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They鈥檙e also three of the wildly disparate figures 鈥� both living and dead, which would make it rather difficult to arrange that dinner party 鈥� who populate the filmmaker鈥檚 new book.

Role Models is the latest literary foray by the Baltimore-bred bon vivant behind such cinematic notorieties as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Polyester. (In more recent years, his movies Hairspray and Cry-Baby have spawned Broadway musicals.)

It鈥檚 also the most personal and revealing, even if most of the pieces here are frank and often very funny portraits of other people he鈥檚 admired. In a phone interview from his office in Baltimore ahead of a pair of appearances in 海角社区官网this weekend, Waters describes Role Models as a memoir, albeit one 鈥渢old through other people鈥檚 stories.鈥�

Says the author, 鈥淚t鈥檚 more about my life and why I am who I am today at 64 years old.鈥�

Waters even divulges the brand of eyebrow pencil he uses to maintain his trademark moustache. As he laments with mock disappointment, Maybelline has yet to ask him to appear in an ad to endorse it.

The product of 3 1/2 years of writing and research, Role Models also includes colourful tributes to Little Richard, renegade pornographer David Hurles and Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo.

Though Waters鈥� lively wit is much in evidence here, not all of these stories are meant to be amusing. The chapter on Van Houten 鈥� who Waters befriended nearly 25 years ago when writing about her for Rolling Stone 鈥� questions why she has been continually denied parole despite her many signs of rehabilitation and her genuine expressions of remorse over her part in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca while under the influence of Charles Manson in 1969.

Waters鈥� efforts to generate some empathy for Van Houten spawned debate when the piece was first serialized on the site during the 40th anniversary of the Manson Family鈥檚 killing spree last year.

鈥淚 knew that a lot of stuff was going to come out and never is there anything favourable said about any of the people that were in the Manson Family,鈥� he says now. 鈥淚t was ultimately my love letter to the parole board, but I went beyond being a defence lawyer. I did look at transcripts for every parole hearing and I included the most devastating thing the families ever said against her release so I don鈥檛 think I whitewashed her involvement in the crime. And she does not whitewash her guilt or her responsibility in any way. There are many easy ways that she could excuse yourself. She could have said, 鈥楬e made me do it鈥� or 鈥業 was on drugs鈥� or 鈥楯esus forgives me.鈥� She says none of those things. It鈥檚 too easy 鈥� that makes you not take responsibility.鈥�

Though tinged with sadness over the horrific thing she did as a young woman, Waters鈥� admiration for his friend is utterly sincere, just like it is with all of his subjects here. He says it wasn鈥檛 hard to choose these heroes 鈥渂ecause all of them had lives that were certainly more extreme than anything I鈥檝e ever had to go through.鈥� Those experiences ranged from 鈥済reat, great mainstream success, which a lot of people can鈥檛 handle, to terrible things, like Leslie Van Houten鈥檚 crime.

鈥淚 certainly don鈥檛 expect others to have these role models,鈥� he adds, 鈥渂ut I think you can read the book and understand why they were to me.鈥�

At the same time, he points out that he himself is very different from the people who may have inspired him. 鈥淚鈥檓 not Pecker,鈥� he says, referring to the titular hero of his 1998 comedy about an amateur Baltimore photographer who becomes an art-world sensation.

鈥淚鈥檓 not an outsider artist 鈥� I wanted New York to notice me. I鈥檝e been ambitious 鈥� I had a career by the time I was 12 years old! I鈥檓 not any of the things I write about. Maybe that鈥檚 why they interest me so much. I don鈥檛 want to hear somebody who tells the same story that I do 鈥� I want to make friends who have jobs I know nothing about or do things that are completely alien to my world.鈥�

Many of the people he writes about here certainly qualify. And Waters will have another opportunity to sing their praises when he appears Oct. 22 at the International Festival of Authors, where he鈥檒l read from the book and talk about his work with Richard Crouse.

Fans eager to hear about a hero he didn鈥檛 include can also join him at the Bell TIFF Lightbox on Oct. 23 when he presents a screening of 厂补濒貌 or the 120 Days of Sodom. Widely banned for its profane and decidedly scatological content when it was released in 1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini鈥檚 screen adaptation of the book by the Marquis de Sade attained a level of infamy that exceeds even those of Waters鈥� cult classics.

Naturally, both the film and its creator are big favourites of Waters.

鈥淧asolini was certainly a role model and I鈥檝e written about him in a lot of my books,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 really want my gravestone to look like his. I cut out a picture of it and put it in my will envelope. It鈥檚 very classy-looking. And it doesn鈥檛 have any jokes. It鈥檚 really a bad time to make jokes on your gravestone because humour changes over time.鈥� He laughs. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing worse than an old joke on your tombstone!鈥�

As to whether 厂补濒貌 still has the power to shock 35 years after it was first released, Waters believes it owes its enduring potency to other qualities.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just shock,鈥� he says. 鈥淪hock is easy. 厂补濒貌 startles. It can have subject matter that would certainly appear to be very, very extreme, but can something that鈥檚 just shocking ever be funny, which I think 厂补濒貌 at some points? And can it ever be beautiful, which I think 厂补濒貌 is too?

鈥淐ertainly it鈥檚 a moving film that makes a political point about fascism,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚n the old days when you used to go to court for obscenity, they always asked, 鈥業s it socially redeeming?鈥� Well, yes, it is. I鈥檓 embarrassed to admit that because I never liked to be cinematically correct!鈥