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The Baltimore Sun called him “The Prince of Puke.” To The Guardian, he’s “The People’s Pervert.” William S. Burroughs dubbed him “The Pope of Trash.” John Waters lives up to the hype through cinematic celebration of perversion, filth and degeneracy.
His campy, obscene brand of filmmaking has made him as much of a household name as your preferred toilet bowl cleaner. But at the beginning, he was just an unassuming young man with a pencil mustache. He came of age in the suburbs of Baltimore, which is where his signature contempt for authority began to blossom. His hometown became the inspiration for themes and characters in many of his films (for instance, the cool kids at his high school, known as “drapes,” spawned the film "Crybaby.") He still owns a house in Baltimore, and keeps it filled with fake food, a fake cat, and an ugly fake baby named Bill.
His posse of frequent collaborators, whom he fondly calls “Dreamlanders,” include people like Mink Stole, Kathleen Turner, Ricki Lake and Divine (who ate actual dog sh*t for his film "Pink Flamingos"--dictionary definition of ride or die). He’s also close personal friends with Manson girl Leslie Van Houten, whom he first visited in prison for a Rolling Stone interview. The Manson murders were a big influence on Waters, and inspired him to make films like "Multiple Maniacs." While not a proponent of actual murder, Waters identifies with the ripples of cultish cultural pandemonium that surrounded Van Houten in 1969. “[She] always seemed the one that could have somehow ended up making movies with us instead of running with the killer dune-buggy crowd...If Leslie had met me instead of Charlie, could she have gone to the Cannes Film Festival instead of the California Institute for Women?”
If you’re a stalker-level fan, try to pick him up hitchhiking in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he spends his summers. Or find him at his annual gig hosting Bay Area punk music festival Burger Boogaloo. Though he’s mellowed into a distinguished blend of decrepit and debonair, the Prince of Puke still reigns supreme.
Sources
Sources
- Desta, Yohand. “John Waters Has a Very John Waters Theory About Mike Pence.” Vanity Fair. May 3rd, 2017. Accessed 6/20/17. http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/john-waters-serial-mom
- Levy, Ariel. “Still Waters.” New York Magazine. March 24, 2008. Accessed 6/20/17. http://nymag.com/news/features/45305/
- “Pet Rats and Flamingos: How the Burger Boogaloo Came to Be.” Ticketfly, accessed 6/30/17.http://start.ticketfly.com/blog/pet-rats-and-pink-flamingos-how-the-bur…
- Waters, John. “Role Models.” New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2010.
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Here is what Wikipedia says about John Waters
John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film. Other films he has written and directed include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.
As an actor, Waters has appeared in the films Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Mangus! (2011), Excision (2012), and Suburban Gothic (2014), as well as the Child's Play franchise with the film Seed of Chucky (2004) and the third season of the television series Chucky (2024). He hosted and produced the television series John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You (2006). Throughout his career, Waters often collaborated with actor and drag queen Divine and his regular cast of the Dreamlanders. More recently, he performs in his touring one-man show This Filthy World.
Waters also works as a visual artist and across different media, such as installations, photography, and sculpture. The audiobooks he narrated for his books Carsick and Mr. Know-It-All were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015 and 2020, respectively. In 2018, Waters was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
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