Subversive Baltimore filmmaker has been offending sensibilities since the release of his 1972 film 鈥淧ink Flamingos,鈥� which gave the world the gleefully disgusting drag queen Divine.
On May 27, Waters released new versions of the screenplays for 鈥淧ink Flamingos,鈥� 鈥淒esperate Living鈥� and 鈥淔lamingos Forever.鈥� The review blurbs on the books offer a range of takes on the films and Waters himself. Alan Cumming called Waters a 鈥渘ational treasure,鈥� and contrastingly, a Variety review calls 鈥淧ink Flamingos,鈥� 鈥渙ne of the most vile, stupid and repulsive films ever made.鈥�
鈥淚 built a career on bad reviews,鈥� Waters said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 start getting good reviews until way later. I got all bad reviews, and we put them in the ad.鈥�
9 questions with John Waters
Reading the script versus watching the movie felt like distinctly different experiences. Why is that?
鈥淲ell, [it鈥檚] worse now than it ever was as far as political correct[ness]. You can鈥檛 even call anyone fat anymore. I never get hassled about any of that stuff because I think I鈥檓 joyous. I think I make fun of the things I love, including myself, including my films, including the genres that I make films in. So, I think as long as you have a sense of humor and you use that to change people鈥檚 minds, they want you to be startled, they come to my movies wanting to be startled and surprised.鈥�
The original trailer for 鈥淧ink Flamingos鈥� did not include a single second of footage from the film. Say more on that.
鈥淣o, we didn鈥檛 want to鈥� and I named it purposely a very middle-of-the-road title鈥� It said 鈥榓n exercise in poor taste.鈥� That鈥檚 putting it mildly.鈥�
In another interview, you said, 鈥淲hat parent would be proud their son made 鈥楶ink Flamingos鈥�? How liberal can you be?鈥�
鈥淲ell, it鈥檚 true! The point of 鈥楶ink Flamingos鈥� was people saying, 鈥楥an you imagine if my parents saw all this?鈥�
鈥淣ow I would say one out of two people that ask for signatures on the book say, 鈥榤y parents,鈥� or worse yet, that makes me really groan, is, 鈥楳y grandparents told me to see these movies.鈥欌��
You had to go through these scripts to prepare them again for publication. What changes would you make?
鈥淎 few things I鈥檇 change, but no, not really, because the surprise of it is that it鈥檚 so ridiculous and so politically incorrect. In a way, though, I make fun of the values of extreme liberals, which I am. These days, I鈥檓 more in the middle, but still I made fun of hippie rules鈥� I made fun of the rules my readers and movie fans go by, not the rules we rebelled from of our parents. And that鈥檚鈥he key to it, I made fun of our own taboos.鈥�
Do you think of your work as being political?
鈥淎ll humor is political, yes, very much so鈥� That鈥檚 how you change people鈥檚 minds; you get them to laugh. That is the most important political thing you can do. You get them to laugh, then they鈥檒l listen, then you change your mind, then you have sex with them鈥� We should have done that in the election.鈥�
I wonder if you have different liberties now that you鈥檙e an elder statesman of the film industry.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know either, because I鈥� say completely outrageous things and everybody just laughs. But you know why? They鈥檙e not mean, and I make fun of myself first. I think that鈥檚 the most important thing.
鈥淚鈥檓 not self-righteous, which is the worst possible thing you can do after pretentious. Well, there鈥檚 no, there鈥檚 worse things than that, like fascism, but I鈥檓 saying in the humor department, in the arts 鈥� I think being self-righteous is how people go vote for the other side when you tell them how they have to think.鈥�
It鈥檚 interesting that you say that because, as odd as this sounds, reading through these scripts, they felt almost wholesome. They were just funny.
鈥淵eah, that鈥檚 the point鈥hat鈥檚 all I was ever trying to do: make you laugh at your own limits of what can be funny. And I think that鈥檚 very important, and that鈥檚 liberating in a way with something that you might be upset about or uptight about or don鈥檛 feel like anybody should ever talk about it. If you can laugh about that, that thing has no power over you anymore.鈥�
Do you think that sometimes artists can be outrageous for the wrong reasons?
鈥淥h yes, so many movies say it鈥檚 a John Waters-esque movie, and I hate the movie because all it is, it has a drag queen in it. Big deal. That鈥檚 hardly, you know, taboo-busting today. Or it鈥檚 disgusting without being funny. That鈥檚 easy to do.
鈥淚t鈥檚 much harder to use shock value and have people laugh and change their opinion. To just be disgusting or shocking is very simple and usually not very good.鈥�
I find it ironic that two generations are embracing your work at the same time the American political world is going the other way, for example, banning drag queens from reading in libraries. How do you balance the growing love for your work on one side and this growing rejection of the very things that you celebrate?
鈥淚n a way, the movies, when they first came out, were celebrated for breaking the censorship rules and defying all the odds of good taste and what you鈥檙e allowed to do in the movies鈥� I think my movies technically are politically correct, and many people might argue that point, but the right people win in my movie. They don鈥檛 judge people. They鈥檙e open to new ideas. They take what everybody hates against them and turn it into a style and win.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we have to do today, and humor is how to do it because [President Trump] doesn鈥檛 care about protests, so what? He doesn鈥檛 care. The most ridiculous is when celebrities say, 鈥業鈥檓 moving.鈥� Well, do you think he cares?鈥� You got to stay.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know the answer. I wrote a book called 鈥楳r. Know It All,鈥� and I, for the first time, do not know it all, but I know that humor as terrorism is the answer.鈥�
This interview was edited for clarity.
Book excerpt: 鈥楶ink Flamingos鈥�
By John Waters
鈥淧ink Flamingos鈥� by John Waters. Published by Picador, May 27, 2025. Copyright 漏 1988, 1996, 2005 by John Waters. All rights reserved.
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