John Waters: ‘The minute I had success, I stopped taking drugs’
Filmmaker John Waters, known for his provocative films, reveals he quit drugs after the success of 'Hairspray'. He also discusses the rules in his movies and his approach to humor.
At 80, the provocateur John Waters, dubbed the 'Pope of Trash' by William S. Burroughs, still remembers the day his 1988 comedy 'Hairspray' earned a PG certificate. 'It was horrible,' he says. Before that, Waters was notorious for filming the unfilmable, including a scene of eating dog feces in 'Pink Flamingos' and a blasphemous sex act in 'Multiple Maniacs'.
'Hairspray' marked his unlikely foray into mainstream Hollywood, leading to barbed but unthreatening comedies with stars like Johnny Depp and Kathleen Turner. It also spawned a Tony-winning Broadway musical and a 2007 film starring John Travolta. In contrast, 'Desperate Living', his 1977 adult fairy tale, remains the runt of his filmography—'my angriest movie,' he admits.
Interestingly, 'Desperate Living' was the first film he wrote without marijuana. 'Most people, when they have success, become cocaine addicts. But the minute I had success, I stopped taking drugs,' he explains. Waters has tried everything but hated heroin and dismisses ecstasy as 'a drug that makes you love everybody'.
Despite the chaos in his films, Waters insists there are rules: 'Mind your own business and don't judge people if you don't know the whole story.' He believes humor is the way to change things. 'I always make fun of things I like, not things I hate. That’s why I’ve been getting away with this for 60 years,' he says.
Waters also recalls his favorite rat moment in 'Pecker' and mourns his friend Divine, who died three weeks after 'Hairspray's release at age 42. 'I’m still shocked. He changed drag queens,' Waters says. 'Today, every drag queen has some kind of edge, and I think that’s because of Divine.'
