The Farrelly Brothers, the Jackass boys, every contestant who's ever eaten an insect on Fear Factor... they all owe a huge debt to the schlockmeister who pioneered hard-to-stomach, in-your-face entertainment: Baltimore-based auteur/author/actor John Waters. Originally known as the director of campy, lowbrow flicks punctuated by gross-out gags (e.g., plus-size drag queen Divine eating authentic dog poop in 1972's Pink Flamingos), the 60-year-old moviemaker has enjoyed a more mellow image in recent years, thanks to a st
read more
Before he played charming oddballs in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands and, well, insert most of his acting résumé here, Johnny Depp was your garden-variety teen idol on Fox's 21 Jump Street. Back in 1990, cult film director John Waters gave Depp his big-screen break — and a chance to send up his Tiger Beat image — in Cry-Baby. And since the Cry-Baby Director's Cut DVD is out today, TVGuide.com has a chance to touch base with Waters, for some "I knew Depp when" reminiscing and chatter about the rest of his freaky film exploits.
TVGuide.com: Cry-Baby was perhaps the most mainstream or "ready for prime time," of all your many wacky movies.John Waters: I disagree. Pecker is probably my nicest movie. Just 'cause Cry-Baby is a musical, people forget that I have a very dysfunctional, disturbed family in it. I have an ingenue who drinks her own tears becaus
read more
