Tuesday, April 07, 2009

"I can't go back and be a faux revolutionary"

The Takeaway has been doing a fun series of interviews with John Waters, who has been sadly missing from the cinematic landscape. Only two films this whole decade? In this very short video he talks about the dire state of indie filmmaking. Sadly, financing for what was supposed to be his next film, Fruitcake (best title ever), fell through.



There's more interviews at The Takeaway featuring the bad taste auteur, chatting about everything from television's The Wire to Tina Turner to his own artwork. I love his "rear projection" piece. And he continues to make with the funny
I think all my work is about humor... insider humor about the business. I try to celebrate the sadness regular people have for not being in showbusiness.
Ha! There's only one John Waters.
*

13 comments:

Cinesnatch said...

that's rich.

Chris Na Taraja said...

I'm having a psychic moment. I think Monsieur Waters is going to hear himself saying "I can't go back and be a faux revolutionary..faux...faux...rev" and then he's going to get a real revolutionary idea and scare us all better than ever!

Here's my prediction 2012 won't be the end of the world, even though the Mayan calendar ends, it will be the year John Waters shocks us as never before

Robert said...

He gives great insight in the doc: This Film is Not Yet Rated, basically telling parents of the world that if you think your teenager hasn't already seen the most vile stuff imaginable on the internet, you are sadly mistaken.

NATHANIEL R said...

Chris are you trying to scare me.
somehow i had missed that 2012 was supposed to be the end of the world!

I mean i breathed a sigh of relief when the Terminator apocalypse date passed without a hitch.

and i'm TOTALLY not worried about the October end of the world thing prophesied in Knowing (it'll have it's cable debut after the world ends apparently)

NATHANIEL R said...

but the Mayan calendar? [shivers]

Chris Na Taraja said...

Yeah, the Mayan calendar is this huge thing that follows the cycle of the sun, moon and venus, and it takes something like 5,000 years to go thru the whole thing. 2012 is the end of the cycle, and people are already getting all Y2K and Hale bop comet about it.

No real worries though, it's a round calendar, and it just starts again!

Nick M. said...

I was complaining last night about the rather small amount of films John Waters has made--and the fact that he has only made two since 2000. For some reason I always thought he was a prolific filmmaker, but he's only made ten films within 37 years. That seems absurd.

pony said...

Hopefully he'll shock* us again (with Fruitcake or whatever) much sooner than 2012. Maybe Hairspray 2 can help him get financing for his movie. Maybe he'll get a real star on board instead of Johnny Knoxville and the film will finally find backing. It's too bad that an american treasure such as Waters isn't considered a worthy investment.

*Of course he's not going to shock anyone. What's considered shocking now anyway?

James Hansen said...

If you REALLY love John Waters and are in New York, you'll definitely want to check this out.

http://www.marianneboeskygallery.com/exhibitions/2009-04-03_john-waters/

reassurance said...

As much as I love Dawn Davenport and that era of his films, I'm not too sad about John Waters' absence from making films lately, especially as his last two blew. I'd much rather just listen to him talk for hours.

NATHANIEL R said...

yep James. That's the gallery work he's discussing in those videos I linked in the post. Rear Projection is so juvenile. Love it.

James Hansen said...

Yah. I was just encouraging attendance even more! :)

Nick M. said...

Thanks for the reminder--I'll be there Saturday.