Irreverent, heartfelt, shocking and laugh-out-loud funny—a colorful celebration of the work of subversive auteur John Waters

Known for pushing the boundaries of good taste, John Waters (born 1946) has created a canon of high-shock-value, high-entertainment movies that have cemented his position as one of the most revered and subversive auteurs in American independent cinema.

Featuring misfit muses, tributes to his hometown of Baltimore and themes of fetish, obsession and celebrity culture, his renegade films—including Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), Hairspray (1988), Serial Mom (1994) and A Dirty Shame (2004)—are irreverent, laugh-out-loud comedies that lovingly draw inspiration from William Castle, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, Andy Warhol and Pier Paolo Pasolini alike.

John Waters: Pope of Trash accompanies a landmark exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the first dedicated solely to Waters’ films. The book presents costumes, props, handwritten scripts, concept drawings, correspondence, promotional gimmicks, production photography and other original materials from all of the filmmaker’s features and shorts.

Spotlighting many of his longtime collaborators, it also features a new interview with Waters and texts by curators Jenny He and Dara Jaffe, film historian Jeanine Basinger, film critic and cultural theorist B. Ruby Rich, and author-writer-producer David Simon that explore how Waters’ movies have redefined the possibilities of independent cinema.

Contributors:

• Jenny He and Dara Jaffe are curators at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
• Jeanine Basinger is the founder of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives.
• B. Ruby Rich is editor of Film Quarterly and professor emerita at the University of California Santa Cruz.
• Sean Baker is a writer and director best known for The Florida Project (2017) and Tangerine (2015).
• Debbie Harry is best known as the frontwoman and cofounder (with Chris Stein) of Blondie.
• Barry Jenkins is a critically acclaimed filmmaker best known for the Academy Award–winning films Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018).
• Johnny Knoxville is an actor and filmmaker most known for starring in and producing the box-office hit franchise Jackass.
• Bruce LaBruce is a filmmaker, photographer, writer and artist based in Toronto.
• Ricki Lake is an actress and television host, known for her role as Tracy Turnblad in John Waters’ Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Cecil B. Demented (2000) and numerous other films.
• Orville Peck is a South African country musician based in Canada.
• Iggy Pop is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor, and was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges.
• Cindy Sherman is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits.
• Kathleen Turner is an American actress known for her performances in films like Body Heat (1981), Romancing the Stone (1984), The War of the Roses (1989) and Waters’ Serial Mom (1994).
• Christine Vachon cofounded the indie powerhouse Killer Films with partner Pamela Koffler in 1995.
• Edgar Wright is a director, writer and producer best known for Shaun of the Dead (2004).

Copies of this book come signed by John Waters.

Artist: John Waters
Publisher: DelMonico Books / Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Pages: 256pp
Size: 8.75 x 12
Notes: hardcover, full color, signed
Release Date: October 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1636810850