From that high point, well, things went south. Waters' movies after Hairspray were never as good. He just couldn't go back to making midnight movies after Hairspray. Hairspray had made him too mainstream, and anyway, midnight movies weren't playing in too many places post-1988, as Waters himself has pointed out.
Yes, Waters still tries to shock, and sometimes succeeds, but in the face of a movie culture that's too used to shock by now, it doesn't seem that interesting any more. (This is a fact critics have also taken notice of.) And it's hard to find Hollywood actors that are as good as the homegrown Baltimore talents he had in the past. Cookie Mueller, Divine, Edith Massey - these aren't people you can find in Hollywood.
But Waters keeps chugging away--writing books, making films, even putting together albums. His film Hairspray was made into a big-time Broadway musical, as everyone and their mother know by now. (I saw it early in its run, and it doesn't come close to the film. The songs are cloying and Harvey Fierstein, though a fantastic actor in his own right, could never fit into Divine's fake tits, er shoes.)
Still, the diehard fans keep hoping that someday, Waters will get back to form and dust off his screenplay of Pink Flamingos 2--yes, it does exist--and start filming. (Even though he swears this is something he'll never do.) John, if you ever do decide to film PF2, a word of advice: Do it without Melanie Griffith. K?
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Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Eric Berlin picked this for an Editors' Pick of the Week. Go find out why here
2 - Natalie Davis
Yay! John is a Bawlmer treasure, hon, a treasure. And in addition to his cinematic art, he is one of the coolest people with whom I am privileged to be acquainted.
Thanks for big-upping him and for tipping the hat to the much-missed Divine and Miss Edie.
3 - marilyn
I wish John would read up on Maryann, the elephant at the Baltimore zoo and how the kids of Baltimore harassed the city fathers for an elephant. They had a club called the Jungle Club. There were over a hundred thousand kids in the club and the issue actually was responsible for causing a dark horse named Jackson to be elected Mayor of the city. This was in the 1920's and Jackson was still Mayor when Maryann died somewhere around 1944. The Pratt library has some articles on Maryann's death and her obituary giving her story. It's purely Baltimore and would make a hell of a Water's movie.