John Waters

John Waters

Filmmaker

John Waters is an American filmmaker, writer, and artist who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, which have earned him the titles "pope of filth" and "prince of puke." Waters's 1970s and early '80s trash films feature his regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders, most famous among them being the drag queen Divine. In 1988, Waters had his biggest mainstream hit with "Hairspray," which was turned into Tony Award-winning Broadway musical in 2003 and then remade as a movie musical in 2007. In 2010, Waters published the unorthodox memoir "Role Models," in which Waters interviews and writes about his influences as a means of telling his own life story. 

 

4 min
John Waters defends the creation and consumption of obscene films, and recommends some of his personal favorites.
4 min
Contemporary art hates you, says the filmmaker, and in some cases—like a mold-infested blank canvas by Karin Sander—it could actually poison you.
3 min
The filmmaker was raised with “fascist-ly good taste”—which is probably why he rebelled. But he’s thankful for this upbringing because “you can’t have fun with bad taste unless you know […]