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<\/p>\nJohn Waters on Kevin Spacey, Provincetown, petty theft, and his own biopic<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cYou\u2019re about the furthest you can come. Maybe the top of Maine might be further.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Waters<\/a> chides us for our long-distance journey from Los Angeles to Provincetown<\/a>, Massachusets, located on the tip of Cape Cod. We meet one another on a sunny afternoon in the garden of a local mansion, celebrity-studded party in full swing, courtesy of the Provincetown Film Festival.<\/p>\n Waters, of course, transcended his rebellious beginnings as the guerilla filmmaker of scandalous movies like\u00a0Pink Flamingoes, Female Trouble\u00a0<\/em>and Polyester<\/em> to become a mainstream success with films like\u00a0Hairspray<\/em> <\/a>and\u00a0Cry-Baby\u2013<\/em>as well as a reliable queer wit on the political stage. In Provincetown, the citizens treat him like royalty, particularly for his support of the Provincetown Film Festival over the years.<\/p>\n This year, he also released a self-help book,\u00a0Mr. Know-It-All: Wisdom of a Filth Elder<\/em> at the local bookstore over Festival weekend.<\/p>\n Waters\u2019 blue eyes peek out over the rims of his dark sunglasses, his pencil mustache curling upward in a grin as I sit down across from him. Queerty<\/em> managed to score a few minutes with the Pope of Trash just after his book signing.<\/p>\n I wrote a film school term paper on higher level criticism on your films.<\/strong><\/p>\n Did you graduate?<\/p>\n I got an A.<\/strong><\/p>\n Must have been a good teacher.<\/p>\n So how long have you been coming to the festival, to Ptown?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been coming here for 55 years. And I\u2019ve been at all 21 festivals.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the appeal?<\/strong><\/p>\n I came here when I was 16, 17. Somebody was like It\u2019s a weird place, you\u2019ll like it<\/i>. So I hitchhiked here. It was. And I did. I worked for Molly Malone and Mary Oliver, who became a giant poet. Then I ran the Provincetown bookshop for many years as a young man<\/a>. Turned the windows into this place. My first movie premiered at the church up on Shank Painter Road. I hate hot weather. I can\u2019t do Baltimore; it\u2019s too hot. So I just come here. I write here. I have a chapter in my book about it: it\u2019s called \u201cNo Vacation.\u201d I\u2019m not really on vacation. I work every day like I\u2019m at home. But, you know, I can pretend I\u2019m in Spain and go to the beach.<\/p>\n Spain has the best beaches in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n They don\u2019t have that thing anymore that they used to take off three hours in the middle of the day.<\/p>\n No.<\/strong><\/p>\n They had it, but it\u2019s like everywhere. Everyone works in the city but they don\u2019t live<\/a> there, so the workers can\u2019t get home to go to sleep.<\/p>\n Globalization.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah.<\/p>\n Tell me about for favorite spots here in town. Do you have a favorite restaurant?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. Strangers & Saints. When I was young here, the hippest, coolest restaurant was called Front Street. Now it\u2019s still here, and I\u2019m not saying it isn\u2019t [cool anymore], but it\u2019s not the hip scene that it was. It was all coked up. So Strangers & Saints is like Front Street without the cocaine.<\/p>\n Ok.<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s the old Front Street. It\u2019s not like that now, and I\u2019m not insulting the one that\u2019s there. It\u2019s still a good restaurant. But it used to be a real scene<\/i> there. And everyone used cocaine.<\/p>\n Cocaine and eating don\u2019t go together in my mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n I know. So I would say Strangers & Saints is the cool, hipster place. I like very much Jimmy\u2019s Hideaway. It reminds me of Boys in the Band<\/i><\/a>. I like The Muse. But I\u2019m on the road so much I don\u2019t get to go there much.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure you put the miles on.<\/strong><\/p>\n But at the festival, I go see lots of movies. I ride my bike everywhere. I have the same old beat up bike I\u2019ve had forever.<\/p>\n That\u2019s good.<\/strong><\/p>\n I always think someone is going to steal it. When I was young I always stole a bike.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n That was the first thing you did. The first night you got here\u2026<\/p>\n You\u2019re admitting to this!?<\/strong><\/p>\n The statute of limitations is up. The first night you got here, you\u2019d steal a bike and go paint it. Everyone did that!<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n You\u2019d take it home and paint it? And you\u2019d get away with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. I got away with it every time. I did it every year for 10 years at least.<\/p>\n Wow, ok. Do you have a favorite dive bar?