John Waters And The Film That Changed His Life

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 3, 2011 7:20PM

When asked to name the single film that he would say changed his life, director John Waters is unambiguous: it's The Wizard of Oz, which he summarizes deliciously: "Girl leaves drab farm, becomes a fag hag, meets gay lions and men that don't try to molest her, and meets a witch, kills her. And unfortunately - by a surreal act of shoe fetishism - clicks her shoes together and is back to where she belongs. It has an unhappy ending."

Waters describes the power the film held for him in Robert K. Elder's latest book, The Film That Changed My Life, a collection of interviews with 30 directors about the most important film to them. He says that one line in particular resonated for him, perhaps even inspiring his life: "Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?" The Pope of Trash claims that he sometimes says it to himself before he goes to sleep, "like a prayer."

While we're interested in the elaboration of some of the other filmmakers choices (Neil LaBute on The Soft Skin, Blues Brothers auteur John Landis on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad Fozzie/Miss Piggy voice Frank Oz on Touch of Evil for example), The Waters/Wizard combination is is the perfect choice for to kick off a screening series for the project at the Music Box Theater. Next saurday, June 11, Waters will introduce the screening of The Wizard of Oz and be on hand afterwards, along with Elder, for a Q & A.

Tickets for The Wizard of Oz with John Waters and Robert K. Elder are $22 in advance or $27 day-of. For more information, visit musicboxtheatre.com.