There was a cultural war going on, the ’60s was going on. All the film critics were square.
Anytime you make someone laugh or satirize something, it’s the best way to change someone’s opinion because they’re defenseless – they laugh, they listen.
I don’t trust anyone that hasn’t been to jail at least once in their life.
I’m trying to do of a certain attitude in life. I’m against separatism. I’m for everyone to gather. I’m for everyone lunatic to hang out together. I want to hear somebody else’s bad night, not just mine.
Things are going great in every part of my life except movies. That’s okay. I’ve got a lot of other parts of my life. I’ve made 15 movies. You can see any one of my movies and it says the same thing.
I keep on having ideas and developments. Some happen and some don’t, but I still always have a way of telling a story.
People that pick up hitchhikers I believe are basically good people that believe in other people and understand problems and don’t judge people. That’s always the kind of person I’m looking for.
It delights me to find something that kids are doing that surprises me that seems new. That’s the best feeling you can have.
I get dumber as the day goes along. Every second of the day that goes along, I get stupider.
I think the extremes are something that’s really interesting to see coalesce in movies.
I was thinking about sort of the similarities between “art movies” and lowbrow movies like kitschy sexploitation films. I think they share certain qualities, whether they’re hyper-stylized or overly emotive or just very visual.
You should never read just for “enjoyment.” Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends’ insane behavior, or better yet, your own. Pick “hard books.” Ones you have to concentrate on while reading. And for god’s sake, don’t let me ever hear you say, “I can’t read fiction. I only have time for the truth.” Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of “literature”? That means fiction, too, stupid.
But feeling down can make you feel up if you’re the creative type. The emotional damage may have already been done to you, but stop whining. Use your insanity to get ahead.
I’m so lucky to be having a happy childhood as an adult.
First of all, accept that something is wrong with you. It’s a good start. Something has always been wrong with me, too. We’re in a club of sorts, the lunatic fringe who are proud to band together. There’s a joyous road to ruin out there, and if you let me be your garbage guru, I’ll teach you how to succeed in insanity and take control of your low self-esteem. Personality disorders are a terrible thing to waste.
Remember: you must participate in the creative world you want to become part of.
Hairspray is the only really devious movie I ever made. The musical based on it is now being performed in practically every high school in America – and nobody seems to notice it’s a show with two men singing a love song to each other that also encourages white teen girls to date black guys. Pink Flamingos was preaching to the converted. But Hairspray is a Trojan horse: it snuck into Middle America and never got caught. You can do the same thing.
With humans it’s abortion, but with chickens it’s an omelet!
It’s always up to other people to say if something is art. I hate it when people say, “I’m an artist.” I think, well, I’ll be the judge of that. And I don’t think “artist” is a job description. It’s a critique, a favorable critique, that someone else might apply to your work.
You should want to be rich at 40, at 20 you should want to kill the rich; it’s the right of youth.