Why John Waters Stopped Making Movies

“There is no such thing as a $5 million independent movie. They want me to go make it like I used to, but I have no desire to do that. I did that. I have 17 movies, they’re all playing everywhere in the world, more than ever. I’ve spoken. I can’t afford to make a movie the way they want me to do it. I make way more writing these books. The main thing is, when DVDs overnight died, that ended the safety net. That was profit. All foreign deals fell through. Nobody wants any movie that can’t play in China. Nobody wants any movie that has to have any subtitles. They just want explosions. They want $100 million movies that are tentpole movies. The worst thing they want … is a comedy based on wit. And if I was doing something, that’s what I’d try to do.” — John Waters’ new book sounds pretty good, for what it’s worth.