<\/strong><\/p>\n I haven\u2019t been this year, but I like The Underground. I like straight bars because that\u2019s where the minority goes. I used to go to the Bradford Basement, which was a townie bar. But this year I haven\u2019t scoped them out to see, because it changes every year. If I\u2019m going to go to a bar\u2026Colony, I used to go to. I haven\u2019t been out long enough this year.<\/p>\n What about Atlantic House?<\/strong><\/p>\n The A-house used to always be disco. I hated<\/i> disco. And now everybody dances looking at their phones. I hate that.<\/p>\n Related: It\u2019s here! John Waters clues us in on his favorite ten films of 2017<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n But that\u2019s everywhere though.<\/strong><\/p>\n I know. I have a soft spot for the A-house. I always walk by. That\u2019s where Tennessee Williams<\/a> met his boyfriend. I saw Judy Garland<\/a> there sitting in there drunk. Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday played there. So the little bar in the A-house is really where I bow my head as I walk by.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where I was last night. I had no idea, everybody\u2019s been there.<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s where I saw Judy Garland dead drunk. She wouldn\u2019t mind that I\u2019m telling you this\u2026<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n The leather bar, did you go to that one?<\/p>\n I did.<\/strong><\/p>\n That to me\u2026men<\/a> look silly at the beach in leather.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n Leather pants if you\u2019re over 21\u2014not easy to pull off. But I like going in there. Once a summer I always go in there just because there\u2019s a lot of action in there. So I\u2019m for<\/i> that. I can be for things I don\u2019t go to. But it\u2019s extreme in there. So if I had to pick a gay<\/a> bar that\u2019s the one I\u2019d go to. Then this other bar, The Monkey Bar\u2026but I can\u2019t go in there. I have bonding on my teeth. What are those lights called?<\/p>\n What, the blacklight?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. Oh my God, I\u2019d light up. So I can never go in there. I said I would never go in there. It\u2019s nothing against the place. But until they change the lighting up\u2026<\/p>\n You could wear a veil.<\/strong><\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n You know, Edith Sitwell\u2019s mother veiled her for school because she didn\u2019t want other children to hassle her. That\u2019s really mean.<\/p>\n Sounds like something my mother would have done.<\/strong><\/p>\n Veiled you?<\/p>\n Well yeah. There were moments. Might have helped me get a date. But speaking of biographical material, queer biopics are all the rage.<\/strong><\/p>\n I really liked Rocketman<\/i><\/a>. I really enjoyed the Queen one too.<\/p>\n Bohemian Rhapsody?<\/i> I liked them both. People were really gunning for Bohemian Rhapsody<\/i><\/a>, and I\u2019m not sure why.<\/strong><\/p>\n I voted for it for the Oscar.<\/p>\n Did you?<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh yeah. And the guy<\/a> that came in to finish that did Rocketman.<\/i><\/p>\n Dexter Fletcher, yes. Do you ever think about doing one of yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh yes, they\u2019ve been optioned. A couple<\/a> times. I really hope they do it after I\u2019m dead because I\u2019ll just hate it.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/i><\/p>\n Like in the Elton movie, he didn\u2019t sing that song at the Troubadour.<\/p>\n It was written years later.<\/strong><\/p>\n And I know they\u2019ll do that. I don\u2019t want to hear it from all my friends who are alive: Why did you?!<\/i> Although I\u2019ve said it in other interviews, Steve Buscemi should play me at this age, and Matthew Gray Gubler could play me young. Though he\u2019s much better looking than I was.<\/p>\n They both would be great. I was thinking of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I like him. But I don\u2019t know if it will happen or not.<\/p>\n We need it. We need to know about Dreamland.<\/strong><\/p>\n But it\u2019s a long story. Spanning where to where? I don\u2019t know. I hope it ends\u2026I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n The night Hairspray<\/i> opens?<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s 25 years. There\u2019s a lot there.<\/p>\n It could be done.<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I don\u2019t want to write it, direct it, or maybe even see it.<\/p>\n Well watching a biopic of yourself has to be weird anyway.<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know. I live<\/a> my life in public so much. I have a private life too. I always say you can tell I have a real private life because half my restaurant receipts I can\u2019t deduct. That\u2019s how you can tell if you have a really good personal life.<\/p>\n So you\u2019ve just authored a self-help book. What inspires you to write a self-help book, of all things?<\/strong><\/p>\n Bishop Fulton Sheen. He wrote one.