John Waters | |
---|---|
Born | John Samuel Waters Jr. April 22, 1946 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Education | |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1964–present |
Organization | Dreamland Productions |
Relatives | George P. Whitaker (third-great-grandfather) |
Signature | |
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. [1] 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. [2] In 2018, Waters was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. [3] He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023. [4]
Waters was born on April 22, 1946, in Baltimore, Maryland, one of four children born to Patricia Ann (née Whitaker) and John Samuel Waters, a manufacturer of fire-protection equipment. [5] He was raised Catholic by his mother, though his father was not Catholic. [6] Through his mother, who immigrated to the United States from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, as a child, he is the third-great-grandson of George P. Whitaker of the Whitaker iron family. [5] [7] Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. His boyhood friend and muse, Glenn Milstead, later known as Divine, also lived in Lutherville. [8] Waters lived at 313 Morris Avenue in Lutherville from his early teenage years until he moved out in his early twenties. Waters and Milstead shot many of their early films at the house, dubbing the front lawn the "Dreamland Lot". [9]
The film Lili inspired an interest in puppets in the seven-year-old Waters, who proceeded to stage violent versions of Punch and Judy for children's birthday parties. Biographer Robrt L. Pela says that Waters's mother believes the puppets in Lili had the greatest influence on Waters's subsequent career (though Pela believes tacky films at a local drive-in, which the young Waters watched from a distance through binoculars, had a greater effect). [10]
Cry-Baby was also a product of Waters's boyhood, because of his fascination as a seven-year-old with the "drapes" then receiving intense news coverage because of the murder of Carolyn Wasilewski, a young "drapette", and his admiration for a young man living across the street who had a hot rod. [11] [12] Waters was privately educated at the Calvert School in Baltimore. After attending Towson Jr. High School in nearby Towson, [13] and Calvert Hall College High School, he graduated from Boys' Latin School of Maryland. [14] While still a teen, he made frequent trips into downtown Baltimore to visit Martick's, a beatnik bar, where he and Milstead met many of their later film collaborators. [15] He was underage and could not enter the bar proper, but loitered in the adjacent alley, where he relied on older patrons to slip him drinks. [16]
Waters's first short film was Hag in a Black Leather Jacket . [17] MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939) had a profound effect on Waters' creative mind. He said about it:
I was always drawn to forbidden subject matter in the very, very beginning. The Wizard of Oz opened me up because it was one of the first movies I ever saw. It opened me up to villainy, to screenwriting, to costumes. And great dialogue. I think the witch has great, great dialogue. [18]
Waters has stated that he takes an equal amount of joy and influence from high-brow "art" films and sleazy exploitation films. [19] In January 1966, Waters and some friends were caught smoking marijuana on the grounds of New York University, and he was soon kicked out of his dormitory. He returned to Baltimore, where he completed his next two short films, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup . They were followed by the feature-length films Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs . [20]
Waters's films became Divine's primary star vehicles. All of Waters's early films were shot in the Baltimore area with his company of local actors, the Dreamlanders—which, in addition to Divine, included Mink Stole, Cookie Mueller, Edith Massey, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Susan Walsh, and others. Waters met Edith Massey while she was a bartender at Pete's Hotel. [21] Waters's early campy movies present exaggerated characters in outrageous situations with hyperbolic dialogue. Pink Flamingos , Female Trouble and Desperate Living , which he labeled the Trash Trilogy, pushed hard at the boundaries of conventional propriety and censorship.
