WATERS COOLER

We all feel as if we know director JOHN WATERS. From Pink Flamingos to the original Hairspray, his ilms show him to be a unique artist with a unique life. But for several decades there’s been a missing link in his story — and it’s only now that it’s inally coming to light

INTERVIEW

WORDS: MATT CAIN // PHOTOGRAPHS: LEON CSERNOHLAVEK

JOHN WATERS’ FILMS may be anarchic and angry but in person the man himself is sparky and spirited. He’s charming company and eager to tell us that he’s a longterm subscriber to Attitude — and a huge fan.

We’re meeting to discuss the re-release of his second feature ilm, Multiple Maniacs, which was made in 1970 but has been hidden away ever since. Featuring vomit-eating, cannibalism and an anal sex scene involving rosary beads, the ilm follows the Cavalcade of Perversion, a travelling freak show put on by a troupe of performers. Their shocking antics are topped only by those of their leader: an astonishingly conident and selfassured Divine, who’s out for blood after discovering her man is cheating on her.

Starring many of Waters’ much-loved regular actors, Multiple Maniacs is shamelessly rough around the edges; the camera following the action always seems to be one step behind it, there are some terrible cuts and bad sound, and the actors regularly forget their lines. But it makes for fascinating, fun viewing — and stands as an anarchistic masterclass by an artist who’s made a career out of testing the limits of taste.

I loved Multiple Maniacs and was surprised at how laugh-out-loud funny it is.

To some! There are other people who were horriied by it. You’re watching it in a time capsule now and it’s dificult to imagine but it was at the end of the hippie years so the people who went to see it, this was against everything they believed in. But the only thing that really dates it is, in the Cavalcade of Perversion there’s a thing where a woman walks around and says, “Hamburgers a dollar.” That was supposed to be so expensive that it was a joke but you can’t get a hamburger for a dollar in the lowest neighbourhood in Baltimore now. So that and the fact there are two actual queers and to see them kissing was that shocking that people would pay to see it. Now that’s on sitcoms.