John Waters revisits cult classic ‘Cry Baby,’ talks Johnny Depp, Aubrey Plaza, & keeping up with the youth
Liarmouth remains in limbo, his back catalog continues to receive extras-packed restorations and re-releases. This month sees a souped-up, brand new 4K UHD and Blu-ray version of 1990’s Cry-Baby featuring both theatrical and director’s cuts of the homage to 1950s rock-n-roll musicals starring Johnny Depp as the tear-shedding title character who leads a group of teenage delinquents while attracting a “square” played by Amy Locane.
Padding out the crisp, new 4K transfers are tea-spilling commentaries with Waters, featurettes and interviews with the stars (including Iggy Pop, Patricia Hearst, and Ricki Lake), and deleted scenes, while Cry-Baby stans can find merchandise related to the film at the Academy Museum Store, where a comprehensive Waters retrospective exhibition, Pope Of Trash, is running until August 4th.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.Despite a recent car accident—which Waters says his lawyer has instructed him not to discuss in interviews—the subversive and always cuttingly funny icon joined Queerty for a catch-up to discuss revisiting Cry-Baby for the re-release, other films he’d love to see restored next, who he dreads being reincarnated as, and the specter of another Trump term.QUEERTY: What’s the biggest difference between the theatrical and director’s cut of Cry-Baby?
I was only sent the former to watch in preparation.WATERS: I couldn’t remember, because we did so many versions. One of them has the chicken song at the end during the battle of the bands, and that might be in the extras.
We had a lot of test screenings and reshoots. One doesn’t have the race and song. That scene got cut, but you can see all the scenes, just in different order. How did restoring Cry-Baby for this release rate on the gratifying scale of all the home entertainment re-releases of your films so far?High!
