A DIRTY SHAME
Interview with John Waters
It seems sadly apropos that John Water's sexploitation comedy A DIRTY SHAME opens the same week that the king of skin-flicks, Russ Meyer, passed away into cult film history. Meyer's girls-gone-wild 1965 favorite, FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! was a major influence in Water's camp subversion of the drive-in genre. His oft-quoted line that "It's the best film ever made" might be up for cineaste debate, but FPKK's prologue with sound waves throbbing under pulp narration ("Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence...") before a perfect cut to writhing go-go dancers is one of the great openings to any movie. Like Meyer, John Water's oeuvre is surreal, ridiculous and offensive only to those without a sense of sick humor. Watching the late, lamented Divine eat dog-shit in Water's groundbreaking midnight-movie success, PINK FLAMINGOS (1972) isn't for everyone (not even me) but the gleeful audacity of his work remains anarchistic, yet completely American. His films sock it to the left, right, gay, straight, and anyone in between while making audiences squirm in their seats.
Actually, John Waters belongs to a vanishing film breed: the movie show-man. During our fun interview, him shoeless in the most amazing green socks I've ever seen, I sensed he would be a fantastic carny. "David Friedman (legendary low-budget producer) tells me I should buy a Tilt-O-Whirl for when I retire. He said you can make a dollar every ten-seconds for the rest of your life. It would cost 65,000 dollars to ship it. Where am I gonna put it?"
He notes my SHE-DEVILS ON WHEELS t-shirt and we talk exploitation movies: "There aren't any. Not really. WILLARD was, the remake. My favorites were the FINAL DESTINATION ones. They were B-movies. Blaxploitation films have become like dirty sit-coms; action movies totally co-opted by the big studios. It's hard to see a movie that's trashy because everything is so self-conscious now. Those sexploitaton movies didn't have irony. People went for real, never to be hip. They were made for the blue-collar poor people who wanted to see sex and violence."
What about KILL BILL?
"Oh, I loved KILL BILL. That is so steeped in knowledge, it's hard to call it real exploitation. Then they talk for 20 minutes and it becomes a Warhol movie, which I love. Pure joy. Quentin deserves every bit of his success. But real exploitation audiences never liked my films. They knew we were making fun of the genre. And they took it personally."
As the cinematic grandfather of the Farrelly's, Waters finds himself being out grossed by a new film generation, while basking in the success of HAIRSPRAY on Broadway. Has John Waters famed bad taste been given a good name? "I told my mom the halo was getting too tight," he chuckles as reason for A DIRTY SHAME's return to his old-school excess. The story is pure Waters as a frumpy housewife confronts her inner nymphomaniac, then discovers the usual strange cast of outsiders, all engaged in unapologetically peverse transgressions. From the sublime male "bears" to the extreme dirt-fetishist, the screenplay covers the sexual waterfront with the leering clinical attitude of an old sex-education film. Along with art director Vincent Peranio's colorful atmosphere, Waters adds two brilliant visual touches: Sylvia Stickles' erotomania is triggered by words like W-H-O-R-E flashing onscreen like the bastard son of Jean-Luc Godard and William Castle; and as her libido erupts, a montage of old sex and nudie clips (courtesy of the indispensible SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO) flood the screen.
What was the genesis of this sordid script? "I always wanted to do a comedy about sex addicts. I researched all this stuff on the web, like the furries, who I don't believe really exist, and the male bears, which really do. I was going to have a Dirty Sanchez (look it up) disciple in there, but that was too obvious." I ask if he re-visited the old nudie and sex-pics for inspiration. "No, I remember them pretty well."
As for his screenwriting schedule, he actually loves to write and does it every day. "I use pen and paper. I can't type. I have everything on bits of paper like a puzzle. Then I have an assistant format it into a screenplay. I write to music, and pick all the songs for the soundtrack. I go through five or six drafts before I show it to anyone. My films are always the same length." Waters said he received excellent notes from his producers on the film, Ted Hope and Christine Vachon (AMERICAN SPLENDOR). As for his general writing reception from Hollywood studios, he notes with genuine awe, "Once, I bought a house with a two-page treatment!" For an example of his witty scribe style, check out the book, TRASH TRIO: THREE SCREENPLAYS (which includes PINK FLAMINGOS, DESPERATE LIVING and FLAMINGOS FOREVER, the unmade sequel).
Although A DIRTY SHAME is perhaps his raunchiest movie since his 1977 masterpiece, DESPERATE LIVING, the sexual "deviancy" he satirizes is too outlandish and somehow innocent to truly offend. As usual, the MPAA do not agree. A DIRTY SHAME was hit with a harsh NC-17 while SCARY MOVIE, which features a woman shot in the air by a sperm geyser, received an "R" rating. I tell Waters that I'm shocked at this injustice. "I am too. But other people said to me, are you kidding? The ratings board told me their job is to say what most parents think this should be rated. She got me there. From the first shot to the end, this film is all about sex. That's what they said: "Pervasive Sexual Content" and they told me there's nothing I could cut. This country has always been uptight about sex and it will continue to be. Now it has a real good reason to be uptight... But in a way, I think America is more open. Porno's legal and everywhere. The MPAA said, we don't think the film's bad, it's funny. Any college student can see it. It's hard to argue that except for sanctions later with video -- which is why I'm nagging you interviewers, go picket Blockbuster! The MPAA needs to make this rating accepted."
Waters feels this is a strong argument against the NC-17 label, which excludes any similarly-rated film from Blockbuster video stores. The entire chain refuses to stock Waters' classic films, although you can rent HANNIBAL or WOMEN IN CELL BLOCK 7. The boomerang effect of this policy is that studios are wary to release NC-17 films; ultimately, storytelling is further limited and homogenized. A concerned Waters sees this for what it is: economic censorship. "With the re-release of PINK FLAMINGOS a few years ago, Blockbuster asked if I would appear at one of their stores for a signing. I said, no, because you won't show my NC-17 films. They said, we will for this one night. I said, uh uh. And if I could be the one to get them to change their policy... The only thing that will change it is a hit movie." Despite the ratings hassle, New Line Cinema, the first distributor for PINK FLAMINGOS, unabashedly supports his work along with A DIRTY SHAME.
In the end, he remains upbeat and grateful about his controversial, yet inspirational career. He says in his cheery inflection, "I've been able to make every movie I've wanted to make." A DIRTY SHAME proves that Waters is making the same strange super-8 epics of his youth, only on a larger budget. For further info on his early years, every screenwriter should read his amazing, hilarious autobiography SHOCK VALUE. John Waters has managed to journey from 1970's film trash auteur to 21st century pop-culture immortal. The fact that he continues to write and direct in his own independent voice should provide solace to unique, albeit twisted, filmmakers everywhere.
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