Waters's 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite former teen idol Tab Hunter. [22] It was the first time that Waters was not the primary camera operator for his own work, as he had started collaborating with local film student David Insley. [23] [24] Since then, his films have become less controversial and more mainstream, although works such as Hairspray , Cry-Baby , Serial Mom , Pecker and Cecil B. Demented still retain his trademark inventiveness. Hairspray became a hit Broadway musical that swept the 2003 Tony Awards; [25] and a film adaptation of the Broadway musical was released in theaters on July 20, 2007, to positive reviews and commercial success. [26] Cry-Baby, itself a musical, also became a Broadway musical. [27]
In 2004, the NC-17-rated A Dirty Shame marked a return to Waters' earlier, more controversial work of the 1970s. Having received mixed reviews and bombing at the box-office, it would prove to be his last film as a director for almost two decades. In 2007, Waters became the host ("The Groom Reaper") of 'Til Death Do Us Part , a program on America's Court TV network. In 2008, he planned to make a children's Christmas film, Fruitcake [28] starring Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey. [29] Filming was set for November 2008, [30] but the project was shelved in January 2009. [31] In 2010, Waters told the Chicago Tribune that "Independent films that cost $5 million are very hard to get made. I sold the idea, got a development deal, got paid a great salary to write it—and now the company is no longer around, which is the case with many independent film companies these days." [32]
In October 2022, it was announced that Waters will adapt his novel, Liarmouth , into a film. Village Roadshow Pictures was set to produce, with Waters writing and directing. [33] However, in November 2024, it was reported that the film was "no longer happening". [34]
Waters has often created characters with alliterated names for his films, such as Corny Collins, Cuddles Kovinsky, Donald and Donna Dasher, Dawn Davenport, Fat Fuck Frank, Francine Fishpaw, Link Larkin, Motormouth Maybelle, Mole McHenry, Penny and Prudy Pingleton, Ramona Ricketts, Sandy Sandstone, Sylvia Stickles, Todd Tomorrow, Tracy Turnblad, Ursula Udders, Wade Walker and Wanda Woodward. [35]
On September 18, 2023, Waters was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dreamlanders Ricki Lake and Mink Stole were among the guest speakers. [36]
Waters is a bibliophile, with a collection of over 8,000 books. In 2011, during a visit to the Waters house in Baltimore, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson observed:
Bookshelves line the walls but they are not enough. The coffee table, desk and side tables are heaped with books, as is the replica electric chair in the hall. They range from Taschen art tomes such as The Big Butt Book to Jean Genet paperbacks and a Hungarian translation of Tennessee Williams with a pulp fiction cover. In one corner sits a doll from the horror spoof Seed of Chucky, in which Waters appeared. It feels like an eccentric professor's study, or a carefully curated exhibition based on the life of a fictional character. [37]
Waters has had his fan mail delivered to Atomic Books, an independent bookstore in Baltimore, for over 20 years. [38] Puffing constantly on a cigarette, Waters appeared in a short film, shown in film art houses, announcing that "no smoking is permitted" in the theaters. The spot was directed by Douglas Brian Martin and produced by Douglas Brian Martin and Steven M. Martin. They also created two other short films, for the Nuart Theatre (a Landmark Theater) in West Los Angeles, California, in appreciation for their showing Pink Flamingos for many years. It is shown immediately before any of Waters' films, and before the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Waters played a minister in Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat , directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis. [39]
In the 1980s, Waters taught inmates at the Patuxent Institution, a Maryland prison. He was hired to teach literature, but his classes also encompassed discussions of film. [40] [41] In 1985, he made a film with his students called Reckless Eyeballs, but it was not intended for release and was never publicly screened. [40]
Waters is a board member of the Maryland Film Festival, and has selected and hosted a favorite film there each year since its launch in 1999. [42] He is also on the advisory board of the Provincetown International Film Festival, and has hosted events and presented awards there every year since it was founded in 1999. [43] [44] He is a contributor to Artforum magazine and author of its year-end Top Ten Films list. [45] Waters hosts an annual performance, "A John Waters Christmas", which was launched in 1996 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, and in 2018 toured 17 cities over 23 days. [46]
