JOHN WATERS

I met John Waters when he was doing his book tour for "Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste" back in 1991. Click read more to see my never before published interview with The Prince of Puke!

"To me, good taste is something you have to have to appreciate bad taste. Bad taste is the freedom that I don't have. I don't have the nerve to sit on my front steps in my undewear and give my finger to the people who look as they drive by. I respect people who don't care enough to do that. I'm too imprisoned by taste to be that free."
                                                         -John Waters


Randino: Would you consider a vampire hooker...


John Waters: Aren't they all?


R: Well... yeah... Would you consider a vampire hooker good bad taste or just plain old basd taste?


JW: Depends on her shoes... All hookers I respect in some ways beacause I know it's a really hard job. Imagine getting up everyday and having to really fuck fifteen people. I mean, no matter what you are like or how bad your childhood was, it's a hard job... And you don't even get to keep all the money! So, I really feel bad for them and I respect their nerve. I see them on the street and I think, "Well, look at that!" Especially 'cause half of them are men and the people who pick them up are so stupid, they don't even know! I get very upset because it's the hardest job I can think of - The ones that work in the booths in the peep shows. Everyday they get up and go sit in that booth with men doing the most hedious things all day long... For like, minimum wage... and they have to keep talking dirty or else they stop putting the coins in. It really must be depressing. It's the lowest form of showbusiness.

R: Is having a bigger movie budget a hinderance or an advantage?

JW: No, it's an advantage. I can't think of any way it could be a hinderance. As we get older, you know, it's tough. I mean, I don't feel like running from the police anymore - I did that. I look back on that as nostalgia. I don't want to make "faux underground" films - Which it would be for me now. It wouldn't be a natural progression of things. I'll talk to the next twenty year old to come along and makes a movie that makes me uptight. I'm looking for them - I go all the time still looking for them - I think this movie called "CLERKS" is brilliant. It was made for $27,000. They gave it an NC17 rating, which is really wrong because it's just that they talk dirty and in a comedy... I mean, it's ridiculous! The kid who made it works in a convenience store - he's still working there, but not for long.

R: Would you ever consider acting in a movie under another director?

JW: Oh, I already have. I hate doing them. I was in Danielle Steel's "Family Album". I played a sleazy director who talked Jaclyn Smith's daughter in showing her breasts in the movie -

JW: I always think that it would be funny until I get there and they say, "We have to put the costume on now." And I think, "Oh, why did I say yes?" I don't like doing it too much. I did it for Johnathan Demey - I was in something or other - I thought a couple of times, "I got the job in the same spirit why I hired Sonny Bono."

R: Would you ever consider doing television?

JW: I won't, you know, because television is only good for two things - war and porno... I don't know anybody that watches TV really - I know this sounds snobbish - I don't have any real interest in television unless to watch porno or if a war breaks out - Then it's quick news. I was offered to do TV, especially when David Lynch had a hit then - They were probably thinking in Hollywood, "Let's get Waters... Let's give all the weirdos a TV show!" My agent always tries to get me to look at it, but I really don't have any interest.

R: If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be and why?

JW: I'd be a celery 'cause Jackie Kennedy would eat me everyday! I pray to her now... Divine played her one time - My very, very early movie - "EAT YOUR MAKE-UP". We did the whole Kennedy assasination a year after it happened... It pissed people off!

R: Is there a Divine doll in existance?

JW: There was a Divine paper doll, but maybe not a massive produced one...

JW: You know... I miss Divine in my personal life. You know that's more important than my movie life. I've always had to fight to use Divine... And with the Hollywood studios, I would hve to fight even more. Even though he always got the best reviews. I think Divine would have been in "SERIAL MOM". He would have been one of the neighbors. It would have been a very, very different part - a bigger part. Divine loved working with outside people... Someone like Kathleen Turner, he was for that. Divine hated working with Edith Massey - She couldn't remember her lines!

The 7 foot revolving Divine statue at The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD.

R: Who are your heros?

JW: Elvis was a huge influence in my life. I was eight when Elvis first came out. He was the coolest thing I ever saw in my life. Look at him then in 1956 - 57...

JW: What he looked like - pretty amazing. I like his bad movies. My cast has always been my "bad taste" heros. They have a sense of humor about themselves.

R: What would you consider bad "bad taste"?

JW: A yuppie who has a pink flamingo on their front lawn to be a smart ass is really bad "bad taste" - 'cause then you're looking down on it... Making fun of people's opinions. People who save up their money to buy pink flamingos to put in front of their house 'cause they think it's pretty... I think it's lovely!

R: I'm really glad you're here 'cause Philadelphia needs a good kick in the ass sometimes...

JW: Are you kidding? You have some of the most insane personalities come from Philadelphia! You have Harlow...

You have a great history of eccentrics! You have what's his name... Gary Heidnick! I was so afraid when he got caught because it's exactly like in "Pink Flamingos" with that pit - I said, "Please don't let him have that video cassette in his house!" Because he had the pit with the girls - it was just like it.