John Waters is opening up about his fandoms.
The Hairspray director, 79, shared his pop culture favorites with Us Weekly exclusively, revealing that David Lynch has a permanent spot on his playlist. The two filmmakers, who are known for their critically acclaimed work, were friends for decades before Lynch died in January at age 78.
“I’m always listening to David Lynch’s music, which I love. Since he died I’ve been playing all of it,” Waters shared at the Costume Designers Guild Awards in Los Angeles in February. “I like his last album, Cellophane Memories, with Chrystabell. His music is so radical.”
A pioneer of surrealist cinema, Lynch died after going into cardiac arrest on January 16 shortly after he evacuated from his Los Angeles home due to the Southern California wildfires. The director was a talented musician, releasing two studio albums, five collaborative LPs and six soundtracks during his career. Waters told Us that Lynch’s music was “equally as good as his movies.”
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“Not just the soundtrack music — I like all his music,” the Pink Flamingos filmmaker gushed. “[I love] his electronic stuff, when he does [own] singing.”
Waters previously compared Lynch to Lana Del Rey, telling Rolling Stone in 2014 that the two musicians have a similar sound. He explained at the time that he would love for Lynch and Del Rey to work together on an album.
“She’s very David Lynch to me,” he shared. “She infuriates people, but I think she’s in on it. I really want her to hook up with David Lynch because he produces great albums these days.”
Lynch’s music isn’t the only entertainment Waters is obsessed with at the moment. The filmmaker also listed Kristen Stewart’s 2024 drama Love Lies Bleeding as one of his favorite films. The romantic thriller follows Stewart’s Lou, who falls for an ambitious bodybuilder named Jackie (Katy O’Brian).
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“Love Lies Bleeding is my favorite lesbian steroid movie,” Waters said about the film. “I have never seen a movie about lesbian steroid rage done so intellectually, entertainingly.”
As far as Waters’ other favorites? The filmmaker can’t get enough of Sirius XM’s radio show Outlaw Country, but he isn’t big on television.
“TV shows are hard because I don’t know how to turn on my TV. It’s so hard I have to have three assistants [help] and I start crying,” Waters joked. “So, I read at night.”