In 2017, Waters began hosting an annual "Camp John Waters" event in Kent, Connecticut. Adult fans from as far away as Australia and Chile "relive their sleepaway camping days" with an "extra-campy theme weekend". [47] Notable guests have included Debbie Harry, Patricia Hearst, Kathleen Turner, Mink Stole and Randy Harrison. [48] [49] In 2019, the Film Society of Lincoln Center celebrated its 50th anniversary at a gala where John Waters spoke in tribute to the Center along with Martin Scorsese, Dee Rees, Pedro Almodóvar, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. [50]
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 New York City presented a retrospective of his artwork curated by Marvin Heiferman and Lisa Phillips. His most recent exhibition John Waters: Indecent Exposure was exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art from October 2018 to January 2019 and later traveled to the Wexner Center for the Arts. [51] [52] Prior to that, Waters exhibited Rear Projection in April 2009, at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York and the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles. [53] Waters has been represented by C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, since 2002 and by Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York since 2006. [54] [55]
Waters's pieces are often comical, such as Rush (2009), a super-sized, tipped-over bottle of poppers (nitrite inhalants), and Hardy Har (2006), a photograph of flowers that squirts water at anyone who traverses a taped line on the floor. Waters has characterized his art as conceptual: "The craft is not the issue here. The idea is. And the presentation." [56]
In November 2020, Waters promised to donate 372 artworks from his personal collection, including some of his own work as well as pieces by 125 artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman and more, to the Baltimore Museum of Art. In recognition of the donation, the museum named its rotunda after Waters, but Waters also insisted the museum name an all-gender bathroom after him. [57] Both the rotunda and the bathroom were renamed for Waters in time for the opening of the first exhibition of his bequeathed collection, Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection on November 20, 2022. [58] Waters, who serves on the museum's board of directors, has stated the museum will acquire all of his art after his death. [59]
With the motif "My life is so over-scheduled, what will happen if I give up control?", Waters completed a hitchhiking journey across the United States from Baltimore to San Francisco, turning his adventures into a book titled Carsick. [60] On May 15, 2012, while on the hitchhiking trip, Waters was picked up by 20-year-old Myersville, Maryland, councilman Brett Bidle, who thought Waters was a homeless hitchhiker standing in the pouring rain. Feeling bad for Waters, he agreed to drive him four hours to Ohio. [61]
The next day, indie rock band Here We Go Magic tweeted that they had picked John Waters up hitchhiking in Ohio. He was wearing a hat with the text "Scum of the Earth". [62] In Denver, Colorado, Waters reconnected with Bidle (who had made an effort to catch up with him); Bidle then drove him another 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to Reno, Nevada. Before parting ways, Waters arranged for Bidle to stay at his San Francisco apartment: "I thought, you know what, he wanted an adventure, too ... He's the first Republican I'd ever vote for." [60]
Bidle later said: "We are polar opposites when it comes to our politics, religious beliefs. But that's what I loved about the whole trip. It was two people able to agree to disagree and still move on and have a great time. I think that's what America's all about." [60]
Although he has maintained apartments in New York City and San Francisco's Nob Hill, as well as a summer home in Provincetown, [46] Waters mainly resides in Baltimore. [63] [64] All his films are set and shot there. [65] He is recognizable by his trademark pencil moustache. [63]
As a gay man, Waters is an avid supporter of gay rights and gay pride. [66] In a 2019 interview, he said that he dislikes publicly discussing his personal life, adding that he had a partner but that they both preferred to keep the relationship private. [67]
Waters was a great fan of the music of Little Richard when growing up. He has said that, ever since he shoplifted a copy of the Little Richard song "Lucille" in 1957, at the age of 11, "I've wished I could somehow climb into Little Richard's body, hook up his heart and vocal cords to my own, and switch identities." In 1987, Playboy magazine employed Waters, then aged 41, to interview his idol, but the interview did not go well, with Waters later remarking: "It turned into kind of a disaster." [68]
Waters advocated for the parole of former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, writing in his 2010 book Role Models, "Her crime was a long, long time ago and she has paid her dues to society". [69] [70] [71] [72] After Van Houten was paroled in 2023, Waters said he would not speak further about her, in deference to her privacy. [73]
