Hairspray

Background:

An American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who is recognizable by his pencil-thin mustache, which he grew in honor of Little Richard, John Waters has been sometimes called the “King of Bad Taste” or the “Pope of Trash” thanks in part to his reputation of shocking his audiences. Many of his films ridicule suburban America and a number of social conventions and attitudes. Entering show business in the 1960s with a series of short experimental films like “Roman Candle” (1966) and “Eat Your Makeup” (1968), Waters rose to prominence in the early 1970s for “Pink Flamingos” (1972). Since “Polyester” (1981), he gradually moved to more mainstream movies and scored financial and critical success with “Hairspray” (1988), from which he earned two Independent Spirit nominations and a Grand Jury Prize nomination at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was later transformed into a hit Broadway musical in 2002 and a film version of the musical was released in 2007. Other directorial credits include “Cry-Baby” (1990), “Serial Mom” (1994), “Pecker” (1998), “Cecil B. Demented” (2000) and “A Dirty Shame” (2004). Waters has written and acted in many of his films. He also has had cameo roles in several films and more recently, in 2007, played the narrator/groom reaper on the 13-part TV true-crime drama series “'Till Death Do Us Part.” He is also known as the writer of such books as “Shock Value” (1981), “Crackpot” (1986), “Trash Trio” (1988), “Art: A Sex Book” and “Director's Cut.”

Aside from his film work, Waters has created photo based artwork that has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.

Baltimore Native

Childhood and Family:

John Samuel Waters Jr. was born on April 22, 1946, in Baltimore, Maryland, to John Samuel Waters and Patricia Ann. Along with his brother, Steve, he was raised in a religious middle-class Catholic family in Lutherville, a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. A funny child, by age 12 he was working as a puppeteer at children birthday parties. During the 1950s, young Waters earned his formal education at several local schools, which he later revealed gave limited inspiration. He joined the Catholic Youth Organization but discovered he enjoyed recreational drugs and the works of William Burroughs and Sigmund Freud. Eventually, the group cut off its association with him. His established a friendship with a neighbor named Harris Glenn Milstead (aka. Divine), who later became his muse.

John attended Calvert Hall College High School in the early 1960s and received a film camera from his grandmother for his sixteenth birthday. In 1965, he attended the University of Baltimore, but a year later transferred to New York University. He was soon expelled from the school after being spotted smoking marijuana and returned to Baltimore to work on movies.

Pink Flamingos

Career:

With his super 8mm camera and financial support from his parents, Baltimore native John Waters made his first short movie at age 19 with “Hag in a Black Leather Jacket.” He teamed up with Divine to form a film company called Dreamland Productions and went on to produce a 40-minute independent called “Roman Candles” (1966), which first featured Divine as his leading “lady.” After being kicked out from NYU, he began work on his next film, “Eat Your Makeup” (1968), which marked his first 16mm film. In 1969, he debuted as director, writer, producer, cinematographer and editor for “Mondo Trasho.” Aside from Divine, Waters' early films were shot in Baltimore and cast local actors like Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pierce, David Lochary, Cookie Mueller and Edith Massey. They premiered at the Baltimore Senator Theatre and sometimes at the Charles Theatre.

1970 saw Waters release his first feature-length movie, “Multiple Maniacs.” His next film was titled “Mondo Trasho” and he later directed “The Diane Linkletter Story,” starring Divine as Diane Linkletter, the daughter of Art Linkletter.

Waters resurfaced two years later with “Pink Flamingos” (1972), which went on to become his next midnight film crowd pleaser. “Pink Flamingo” dealt a hard hand at the limit of conventional demeanor and movie censorship that resulted in the movie being closed down in Hicksville, N.Y., in 1975 and Waters being fined $5,000 for obscenity. “Female Trouble” (1974), starred Divine as the juvenile delinquent turned full-time criminal, and “Desperate Living” (1977) followed.

Waters entered a different era in the early 1980s with his film “Polyester” (1981), for which Divine was cast opposite former teen idol Tab Hunter. Centering on the collapsing home life of a suburban housewife, the movie marked Water's first film to star a well-known movie actor, in this case Hunter, and with an ‘R’ rating that allowed the comedy to appear in mainstream movie theaters. Since then, his films have become less controversial and more mainstream.

In 1981, he also published a book about his life titled “Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste.” Later, in 1986, he made a cameo appearance as a car salesman in the Jonathan Demme directed comedy “Something Wild” (1986). Also in 1986, “Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters,” a compilation of his essays, was released.

In 1988, Waters returned to filmmaking with triumph with “Hairspray,” a teen satire about Tracy Turnblad (played by Ricki Lake). Set in a 1962 Baltimore, the musical featured supporting performances by singers Debbie Harry and Sonny Bono and was a critical and commercial hit. For his effort, Waters netted two Independent Spirit nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay and was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. A tragedy struck in the life of Waters, however, when on March 7, his childhood friend Divine died of heart failure.

“Cry-Baby” (1990), starring Johnny Depp and produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, was an ambitious project for Waters but was a flop at the box office. The film also had an eccentric cast that included punk icon Iggy Pop, ex-teen porn queen Traci Lords, and Patricia Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing giant William Randolph Hearst. It was not until Waters directed “Serial Mom” (1994), that he was introduced into the Hollywood A-list team. Although it was not a critical or commercial success, the film had major stars such as Kathleen Turner and Sam Waterston and a $13 million dollar budget, his biggest to date. Waters' output became more sporadic as he entered his 50s, though he stayed busy by working as an actor in various projects like the animated Fox series “The Simpsons” (1997), the NBC hit sitcom “Frasier” (1998) and Woody Allen's “Sweet and Lowdown” (1999). He returned to film as a director/writer for 1998's “Pecker,” a semi-autobiographical portrait of a teen photographer.

In the new millennium, Waters directed and wrote “Cecil B. DeMented” (2000) with Melanie Griffith and Stephen Dorff starring as Honey Whitlock and Cecil, respectively. His next film was “A Dirty Shame” (2004), a comedy starring Tracey Ullman. Meanwhile, in 2002, “Hairspray” was adapted into a successful Broadway musical by veteran composer Marc Shaiman. A hit with critics and audiences alike, the stage production won a number of Tony Awards in 2003. Next, Waters provided his voice for the Sleazy Reporter in the horror sequel “Seed of Chucky” in 2004, made a guest turn as a funeral director in an episode of “My Name is Earl” in 2007 and narrated a 2007 comedy film by Keven Undergaro called “In the Land of Merry Misfits.” Also in 2007, he portrayed the narrator/groom reaper in the 13-part TV true-crime drama series “'Till Death Do Us Part.”

After almost two decades since the debut of “Hairspray,” New Line Cinema produced a second movie version of the same name in 2007 with John Travolta taking on Divine’s role of Edna Turnblad and Adam Shankman sitting at the helm. In addition to serving as an executive producer, Waters also acted in the movie as Flasher.

Awards:

• GLAAD Media: Stephen F. Kolzak, 2004

• Phoenix Film Festival: Copper Wing Tribute, 2003

• Provincetown International Film Festival: Filmmaker on the Edge Award, 1999

• Chicago Underground Film Festival: Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award, 1997