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Monday, July 18, 2011

Gay Role Model John Waters Speaks OUT

Produced by Charlotte Robinson


 








  

 

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with filmmaker John Waters in part two of our series of celebrity chats from the Provincetown International Film Festival. Waters is one of the founders of the PIFF and every year he conducts an event highlighting his movie pick of the year. John’s favorite movie of 2010 is "Domaine" a French film directed by Patric Chiha that tracks the evolution of the unusually close relationship between an alcoholic mathematician (Betty Blue’s Béatrice Dalle) and her gay teenage nephew. Their friendship is an homage to that of Albert Einstein and Kurt Gödel but with more white wine and visits to a shadowy discotheque. The result is a sexy, fresh, and poignant movie, one that gets to the underlying truths John Waters truly appreciates.

We also talked to Waters about LGBT civil rights, gay marriage and LGBTQ teen bullying. LGBTQ teens are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Over the past year, numerous teens have taken their own lives after facing bullying incidents. When asked what advise he would have for these kids, Waters stated, “Bullying is going to happen even if you’re not gay. Bullying is a thing that you have to learn to deal with; it’s part of getting through life unfortunately. High school is how you learn. Wait until you get a job and you get bullied in your job. Wait until you try to get into the art world to make a film, you get bullied. So unfortunately you have to learn how to deal with bullies. You have to figure out a way to be smart enough to get around them or make them laugh. People that wanted to beat me up, I made them laugh first. Humor can be a great weapon but teachers are very wrong to allow it. When I went to high school there was no talk about bullying. They (teachers) didn’t lift a finger to stop it so that’s very wrong.”

John Waters, filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector rose to fame in the early 1970s for his cult films like “Pink Flamingos” and “Female Trouble”. His 80’s film “Hairspray” brought him mainstream success followed by the Broadway play of the same name. His bestselling book “Role Models” is now available in paperback just in time for your summer reading.
Listen to Part One with Kathleen Turner
Listen to Part Three with Albert Maysles
Listen to Part #4: with Actress Jackie Monahan

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