Throughout his life, Waters has been open about his recreational drug use, including marijuana and LSD, particularly with regard to his creative process. Waters began using LSD as a teenager, "tak[ing] LSD and see[ing]...movies all the time". [74] Waters was often on LSD while making his early films, claiming in a 2016 interview "I was on LSD [during Multiple Maniacs], I don't remember [how long it took to shoot the film]!" [75] He tried LSD again in his 70s, and documented the experience in his 2019 book Mr. Know-It-All. [76]
Waters was a smoker before quitting around 2004, saying "the only thing I've ever regretted in my whole life [was] smoking cigarettes. Because it was a nightmare giving up. It's the only thing the government ever told me that was true: It does kill you!" [77] In 2022, Waters said that if he were to write his younger self a letter, he would say "quit smoking [cigarettes] and do everything else". [78]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Cinematographer | Editor | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Hag in a Black Leather Jacket | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film | [79] |
1966 | Roman Candles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [80] | |
1968 | Eat Your Makeup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [80] | |
Dorothy, the Kansas City Pot Head | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Abandoned after two days of filming | [40] | |
1969 | Mondo Trasho | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [81] | |
1970 | The Diane Linkletter Story | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film | [82] |
Multiple Maniacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [82] | ||
1972 | Pink Flamingos | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [83] | |
1974 | Female Trouble | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [84] | |
1977 | Desperate Living | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [85] | |
1981 | Polyester | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | [86] | |
1988 | Hairspray | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | [87] | |
1990 | Cry-Baby | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [88] | |
1994 | Serial Mom | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [89] | |
1998 | Pecker | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [90] | |
2000 | Cecil B. Demented | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [91] | |
2004 | A Dirty Shame | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [92] | |
2007 | Hairspray | No | No | No | No | No | Co-producer and consultant | [93] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | Mondo Trasho | Reporter | Voice cameo; uncredited | |
1972 | Pink Flamingos | Mr. J | Voice; uncredited | |
1986 | Something Wild | Used car salesman | Cameo | [94] |
1988 | Hairspray | Dr. Fredrickson | ||
1989 | Homer and Eddie | Robber No. 1 | Cameo | [95] |
1994 | Serial Mom | Ted Bundy | Voice cameo; uncredited | |
1998 | Pecker | Pervert on phone | ||
1999 | Sweet and Lowdown | Mr. Haynes | [96] | |
2000 | Cecil B. Demented | Reporter | Cameo; uncredited | [91] |
2002 | Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat | The Reverend | Cameo | [97] |
2004 | Seed of Chucky | Pete Peters | [98] | |
2006 | Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea | Narrator | Voice; documentary | [99] |
This Film Is Not Yet Rated | Himself | Documentary | [100] | |
Jackass Number Two | Himself | [101] | ||
2007 | Hairspray | Flasher | Cameo | [93] |
The Junior Defenders | Narrator | Voice; direct-to-DVD | [102] | |
In the Land of Merry Misfits | Narrator | Voice | [103] | |
2011 | Mangus! | Jesus Christ | [104] | |
Of Dolls and Murder | Narrator | Voice; documentary | [105] | |
2012 | Excision | William | [106] | |
2014 | Suburban Gothic | Cornelius | [107] | |
2015 | Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip | Airplane passenger | Cameo | [108] |
2017 | Mansfield 66/67 | Himself | Documentary | [109] |
TBA | Mugworth | Sir Butler | Voice | [110] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | 21 Jump Street | Mr. Bean | Episode: "Awomp-Bomp-Aloobomb, Aloop Bamboom" | [111] |
1993, 1995 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Bartender; R. Vincent Smith | 2 episodes | [112] |
1997 | The Simpsons | John | Voice; episode: "Homer's Phobia" | [113] |
1998 | Frasier | Roger | Voice; episode: "The Maris Counselor" | |
2006 | John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You | Himself (host) | 13 episodes | [114] |
2006–2007 | 'Til Death Do Us Part | Groom Reaper | Main; 14 episodes | [115] |
2007 | My Name Is Earl | Funeral director | Episode: "Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck" | [116] |
2011 | Superjail! | Quetzalpocetlan | Voice; episode "Ghosts" | |
2012 | Fish Hooks | The Yeti Lobster | Voice; episode: "Rock Yeti Lobster" | |
2013, 2018 | Mickey Mouse | Wadsworth Thorndyke III | Voices; 2 episodes | |
2014 | Mr. Pickles | Dr. Kelton | Voice; episode: "Coma" | |
2015 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Himself | Guest judge; episode: "Divine Inspiration" | [117] |
