Legendary director John Waters doesn't have the most optimistic take on the state of American cinema:
- "The movie business, as I know it, is over," Waters declared over the weekend, reports MovieMaker.
The director of eclectic classics such as Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, and Cry-Baby made the comment during a wide-ranging discussion with fellow director Ari Aster during a forum at the Provincetown International Film Festival in Massachusetts. Aster didn't exactly disagree: "Well, you know, it's feeling bad," he replied. "And I'm very lucky. I'm making the films I want to make. But just, you know, the culture at large is feeling just ... it's horrible. I don't know. Everything feels bad."
The conversation moved on from there, and Waters didn't elaborate, but he voiced a similar sentiment late in 2024 when choosing his list of the year's best movies for Vulture. "The movie business as I knew it is now over," he wrote. "Except in New York City, where feel-bad, risk-taking, ratings-defying art flicks still play and I pay to see them in theaters." He thanked distributors "from the bottom of my damaged little cinematic heart, for getting these films out there to the perverted public, who still demand to be startled and soothed by troublemaking directors from all over the world." For the record, his No. 1 pick was Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart. (More John Waters stories.)
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