew Lillard, Scott Wesley Morgan, Walt MacPherson, Patricia Hearst, Suzanne Somers. 93 minutes.
- Pecker (35 mm) 1998 (color) starring Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Martha Plimpton, Brendon Sexton, Mary Kay Place, Patricia Hearst, Mink Stole, and Lili Taylor. New Line Cinema 86 minutes.
- Cecil B. DeMented (35mm) 2000 (color) starring Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Adrian Grenier, Larry Gilliard Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jack Noseworthy, Mink Stole, Ricki Lake, Kevin Nealon, Roseanne Barr, and Patricia Hearst. 87 minutes.
- A Dirty Shame (35mm) 2004 (color) starring Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, Selma Blair, Mink Stole, David Hasselhoff, Patricia Hearst, and Chris Isaak. Released through Fine Line Features. 89 minutes.
- John Waters' life and work was analysed in the documentary homage Divine Trash (1998) by Steve Yeager, named after the actor Divine.
External links
- [John Waters Faculty Website, European Graduate School]
- [}}}] at NNDB
- [John Waters] at [SensesOfCinema.com]
- [Dreamland]
- [Interviewed by Bizarre magazine]
- [Audio interview] with Waters regarding Christmas on The Sound of Young America public radio show. (Link is in MP3 format)
- [Dec 14,2004 interview on NPR about "A John Waters Christmas"]
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