“What is your niche, John Waters?” a radio interviewer asked the writer and filmmaker this week.
“My niche?” Waters responded. “I would say that I make exploitation films for art theaters. And I don’t think anybody had really done that before. Even if you hate my movies, I think you can give me that. And I made ‘trash’ one percent more respectable. I did what I was put on this Earth to do.”
On Thursday, Waters was the guest of Ben Goodman’s “What’s Your Niche?” radio program, in which the host asks people what sets them apart and what they like to do. A variation of sorts on the old “What’s My Line?” TV show, the program originates from CJSW-FM in Calgary, Alberta, and streams on CJSW.com.
What Waters seems to be doing most as he approaches his 78th birthday on April 22 is: not slowing down. If anything, he’s speeding up.
The winter holidays have come and gone, so his “A John Waters Christmas” shows are on pause for a while. But now he’s embarking on a spring tour that will take him throughout the U. S. and Canada.
Some of Waters’ time will be devoted to presenting his spoken-word show, “Devil’s Advocate.” Several of his movies recently had or soon will celebrate major anniversaries — including “Serial Mom,” which was released on April 13, 1994 — and they’re getting attention this spring as well. He also has a much-anticipated television appearance coming up and a new Blu-ray movie set coming out in May.
Birthday month shows
Here’s a sample of his busy schedule:
Waters was at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo with actress Ricki Lake over the Easter weekend for a screening of the 1988 version of “Hairspray” and dinner with superfans. On Saturday he’ll be at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles for a “Conversation with John Waters” at 4 p.m. and a screening of “Pink Flamingos” at 7:30 p.m. His appearances there are connected with the museum’s blockbuster retrospective: “John Waters: Pope of Trash,” which will be on view until early August.
Dates for Waters’ “Devil’s Advocate” performances include: April 20, a pre-78th birthday show at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island; April 22, a birthday show at the City Winery in New York; May 1 at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and July 25 at Provincetown Town Hall in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Waters has three stops in Canada.
On April 24, he’ll be at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, for a post-birthday performance of “Devil’s Advocate” and a 30th anniversary screening of “Serial Mom.” On April 26, he’ll present “Devil’s Advocate” at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver. On May 18, he’ll visit the Paradise Theatre in Toronto, where he’ll provide commentary at a screening of “Pecker.” The Toronto appearance will mark the culmination of “Flurry of Filth: A John Waters Retrospective,” which runs from May 10 to 18.
“I love spreading filth across national lines,” Waters told Goodman.
‘Bowel-bonkers thriller’
On Friday, May 3, Waters will introduce a movie of his choice for “John Waters Presents” Night during the Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) at the SNF Parkway Theatre in Baltimore. His choice this year is director Tyler Cornack’s “Butt Boy,” whose final scene takes place inside the main character’s rectum.
Waters included “Butt Boy” on his 2020 Best Films of the Year list for Artforum magazine. “A jaw-dropping, deadpan, bowel-bonkers thriller,” he called it. “Brilliantly played as a maybe-not-so-straight crime thriller/absurd villain origin story, ‘Butt Boy’ delivers everything that MdFF audiences have come to expect from a John Waters selection: nudity, drugs, violence, vomit, gore, and of course ‘the brown word,’ ” the festival’s website states.
Not everything on Waters’ calendar involves a stage appearance.
On April 10, the USA and SYFY networks are launching Season 3 Part 2 of the “Chucky” TV series, and Waters has a co-starring role as Wendell Wilkins, reclusive creator of the Good Guy dolls. The new “Chucky” episodes, filmed last year in Canada, will be shown on Peacock after they debut on USA and SYFY.
On May 28, Kino Lorber, an art house film distributor, is releasing a “deluxe 4K Blu-ray” set of Waters’ 1990 film, “Cry-Baby,” with a new HDR/Dolby Vision Master. The $39.95 set includes commentary by Waters; interviews with the cast and crew; deleted scenes; the original trailer and a 2005 documentary entitled “It Came From Baltimore.”
Finally, some John Waters events are happening without him. In March, the IFC Center in New York launched “Sicks by John Waters,” a series of six Waters films that it’s showing on weekends. The series started with “Pink Flamingos.” Still to come are: “Female Trouble” and “Desperate Living” on April 5 and 6; “Serial Mom” on April 12 and 13; “Polyester” on April 19 and 20; and “Multiple Maniacs” on April 26 and 27. Together, they provide relevant reminders that he did “what I was put on this Earth to do.”
