For a man who made his name with gleefully hilarious guerrilla films populated by drag queens, provocateurs, foot fetishists, misguided egomaniacs, furtive suburban psychos and assorted criminal lowlifes, John Waters is taking his elevation to the Hollywood stratosphere in stride.
The 77-year-old director of Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and Serial Mom has never come close to winning an Oscar – Oscars are not what you get when you delight in bad taste and write that someone vomiting during one of your films is “like getting a standing ovation”. Yet this weekend in Los Angeles, the museum run by the Academy of Motion Pictures is opening a lavish, lovingly curated exhibit that chronicles Waters’ extraordinary life and work.
