John Waters
John Waters made outsiders the stars of films that challenged good taste, from the underground comedy “Pink Flamingos” to “Hairspray”.
John Waters was born in Baltimore in 1946. He grew up in a Catholic family and began making films with friends in the 1960s. Baltimore supplied his settings, much of his cast and a lasting source of inspiration.
His collaboration with Divine became central to his early cinema. “Pink Flamingos” (1972), “Female Trouble” (1974) and “Desperate Living” (1977) pushed underground film towards outrageous comedy, confronting audiences with characters and desires that respectable society preferred to exclude. Their provocation was inseparable from Waters’s affection for his performers.
“Hairspray” (1988), a comedy about dancing and racial integration in 1960s Baltimore, reached a broader audience. Its later Broadway adaptation won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2003. Waters continued with films including “Cry-Baby” (1990) and “Serial Mom” (1994).
Openly gay, he has also worked as an author, visual artist and public speaker. In “Carsick” (2014), he turned a hitchhiking journey across the United States into a book that mixes imagined adventures with the experience of the road.