Biografía

All his movies are set in Baltimore

Frequently casts Patricia Hearst

Casts Mink Stole and Mary Vivian Pearce in nearly all of his films

Transgressive films that combine outrageous subject matter with a sense of bad taste

Many of his characters have alliterated names (Dawn Davenport, Francine Fishpaw, Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton, Sylvia Stickles).

Has taught classes at the Patuxent Institution, a correctional facility located halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The classes are meant as rehabilitation therapy for convicted killers, in which they learn to write about their violent fantasies rather than act them out.

Grew his thin pencil-line mustache in honor of Little Richard.

Bears such a strong resemblance to actor Steve Buscemi that as a joke, John Waters sent out cards with a photo of Buscemi made up to look like Waters.

Subscribes to more than 80 magazines. Also goes to see just about every movie that comes out and hardly ever rents movies.

He is obsessed with true-crime and used to regularly attend gory trials all over the United States, where he often saw the same faces in the public galleries.

"My hobby is extreme Catholic behavior -- BEFORE the Reformation." (2000)

"If you can make someone laugh who's dead set against you, that's the first step to winning them over to your side." (2000)

Some call me director, producer, filmmaker. I prefer to call myself pube-king.

Strive for art in reverse.

To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation. But one must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste.