From cult to kid movies. Has John Waters mellowed?
After years as a cult filmmaker specializing in all things tasteless and weird, John Waters has edged closer to the mainstream with two recent projects -- a children's film and starring role in a TV drama.
Over the past four decades, Waters, 60, has gradually moved from underground movies to more commercial films, acting, screenwriting and photography, and this year will shoot a "terribly wonderful children's Christmas adventure called 'Fruitcake."'
One of his best-known films, "Hairspray," is headed back to the big screen in a New Line Cinema remake starring John Travolta.
While Waters is enjoying more mainstream acceptance, one thing has not changed -- his fascination for the macabre, which attracted him to another project, playing the narrator, or "Groom Reaper," in a Court TV cable series dramatizing real-life murderous marriages.
"I'm known for humor that makes people a bit nervous, but I'm never mean spirited. I've done horror but with a wink," Waters told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"Have I gone more mainstream? I think the general public has changed more than I, but you do have to reinvent yourself," he said.
Waters said his work still causes a stir, even though it may no longer be quite so shocking as the notorious scene at the end of his 1972 film "Pink Flamingos" in which the obese, cross-dressing lead character eats dog feces.
As an example, he cites his 2004 movie "A Dirty Shame," about a suburban housewife who becomes a sex addict after she is hit on the head.
"It was a huge censorship hassle," Waters recalled.
But a children's movie?
"Children have always enjoyed my movies. They are just not allowed to watch many of them," he said.
Waters expects his fans to enjoy the dark humor in the 13-part TV true-crime drama series "Til Death Do Us Part," which debuts on Court TV on March 19, featuring a different story each week that always ends in murder by one of the spouses.
Waters said the role of the moderator was irresistible to him because since an early age he had been intrigued by crime and what leads ordinary people to do something terrible. He used to spend days in courtrooms watching trials until he kept being recognized.
"It's a sardonic part in a TV show that is about a serious topic. Everyone has that moment when they say one little thing that really gets on your nerves," he said.
"The stories we do are all based on regular people. These are the people who live in your neighborhood and had a wedding as optimistic as you did. The main question is why they did not get divorced.
"Stay single and stay alive. That's my theory."
