| John Waters | |
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 John Waters |
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| Birth name | John Samuel Waters, Jr. |
| Born | April 22 1946 Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| Occupation | Film director, producer, actor and screenwriter |
John Samuel Waters, Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, personality, visual artist and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films. He is recognizable by his pencil-thin moustache.
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Biography
Early life
Waters was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of John Samuel Waters, a manufacturer of fire-protection equipment, and Patricia W. (née Whitaker).[1] Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. His boyhood friend and muse Glenn Milstead, later known as Divine, also lived in Baltimore County, Maryland, a short distance away. Waters attended Calvert Hall College for High School. For his sixteenth birthday, Waters received an 8mm movie camera from his maternal grandmother, Stella Whitaker.
Early career
His first movie was Hag in a Black Leather Jacket. According to Waters, the film was shown only once in a "beatnik coffee house" in Baltimore. Waters was a student at New York University (NYU) in New York City. The school, however, was not what Waters had in mind:
| “ | NYU...I was there for about five minutes. I don't know what I was thinking about. I went to one class and they kept talking about Potemkin and that isn't what I wanted to talk about. I had just gone to see Olga's House of Shame. That was what I was more into.. | ” |
In January 1966, Waters and some friends were caught smoking marijuana on the grounds; they were soon expelled. Waters returned to Baltimore, where he began work on his next film, Eat Your Makeup, which was filmed that year. Waters' films would become Divine's primary star vehicle. Waters' early films were all shot in the Baltimore area with his company of local actors, the Dreamlanders. In addition to Divine, the group included Mink Stole, Cookie Mueller, Edith Massey, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, and others. These early films were among the first picked up for distribution by New Line Cinema. Waters' films premiered at the Baltimore Senator Theatre and sometimes at the Charles Theatre. Waters' early campy movies present filthily lovable characters in outrageous situations with hyperbolic dialogue. His early films, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living, which he labeled the Trash Trilogy, pushed hard at the boundaries of conventional propriety and movie censorship. 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 without special effects, a small dog defecating and Divine eating the feces.
Move towards mainstream
His 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite once-teen-idol Tab Hunter. Since then, 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, and a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical was released in theaters on July 20, 2007.
Waters' most recent film, the NC-17-rated A Dirty Shame, is a move back toward his earlier, more controversial work of the 1970s. He also had a cameo in Jackass: Number Two, which starred Dirty Shame co-star Johnny Knoxville. Waters has stated that his next movie will be a children's film titled "Fruitcake". It begins shooting in January 2008.[2] He is currently a professor of Cinema and Subcultural Studies at the European Graduate School.[3] In 2007, he also became the host (as "The Groom Reaper") of 'Til Death Do Us Part, a program on America's Court TV network featuring dramatizations of real-life marriages that soured and ended in murder. A gay American, Waters is an avid supporter of gay rights and gay pride.[4] Waters has been known to create characters with alliterated names for his movies including Tracy Turnblad, Motormouth Maybelle, Dawn Davenport, Donald Dasher, Link Larkin, Penny Pingleton, Sylvia Stickles, Wade Walker, Wanda Woodward, Mona Malnorowski, David Divine, Bo-Bo Belsinger, Francine Fishpaw, Sandra Sullivan, Prudy Pingleton, Todd Tomorrow, Mole McHenry, Ursula Udders, Fat Fuck Frank, and Ramona Rickettes.
Other work
For years, Waters has been seen in movie art houses announcing that "no smoking" is permitted in the theatre. This short spot was filmed by Waters for the Nuart Theatre (a Landmark Theater) in West Los Angeles, CA in appreciation to the theater for showing Pink Flamingos for many years. Waters is an avid fan of Court TV and for a time was known 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. Waters eventually stopped going to trials when more fans started recognizing him and went to trials to meet him. He didn't feel it was appropriate given the seriousness of the court system. He played a reverend in Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, directed by one of his idols, Herschell Gordon Lewis. Waters owns one of John Wayne Gacy's paintings, which Waters says he hangs in his guest bedroom "so people don't stay too long".
Filmography
Writer/director
1960s
- Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (8 mm) (1964)
- Roman Candles (three 8 mm shown simultaneously) (1966)
- Eat Your Makeup (16mm) (1968)
- Mondo Trasho (16mm) (1969)
- The Diane Linkletter Story (16mm) (1969)
1970s
- Multiple Maniacs (16mm) (1970) - X for extremely graphic sexual content and nudity, strong language, and violence.
