Just as the world of indie-rock owes a debt to the punks and musical pioneers who insisted on doing things their way, the world of independent film owes much of its inspiration to John Waters. |
Heralded as the Pope of Trash -- among other things -- with his seminal Pink Flamingos, Waters has always made his films as he envisioned them and waited for the world to come to him. And in the three decades that he has been bringing his twisted tales to the screen, the world may have finally caught up to Waters.
Pecker, the brashly-titled new film from the one-time cinematic shocker opens this month nationwide. Starring Edward Furlong in the title role, the film chronicles the whirlwind ride to fame of a young photographer whose naive and innocent work is suddenly deigned "art" by the New York intelligentsia. Like all of Waters' films, it pushes the boundaries of taste and is set in his beloved hometown and muse, Baltimore. The film also stars Lili Taylor, Christina Ricci, and Mary Kay Place as Pecker's mom.
Waters spoke recently about his new film, his productive and often profane career, and his affinity for aging rockers.
Peckeris such a great name for a film. Did you start with the title and work from there?
I started with the name and the idea of a kid photographer who became successful. I thought certainly of Wee Gee the famous street photographer ... and Wee Gee, in a real weird way, sounded a little obscene to me. And I had had the term pecker in many different last names and surnames and first names for different characters in many of my movies that got cut out or changed. That word went through lots of changes in my mind before it ended up as the title, and I was worried a little bit at first to tell the producer or the studio but everybody seemed to go for it.
Plus, it's funny to hear people say, "I'm going to see John Waters' Pecker.
The funniest to me was to see it on the marquee of the theater in Baltimore where I went as a child to the movies, where I saw The Wizard Of Oz. To see John Waters' Pecker[up there]... My parents hated it, they said, 'Oh my god, did you have to call it that?' But my mother said, 'We heard it was called a johnson.' That really shocked me.
What is the character, Pecker's, story?
He takes pictures of his loving but peculiar family and has a show in a local sandwich shop where he works. He gets discovered accidentally by a New York art dealer and he gets turned into a great art star in New York [who] is celebrated for his irony when he actually has none. His family seems to be very normal in their own context, but taken out of context and exhibited they look freakish and bizarre.
But the idea of somebody doing something without the establishment's support and then being swooped down upon ... is that autobiographical?
Well, the sudden glare of fame, most people want it. It's almost thought of as anti-American not to want that today. But there are many people in Baltimore who [think] 'Mind your own business.' That's how a healthy person should feel. And I'm not saying that I'm healthy because I'm in a business that depends on the approval of strangers.
What drew you to people like Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, and Ric Ocasek, whom you've given roles to?
Debbie Harry was a great beauty, really ahead of her time. Her name and her hairdo started a fashion trend that is still felt to this day. I thought she had a sense of humor about herself plus I think she can act. Iggy Pop has one of the greatest faces in cinema or in music. He was the inventor of punk rock and he was a great hero of mine growing up. And Ric Ocasek, the same thing. He had a very severe look and we were looking for someone to play a beatnik [for Hairspray] and I thought he'd be a perfect Hollywood beatnik and he'd get the joke of it.
Any kindred spirit between the punk movement and your films?
Oh, certainly. When we made Pink Flamingos we may have looked like yippies, but certainly we felt like punks. We were the Hate generation, not the Love generation. I loved the Hate generation; that's more of what I was -- someone who loved the Hate generation, and wasn't part of the Love generation or the Hate generation.
How important of a role does music play in your movies?
Oh, it's a character in my movies. Certainly the music in Peckeris very important, the "Happy-Go-Lucky-Me" theme by Paul Evans that plays all through it was kept on the set. I would blare it all the time -- that's almost how I directed Eddie [Furlong]. All the music has been very important in my movies. When I write a script I am always thinking about music and sometimes I even put in the script what the songs are before we even get there.
Your career has really changed over the years, going from low-budget films financed out of your wallet to films that have studio backing. What's changed in your filmmaking through these years?
Well, we have lunch, and I don't have to piss in the woods. That's about it. The budgets are a little bigger. It's still hard to make a movie. I never have enough time and I never have exactly as much money as I need, but the sense of humor that's behind it all is the same. We don't have to run from the police. The Maryland Film Commission gives us cinematic immunity by making people move their cars. We can pay extras now, we don't have to get them there on a bus and have the bus leave so they couldn't escape. A lot of those things are different. The days of complete guerilla filmmaking are gone and I look back to them fondly, but I certainly don't want to do it again.
All of these names that you've been given -- the Pope of Trash, the Prince of Sleaze, King of Bad Taste -- what do you think describes you best?
Well, the scary one that I got recently was the Grandfather of Gross. Christ! That one really shocked me. They're all fine, they're all very nice. But Prince of Puke I remember was one of the very first ones that I got. My mother said to me that wasn't exactly what we thought you were going to grow up and be when you were a child! But that's one that I take pride in.
STEVE GDULA(September 30, 1998)