2016 | Clarence | Captain Tom | Voice; episode: "Plane Excited" | |
Hairspray Live! | — | Associate producer | ||
2017 | Feud: Bette and Joan | William Castle | Episode: "Hagsploitation" | [118] |
2018 | The Blacklist | Himself | Episode: "Sutton Ross (No. 17)" | [119] |
Liverspots and Astronots | O-Dor | Voice; episode: "The Exorcism of O-Dor" | ||
2019 | Tigtone | Fertile Centaur | Voice; episode: "...and the Freaks of Love" | |
2020–2021 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Floyd Cougat (also credited as "Pornmonger man") | 2 episodes | [120] |
2021 | Finding Your Roots | Himself (guest) | Episode: "To the Manor Born" | [121] |
2022 | Search Party | Sheffield [122] | 2 episodes | [123] [124] |
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | Lazarus | Episode: "Interesting People on Christopher Street" | [125] [126] | |
Bubble Guppies | Baron Von Bland | Voice; episode: "Taste Buddies!" | ||
2024 | Chucky | Wendell Wilkins | Episode: "Final Destination" | |
Helluva Boss | Rolando | Voice; episode: "Ghostf**ckers" | [127] |
Documentary appearances
In 1999, Waters was honored with the Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival. In September 2015, the British Film Institute ran a programme to celebrate 50 years of Waters films which included all of his early films, some previously unscreened in the UK.
In 2014, Waters was nominated for a Grammy for the spoken word version of his book, Carsick. His follow-up record, Make Trouble, was produced by Grammy-winning producer, Ian Brennan, and released on Jack White's Third Man Records in the fall of 2017. [151] Waters received his second Grammy-nomination in 2020 for Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder. [152]
In 2015, he received the Ted M. Larson Award at the Fargo Film Festival for his contribution to filmmaking. [153]
In 2016, Waters received an honorary degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore during the college's undergraduate commencement ceremony. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Baltimore in 2023. [154]
In 2017, Waters received Timeless Star honors from the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (now GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics). The group's career achievement award goes to an entertainment figure "whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit." [155]
In 2018, Waters was named an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a cultural award from the French government. [156]
In 2023, Waters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His friends and collaborators Mink Stole, Greg Gorman, and Ricki Lake spoke at the induction. Waters brought a photo of his parents to the unveiling, dedicating the honor to them. [157] Waters' star was placed in front of Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard, a store Waters frequents. [158]
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | Sundance Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize | Hairspray | Nominated | [159] |
1989 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Feature | Nominated | ||
Best Director | Nominated | ||||
1998 | Gijón International Film Festival | Grand Prix Asturias | Pecker | Nominated | |
2015 | Grammy Awards | Best Spoken Word Album | Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America | Nominated | [160] |
2020 | Mr. Know-It-All | Nominated | |||
Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by the stage name Divine, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Closely associated with independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions and adopted a female drag persona for his music career.
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film Hairspray, for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She is also known for her talk show, Ricki Lake, which was broadcast internationally from September 1993 until May 2004. When the show debuted, Lake was 24 and credited as being the youngest person to host a syndicated talk show at the time. In late 2012, Lake began hosting a second syndicated talk show, The Ricki Lake Show. The series was canceled in 2013 after a single season, but Lake won her first Daytime Emmy Award for the project.
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 American black comedy film by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes Female Trouble (1974) and Desperate Living (1977). The film stars the countercultural drag queen Divine as a criminal living under the name of Babs Johnson, who is proud to be "the filthiest person alive". While living in a trailer with her mother Edie, son Crackers, and companion Cotton, Divine is confronted by the Marbles, a pair of criminals envious of her reputation who try to outdo her in filth. The characters engage in several grotesque, bizarre, and explicitly crude situations, and upon the film's re-release in 1997 it was rated NC-17 by the MPAA "for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail". It was filmed in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland, where Waters and most of the cast and crew grew up.
