July 12, 2005 |
Johnny Depp's Still a Cry-Baby
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 because she's in love with Johnny Depp. That's some kind of sexual fetish I don't even have a name for; I didn't even have tear drinkers in A Dirty Shame. Plus, [adult film-star-turned-actress] Traci Lords is in it, Patricia Hearst... I hardly think it was your normal studio movie. TVGuide.com: Of course. I'm just saying it feels tame and mainstream by John Waters standards, if you compare it to much freakier fare like Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble.
Waters: If ever I made movies that were sneak attacks, maybe Hairspray and Cry-Baby were the ones. They both became big rentals for children's parties! And Cry-Baby's going to be a Broadway musical [like Hairspray] now. But if you look at what it's saying — the heroines are a girl so ugly she's considered beautiful; an insane, thieving grandmother; and an unwed mother who's happy to be knocked up — it's a very unconventional story. So maybe these movies, rather than preaching to the converted, actually did corrupt somebody! TVGuide.com: Do you claim any credit for Johnny Depp's huge film career?
Waters: Johnny would've been a huge star and a very successful actor without me. I'm glad he started with me, though. I'm glad he starred in my movie. More people have seen Cry-Baby, because of Johnny Depp, than any of my movies. I'm glad that I'm the first person who ever got him a million-dollar paycheck. And I'm glad we're still friends. We still e-mail and he calls me "Mr. Waters," because that's what people in Baltimore call me. And I'm sure you can't put my nickname for him on TVGuide.com. TVGuide.com: Speaking of TV, were you as enthralled by the surprise summer hit Dancing with the Stars as the rest of America?
Waters: I've never even heard of it. That shows how much I am in the mainstream of America. I'm not sure what the difference is between reality TV and amateur porn. They often look similar — but I'll go with the porn. TVGuide.com: Do you watch any television?
Waters: I've recently watched The Wire on HBO and the Michael Jackson trial reenactments on E! I also enjoyed an episode of Pamela Anderson's show Stacked. I worked in a bookshop like her character does and also, Marissa Jaret Winokur — the star of Hairspray: The Musical — is in it. |
Do Your Kids Need Brat Camp?
Two weeks ago, amid cries of racism and prejudice, ABC abruptly pulled the welcome mat out from under Welcome to the Neighborhood, a controversial and as yet unaired reality show in which several, um, "diverse" clans vied for a house in a coveted community. The cancelation, while commendable, left ABC with a bit of a public-relations black eye, and one could understand if the execs behind the net's next daring unscripted series were given a bit of a scare by Neighborhood's fate. Enter Brat Camp, a show which sends nine problem children — and by "problem children," we mean teens prone to sexual promiscuity, drug and alcohol addiction, verbal and physical abuse etc. — to SageWalk, a wilderness camp in Oregon, for possible rehabilitation. Potentially dicey fare, indeed. "I never felt any sense that our show was in trouble," Brat Camp executive producer Allison Grodner tells TV Guide.com. "I happen to know the people who [produced Welcome to the Neighborhood], so I'm very sorry that that happened. In the end, maybe somebody will see it. It's worth seeing; I'll just say that. But Brat Camp is very different. "Certainly our show is real — as was the other one — and we deal with real issues, with heavy issues. But hot-button issues? No," reiterates Grodner, whose reality résumé includes Big Brother. "The race and prejudice issues that [Neighborhood] was delving into were hot-button issues. That's not our show." Which is not to say that Brat Camp, with its nine hard-to-handle hellions, won't deliver more than its fair share of eye-openers and jaw-droppers. (It should be noted that the series carries a TV-14, L — for language — rating.) "These kids wouldn't be in a camp like this if they were just being 'brats.' There's a lot more to it," says Grodner. "Their parents are at their wits' end, and this is the last option for these families who have tried a lot of things." There is no cash prize at the end of Brat Camp. No torches to be snuffed or roses to be handed out. No recording contracts. The only winners are the kids who elect to choose the right path. "This is not a game. There are light moments, as there are heavy moments, but these are serious issues. This show is truthful and honest and raw. People will be shocked." Nine kids, with nine sets of inner demons to overcome. Can viewers expect nine happy endings? "This is a real show, so there are absolutely no guarantees," insists Grodner. "These are [problems] that sometimes take a lot more time than 60-plus days in the wilderness [to resolve]. I will tell you that there are some incredibly dramatic turnarounds — but maybe not for everyone." But if all goes as wished, Brat Camp will help many more families than the nine featured on the program. "What we always hope with a show like this is that it makes an impression on the audience and helps people find help and learn from it," says Grodner. "If we can touch other lives, that's amazing." |
Carly Simon's Candid Talk
TV Guide: Moonlight Serenade has a very intimate, mellow feel.