<\/p>\n [Laugher]<\/i><\/p>\n Look him up. The ridiculous ones from the 50s, it\u2019s sort of a parody on that, just to have a way to tell all my stories. I think my advice is good. I\u2019ve been doing what I want. I never had to get a real job. I didn\u2019t really change. I\u2019m still doing the same thing. I think that\u2019s negotiation, planning, and organization. So I try to explain how to do that: how to fail upwards.<\/p>\n It worked for George W. Bush and Donald Trump.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yep.<\/p>\n So here we are. What one piece of advice would you give to young, queer filmmakers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gay is not enough anymore. It\u2019s a good start, but it\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n Where does that put us?<\/strong><\/p>\n A young gay<\/a> filmmaker should just be a filmmaker, <\/i>not a gay<\/a><\/i> filmmaker. In other words, don\u2019t be a separatist. Everyone should hang\u2026gay<\/a>, straight. I think gay<\/a> people should be able to go in [like coming out] too. People should be able to change and sometimes when they do, they get grief. There are real bisexual<\/a> people. They are<\/i> real. So I\u2019m just thinking for a young filmmaker, don\u2019t limit yourself. I don\u2019t want my book in the gay<\/a> section with true crime back by the bathroom, next to humor. That\u2019s the only thing worse than the gay<\/a> section: the humor section.<\/p>\n You mean you don\u2019t want to be back with Art Linson back in the humor?<\/strong><\/p>\n Or next to a Peanuts<\/i> cartoon book. Which I like! And it\u2019s ok to be in the gay<\/a> section, but in a way, I\u2019m against separatism because everybody should be inside. Get right in there if you\u2019re a good filmmaker. And straight people can make gay<\/a> movies. It doesn\u2019t matter. Look at the guy<\/a> who did Rocketman. <\/i>He\u2019s straight as far as I know.<\/p>\n He is.<\/strong><\/p>\n Or how about when gay<\/a> actors play straight people? Nobody ever says \u201cOh, how brave!\u201d<\/p>\n No, and Billy Porter\u2019s been railing against this, saying \u201cI\u2019m sick of straight actors getting applauded for playing gay<\/a> characters.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t mind when straight people play gay<\/a> people. It\u2019s just who\u2019s right for the role. When gay<\/a> actors play straight people, they never say, \u201cWeren\u2019t they brave to take that role?\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s the problem. Cast gay<\/a> actors as straight characters. Or better yet, how about we just don\u2019t concentrate on who anybody f*cks in real life?<\/strong><\/p>\n But then if you\u2019re a gay<\/a> person playing a straight person they say, \u201cYou\u2019re a closet queen.\u201d Look at Kevin Spacey.<\/p>\n Well, he didn\u2019t help us on that point\u2026or much of anything else.<\/strong><\/p>\n And what happened to him wasn\u2019t about his roles.<\/p>\n No. And everybody in Hollywood knew he was gay<\/a>. We all knew that. But he wouldn\u2019t come out until we found out he was scamming a 14-year-old. So what have you seen at the festival that you\u2019ve really liked?<\/strong><\/p>\n I liked Circus of Books<\/i> about the porn shop in LA. I think I\u2019ve had sex<\/a> in that bookstore, but that was 40 years ago.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve gone popper shopping with friends there.<\/strong><\/p>\n I liked the Pauline Kael one a lot [the documentary What She Said<\/i>]<\/p>\n Really?<\/strong><\/p>\n And I\u2019m still seeing more. I\u2019m seeing the Montgomery Clift one next [Making Montgomery Clift<\/i><\/a>].<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t like the Kael one. They toned her down and glossed over every controversy. They cut all the homophobic stuff.<\/strong><\/p>\n She liked me. She reviewed Hairspray<\/i>, gave Divine a great review. He died a week later. So he was really thrilled about that. I loved her. She was a huge influence on me. And they show her smoking and drinking.<\/p>\n She looked like a buzzard. Something avian.<\/strong><\/p>\n That kind of a power of a critic will never happen again.<\/p>\n Not after Roger Ebert. Not in the internet age.<\/strong><\/p>\n I liked him the least.<\/p>\n Really?<\/strong><\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/em><\/p>\n God, I love arguing with you!<\/p>\n Waters\u2019 new self-help book,\u00a0Mr. Know-It-All: Wisdom of a Filth Elder,<\/a> is available at fine retailers.<\/em><\/p>\n \nwww.queerty.com\/john-waters-kevin-spacey-love-provincetown-petty-theft-biopic-20190705?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Waters on Kevin Spacey, Provincetown, petty theft, and his own biopic \u201cYou\u2019re about the furthest you can come. Maybe the top of Maine might be further.\u201d John Waters chides us for our long-distance journey from Los Angeles to Provincetown, Massachusets, located on the tip of Cape Cod. We meet one another on a sunny … Continue reading John Waters on Kevin Spacey, Provincetown, petty theft, and his own biopic<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com\/2019\/06\/john-waters-2-670x377.jpg\")
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