Hairspray is an American musical with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, with a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on John Waters's 1988 film of the same name. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the production follows teenage Tracy Turnblad's dream to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight, leading to social change as Tracy campaigns for the show's integration.
Polyester is a 1981 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk, whose work directly influenced this film. The film is also a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s, involving topics such as divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, racial stereotypes, foot fetishism, and the religious right.
Female Trouble is a 1974 American independent dark comedy film written, produced and directed by John Waters. It stars Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, and Edith Massey, and follows delinquent high school student Dawn Davenport, who runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitchhiking, and embarks upon a life of crime.
Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 independent American black comedy film composed, shot, edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters, as his second feature film and first "talkie". It features several actors who were part of the Dreamland acting troupe for Waters' films, including Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, George Figgs, and Cookie Mueller. The plot follows a traveling troupe of sideshow freaks who rob their unsuspecting audience members.
Mary Vivian Pearce is an American actress. She has worked primarily in the films of John Waters.
Patricia Ann Soul, known professionally as Maelcum Soul, was an American bartender, artist's model, and actress. In the 1960s, she portrayed leading characters in two of filmmaker John Waters' earliest works, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup.
Mondo Trasho is a 1969 American 16mm mondo black comedy film by John Waters. The film stars Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary and Mink Stole. It contains very little dialogue, the story being told mostly through musical cues.
Nancy Paine Stoll, known professionally as Mink Stole, is an American actress from Baltimore, Maryland. She began her career working for director John Waters, and has appeared in all of his feature films to date. Her extensive work with Waters has made her one of the Dreamlanders, Waters' ensemble of regular cast and crew members.
Hairspray is a 1988 American comedy film written and directed by John Waters, starring Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, Divine, Debbie Harry, Ricki Lake in her film debut, and Jerry Stiller, with special appearances by Ric Ocasek in his final film and Pia Zadora. Hairspray was a dramatic departure from Waters's earlier works, with a much broader intended audience. Hairspray's PG is the least restrictive rating a Waters film has received; most of his previous films were rated X by the MPAA. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film revolves around self-proclaimed "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV show and rallies against racial segregation.
Dreamlanders are the cast and crew of regulars whom John Waters has used in his films. The term comes from the name of Waters' production company, Dreamland Productions.
Hairspray is a 2007 musical romantic comedy film based on the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on John Waters's 1988 comedy film of the same name. Produced by Ingenious Media and Zadan/Meron Productions, and adapted from both Waters's 1988 script and Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's book for the stage musical by screenwriter Leslie Dixon, the film was directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman and has an ensemble cast including John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and Nikki Blonsky in her feature film debut. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad (Blonsky) as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local television dance show and rallies against racial segregation.
Edna Turnblad is a fictional character from the 1988 film Hairspray and its stage musical adaption of the same name, as well as its film and television adaptations.
Walter Avant "Van" Smith, Jr. was an American costume designer and make-up artist. He worked primarily in the films of John Waters, designing the costumes and make-up for every John Waters film from 1972 to 2004. Because of his work with Waters, he is considered one of the Dreamlanders, Waters' ensemble of regular cast and crew members.
Vincent Peranio is a retired American production designer, art director, set designer, and actor.
Elizabeth Lamont Coffey Williams, simply known by her maiden name Elizabeth Coffey, is an American actress and transgender activist. Coffey, a trans woman, had small but notable roles in four of the early films of John Waters, becoming a member of the Dreamlanders, his regular cast. Her work has been shown at multiple national venues, including the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Chicago Art Institute.
Robert Maier is an American writer, director, producer and production manager, best known for his long collaboration with filmmaker John Waters.
Patricia Moran Yeaton, known professionally as Pat Moran, is an American actress and casting director active in Baltimore, having won three Emmy Awards for her work. Since early in her career, Moran has been a member of the Dreamlanders, director John Waters' regular cast of actors, notably being, along with Mink Stole and Mary Vivian Pearce, the only actress to appear in every film directed by Waters.
You can feel the influence of rock'n'roll in so many of Waters's films. Hairspray and Cry Baby might seem the obvious candidates, but his filmography is littered with litanies, strewn with sharp-talking teens with alliterative names.