Carly Simon: Our intention was an album that you could make out to. [Laughs] TV Guide: You actually knew some legendary composers.
Simon: Yes. Arthur Schwartz ("Dancing in the Dark") was my parents' [Simon & Schuster publisher Richard Simon and his wife Andrea] best friend. Oscar Hammerstein was a close friend of theirs, too. I have a personal feeling about these songs. TV Guide: Can you feel as passionate about these songs as you do about your own?
Simon: There's more of a separation when I'm singing standards, though I do get emotionally involved with them. When I'm singing my own songs, it can get so intertwined, I have to stop sometimes because I cry. TV Guide: To promote Moonlight Serenade, you'll be performing on a number of TV shows. What about your fabled stage fright?
Simon: I think I've changed. I'm not going to empower that negativity anymore. TV Guide: Would you consider a small tour?
Simon: Yes, but I would never be on tour for a long time, because I love my home too much. This is a great pied-à-terre, but my home is in Martha's Vineyard. I'm so grounded there, it's like Tara to me. The kids [Ben and Sally, her children with her ex-husband James Taylor] each have their homes on the property. TV Guide: Your son Ben had a recurring role on American Dreams. [Both he and Sally are singers and songwriters.] Does he want to act?
Simon: Ben was so cute in it! [She beams] He's a singer, but I'm sure if the right acting part came forward, he wouldn't ignore it. TV Guide: You once told me that your ex-husband James Taylor was a terrific father.
Simon: He is a wonderful father. But I don't get to see him as a father. He's totally cut off from me, he doesn't want to be at all involved with me. There's a terrible chasm between us. TV Guide: Why?
Simon: You'd have to ask him. The last time I saw him was at our daughter Sally's wedding [in 2003]. TV Guide: Are you and your current husband Jim Hart [she's been married to the poet since 1987] together these days? You were separated in the past.
Simon: Jim and I haven't really broken up. [She flashes a lovely gold wedding band.] We have an interesting and not at all conventional marriage. We are still deeply involved. I feel that it's a continuum. The hot sex and the lust [at the beginning of a relationship] is so great but then, if you're lucky, [there] is a recognition of devotion. You know, there isn't a relationship I've had that I regret. TV Guide: You seem to be in a better place now than five years ago, when you made your last CD of new songs, The Bedroom Tapes.
Simon: I had a very bad experience [because her label didn't promote it]. I recorded it at my house in Martha's Vineyard at a very tender time in my life, and those songs were extremely personal. So I bought back the album and it will probably resurface. TV Guide: What made it a tender period of your life?
Simon: I was undergoing chemotherapy [for breast cancer] and I had a very bad depression around that time, too. TV Guide: Are you OK now?
Simon: Yes. TV Guide: Does writing music help you through the bad times?
Simon: It's the only thing that I can do to help myself. If you're a creator, that's how you express yourself and without it you become crazy. And sometimes I can't express myself. And I do become crazy. TV Guide: Are you currently writing songs?
Simon: I'm in a phase where I have books and books of lyrics. Some of it is very raw, personal and edgy. I still want to be Leonard Cohen. I can't think of a song that is as good as his "Hallelujah." TV Guide: You won an Oscar for "Let the River Run," which you wrote for 1988's Working Girl, and have written other film scores and songs through the years. Anything lately?
Simon: I [wrote songs for] all the recent Winnie the Pooh movies. I spent four years doing that. It was so great; there's no violence and such nice characters. TV Guide: Your good friend Jackie Kennedy Onassis wanted you to write your autobiography.
Simon: I wrote 80 pages and I realized I didn't want to write about people who didn't want me to talk about them. I couldn't write about James — and I could write a whole book about James. TV Guide: Which of your songs most says who you are?
Simon: "Like a River." I wrote it right after my mother died. It sums up my spiritual point of view — how I feel about death and how I feel about my mother, and daughters and mothers. "Boys in the Trees" is also an important song for me in an earlier period of my life. TV Guide: NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol gave $50,000 to charity to have you tell him who the guy is in "You're So Vain." Why reveal that now?
Simon: Because it no longer seemed that important to me to keep it completely to myself. And I told him if he ever tells anybody I'd say that I lied to him. TV Guide: We all know it's Warren Beatty — you even gave us the letters A, E and R.
Simon: It's so funny that people are still guessing. [Laughs] |
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