WATCH
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I AM DEVINE
A
s Jeffrey
Schwartz's
excellent new
documentary I
AM DIVINE is
released in the
UK, Roger
Walker-Dack caught up with
legendary filmmaker JOHN
WATERS for a few personal
words about his muse and
great friend Divine.
John told us, ‘When it comes to I
Am Divine I have let Jeffrey be the
one to speak, as it’s his film in this
instance he’s the one who deserves
the attention. I’m STILL shocked
that Divine is dead! Divine had a
great life in the UK, and he’d be
thrilled that the film is being so
well received.’
Glen Milstead aka Divine was
unquestionably John Water's
finest actor and muse. Not simply
because of his talent that was as
outsize as his physique, but
because like Waters he was both
totally fearless and dared to push
the boundaries of bad taste as far
as he possibly could. And he did it
all in such outrageous style and
unfettered enthusiasm that made
him such an iconic cult figure.
Review by Roger Walker-Dack | Divine by Greg Gorman - Peccapics
In filmmaker Jeffrey Schwartz's
new very upbeat documentary into
this unique entertainer and
character we learn that Divine had
always dreamt on being a movie
star since he was a kid who had
been picked on and bullied at
school as being both effeminate
and fat. He did deservedly become
a star, and was just about to parlay
his major underground success
into the mainstream with a (nondrag) part in a national syndicated
TV sitcom when he dropped down
dead in Hollywood after a massive
heart attack the very day before
filming was due to start. He was
just 42 years old. Manager,
Bernard Jay poignantly claimed
that as Divine was at the peak of
his career, he had at least died
happy.
30
Divine and John Waters both grew
up in Baltimore and met when they
were teenagers. They made
anarchic campy home movies
together at the beginning with
exaggerated characters in
outrageous situations with
hyperbolic dialogues. They were
never meant to be shown outside
of their wee band of local actors
that included Mink Stole, Edith
Massey, and David Lochary (the
latter becoming a big love of
Divine's life before his own
untimely death). But word got out
and soon people were clamouring
to see the films that got bigger and
even bolder.
Water's ‘Trashy Trilogy': Pink
Flamingos, Female Trouble, and
Desperate Living cemented
Divine's reputation as a movie
diva, in particular Flamingos
which earned him the title of 'the
filthiest person alive' after the
notorious scene where he actually
ate dog faeces. And after these
successes he also started to diverse
his career taking starring roles in
Off Broadway shows, and
becoming a very successful disco
recording star. He added a whole
new meaning to the word 'fierce'!
Many of the int erviewees that
Schwartz included gave Divine
great credit for expanding the
concept of the drag queen from
brash female impersonator into
something much larger, more
subversive and less gender
specific. Yet without a single
exception none of the TV chat
show hosts that interviewed him
could deal with the fact that Divine
was sitting opposite them in men's
clothing calmly stating that 'she'
was a character that he played and
not the person he actually was off
the screen.
Matinee idol Tab Hunter
recounted the joy he had at
working with Divine on two very
successful movies Polyester and
Lust in The Dust. These were
followed by Hairspray, which
turned out to be Divine's biggest
hit and very last movie.
Schwartz beautifully captures both
the joyous nature of Divine's
flamboyant life and also the great
sense of sheer enjoyment he had.
He includes the completely
tasteless clip from Eat Your
Makeup, in which Divine played
Jacqueline Kennedy in a
grotesquely amusing re-creation of
the Kennedy assassination just two
years after the event. But he also
shows the scene from Multiple
Maniacs where Divine's character
is raped by a giant lobster! A
perfect epitaph.
Someone said towards the end of
the movie... 'after him, no-one can
ever now be called Divine... he
OWNS that title'. Too true.
An unmissable flawless movie.