- Pink Flamingos (16 & 35 mm) (1972) - NC-17 for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail.
- Female Trouble (16 & 35 mm) (1974) - NC-17 for explicit sexuality and nudity.
- Desperate Living (16 & 35 mm) (1977) - R for strong sexual content, language, and violence.
1980s
- Polyester (1981) - R for some violence, language, and sexual content/nudity.
- Hairspray (1988) - PG for some crude language and thematic elements.
1990s
- Cry-Baby (1990) - PG-13 for crude humor, language, and some violence.
- Serial Mom (1994) - R for satirical presentation of strong violence, vulgar language, and sexual episodes.
- Pecker (1998) - R for sexuality, graphic nudity, language, and brief drug use.
2000s
- Cecil B. DeMented (2000) - R for strong crude sexual content, violence, language and drug use.
- A Dirty Shame (2004) - NC-17 for pervasive sexual content. / R for pervasive strong crude sexual content, including fetishes.
- Fruitcake (2008) - in production.
Writer (but not director)
- This Filthy World (2006)
- Hairspray (2007) - original film source for musical to musical film
Actor
Films
- Pink Flamingos (1972) - Mr. J (voice)
- Female Trouble (1974) - Donna Dasher's defense attorney
- Something Wild (1986) - Used car guy
- Hairspray (1988) - Dr. Fredrikson
- Serial Mom (1994) - Ted Bundy (voice) (uncredited)
- Pecker (1998) - Pervert on phone (voice)
- Sweet and Lowdown (1999) - Mr. Haynes
- Cecil B. Demented (2000) - Reporter
- Seed of Chucky (2004) - Pete Peters
- Jackass: Number Two (2006) - Himself
- This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) - Himself
- Hairspray (2007) - The flasher who lives next door
- The Junior Defenders (2007) - Narrator
Television
- Frasier, episode "The Maris Counselor" as Roger (voice)
- The Simpsons, episode "Homer's Phobia" as John (voice)
- My Name is Earl, episode "Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck" as Funeral Director
- 'Til Death Do Us Part, regular role as the Groom Reaper
- Homicide: Life on the Street (two appearances), nameless bartender; talkative prisoner
Bibliography
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)
- Art: A Sex Book (2003) (with Bruce Hainley), an exploration of erotic content in the contemporary art landscape.
The photo collections:
- Director's Cut (1997)
- John Waters: Change of Life (2004)
- Unwatchable (2006)
Fine art
Since the early 1990s Waters has been making photo based artwork and installations that have been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums. In 2004, the New Museum in NYC presented a retrospective of his artwork.
Other works
- This Filthy World (aka World of Trash) Waters' touring one man show, which was recently turned into a feature film, directed by Jeff Garlin
- A John Waters Christmas A CD of Christmas songs, compiled by John Waters
- John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You A TV show for the here! television network.
- Mommie Dearest on the most recent DVD release, Waters provides audio commentary for the cult classic film from 1981.
- The Little Mermaid Special Edition DVD (2006) - provides insight within the 'making of' documentary about Howard Ashman, the theatre (i.e. Little Shop of Horrors), and the inspiration behind the character of Ursula; Divine.
- A Date with John Waters (2007), a CD music collection of songs Waters finds romantic.
- Christmas Evil DVD release from Synapse Films, Waters provides audio commentary alongside the films director.
- Narrated the award-winning 2006 documentary film Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
- Was featured in the documentary film This Film Is Not Yet Rated giving insight and commentary on his NC-17 Rated film and interviewing about the MPAA
- Breaking Up With John Waters John's third CD compilation is currently in the works.
- the Other Hollywood Edited by Legs McNeil. - Provides Commentary and opinions about pornography throughout the book.
References
the Other Hollywood Edited by Legs McNeil. - Provides Commentary and opinions about pornography throughout the book.
External links
- John Waters at the Internet Movie Database
- John Waters Faculty Website, European Graduate School
- Stanley Kubrick Wouldn't Do This (Interview with John Waters on the making of "Hairspray" from the L.A. Weekly) by Michael Dare
- February 6, 2007 Amoeba's Date with John Waters Video Interview
- John Waters art retrospective at the New Museum
- Interview with John Waters on the Feast of Fools (podcast)
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