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Pope of Trash to tour Oz
Filmink fave John Waters, the director of Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and Cry Baby, to tour one man show down under.
John Waters, cult filmmaker, writer and shock auteur supremo is coming to Australia in March to perform his one man show ‘This Filthy World'.
‘This Filthy World', described as a vaudeville act, celebrates the film career and obsessional tastes of the man William Burroughs once called ‘The Pope of Trash'.
Focusing on Mr Waters' early negative artistic influences and his fascination with true crime, exploitation films, fashion lunacy and the extremes of the contemporary art world, this devious monologue elevates all that is trashy in life.
Mr Waters says that he has always wanted to sell out, but the problem was nobody wanted to buy him. "Ever since I was a toddler I longed to be a film director (or small bomber) so I was lucky not to waste time floundering around in youth looking for a vocation.
"If you're cursed with the movie bug you're forced to decide early if you want to remain independent or go to Hollywood. There are no rules on either path. It's a real life version of that kid's board game, Chutes and Ladders. Just when you think you have it all figured out, along comes some industry hotshot or eccentric entrepreneur to scramble your plans in a minute," he said in a press release.
He continues, saying, "Being original is what really counts."
Since his teenage years, Mr Waters has used Baltimore, which he says is the ‘hairdo Capitol of the World', as a setting for all his films. He made his first short film, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket in 1964 and has since forged an un-straying path in his quest "to give bad taste a good name."
In 1967, he made his first 16-mm film Eat Your Makeup which was based on the story of a deranged governess and her lover who kidnap fashion models and force them to model themselves to death.
Mr Waters' first feature length film Mondo Trasho was completed in 1969. The production ground to halt, though, because the director and two actors were arrested for ‘participating in a misdemeanour (indecent exposure).
Waters created what would be become the most ‘notorious' film in the American independent cinema of the 1970s, Pink Flamingos, in 1972. It turned him into a cult celebrity and went on to become a smash success at midnight screenings in the U.S. and all over the world. Waters went on to write and direct the likes of Female Trouble, Polyester and Hairspray (the original, non musical version) and Cry Baby (with Johnny Depp). His most recent effort as a filmmaker was 2004's A Dirty Shame.
In addition to writing and directing films, John Waters is the author of five books. His next book Role Models will be published in 2010.
"Since I have always been a media junkie I thought I would try journalism. I hoped I could get a press pass from Vogue so I could go to car accidents, bust through the police lines and shout ‘OK, what were they wearing?'"
John Waters will be performing at: Melbourne - Saturday February 27 - The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, for bookings call 1300 182 183 or go to www.theartscentre.com.au, Brisbane - Monday March 1 - Brisbane Powerhouse, for bookings call (07) 3358 8600 or go to www.brisbanepowerhouse.org, Sydney - Tuesday March 2 - Sydney Opera House, for bookings call (02) 9250 7777 or go to www.sydneyoperahouse.com.