John Waters

Director

April 22, 1946 (80 years)

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Biography

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), Seri…

Filmography

6.1

Pink Flamingos

Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".

6.8

Hairspray

'Pleasantly plump' teenager Tracy Turnblad achieves her dream of becoming a regular on the Corny Collins Dance Show. Now a teen hero, she starts using her fame to speak out for the causes she believes in, most of all integration. In doing so, she earns the wrath of the show's former star, Amber Von Tussle, as well as Amber's manipulative, pro-segregation parents. The rivalry comes to a head as Amber and Tracy vie for the title of Miss Auto Show 1963.

6.4

Desperate Living

After killing her husband, Peggy Gravel and her murderous maid Grizelda wind up in the crazy town of Mortville, where Queen Carlotta presides over a sleazy collection of misfits.

6.5

Cry-Baby

A prim and proper schoolgirl goes against her society grandmother's wishes when she dates a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent.

6.7

Serial Mom

Beverly is the perfect happy homemaker, along with her doting husband and two children, but this nuclear family just might explode when her fascination with serial killers collides with her ever-so-proper code of ethics.

7.0

Polyester

Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart -- until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow. Originally screened with "Odorama" scratch and sniff cards so the audience could (at their own risk) smell along with the film.

5.3

A Dirty Shame

Sylvia Stickles runs a convenience store with her husband and mother-in-law. One day, Sylvia is hit on the head and transforms from an uptight prude to a sex-crazed lunatic. As she goes on a rampage through town, Sylvia attracts the attention of Ray Ray, a sexual healer and tow truck driver in search of the world's greatest orgasm. Their sexual revolution, however, causes a class war in their tiny Baltimore community.

6.9

Female Trouble

Teenage delinquent Dawn Davenport, incensed after her parents do not give her the cha-cha heels she wanted for Christmas, runs away from home. After an illegitimate child and hairstylist husband bring her more misery, she's enticed into a life of crime when the owners of her husband's salon promise her fame and fortune.

6.4

Cecil B. Demented

A young lunatic director and his devoted cult of cinema terrorists kidnap a Hollywood movie goddess and force her to star in their radical underground movie.

6.2

Multiple Maniacs

The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak show, acts as a front for Divine, who is out for blood after discovering her lover's affair.

6.1

Pecker

A Baltimore teenager who picks up a second-hand camera starts snapping his way to stardom, soon turning into a nationwide sensation, with a fateful choice between his life and his art.

5.2

Mondo Trasho

A day in the lives of a hit-and-run driver and her victim, and the bizarre things that happen to them before and after they collide (sexual assault by a crazed foot-fetishist, visions of the Virgin Mary, strange chicken-foot grafting operations).

7.4

Eat Your Makeup

John Waters' first sixteen-millimetre film, about a deranged nanny who kidnaps young girls and forces them to 'model themselves to death' in front of her boyfriend and their crazed friends. It was never shown commercially.

5.0

The Diane Linkletter Story

This improvised film is based on the true-life suicide of TV personality Art Linkletter's daughter, Diane. Mr. and Mrs. Linkletter fret about their daughter's recent behaviour, which includes taking drugs and dating a lowlife named Jim. Eventually, the parents confront Diane… with tragic consequences.

5.3

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

8.0

Kiddie Flamingos

Child actors perform a 'kid-friendly' table read version of John Water's notorious 1972 X-rated cult classic film, Pink Flamingos.

6.9

Hag in a Black Leather Jacket

The lurid wedding of a black man and white girl, with a Ku Klux Klansman performing the wedding ceremony. John Waters' first film, made on 8mm, given one showing (making back its budget of thirty dollars) before being retired to his closet.

N/A

Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance

Marsha Sprinkle is a suitcase thief, scammer and mistress of disguise. Everybody hates her and even her own family wants her dead.

4.0

Dorothy, the Kansas City Pot Head

An incomplete project, Dorothy the Kansas City Pothead stars John Waters' long-time casting agent Pat Moran in the role of Dorothy.

N/A

Nuart Theatre No Smoking PSA

John Waters delivers a "no smoking" public service announcement, whilst enjoying a cigarette himself

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