Key keywords: John Waters, AI creative ethics, Los Angeles pros and cons, laughter as national unifier, American political division, independent cult cinema, Hollywood creative landscape, AI and film industry Cult film icon and countercultural legend John Waters sat down for a wide-ranging interview this week, sharing unfiltered takes on emerging technology, his long-time home of Los Angeles, and the unexpected power of irreverent humor to heal growing rifts across the United States. On the topic of artificial intelligence’s growing presence in creative fields, Waters pushed back on widespread fears that AI will replace writers and filmmakers, while also calling out its core limitations. “AI can mimic every style under the sun, but it can’t replicate the messy, flawed, deeply weird energy that comes from a real person’s lived experience of being an outcast, a misfit, or someone who just likes to push buttons for the fun of it,” he explained. He noted that he has experimented with AI tools to draft first passes of joke ideas and scene outlines for upcoming projects, but every output requires heavy reworking to inject the raw, deliberately provocative tone that defines his work. “AI is scared of offending anyone, and good comedy that sticks with people is always a little bit offensive. It can’t make something that will make a conservative grandma and a queer punk teen both snort-laugh at the same time—at least not yet,” he added. Turning to Los Angeles, where he has lived for more than 30 years, Waters laid out its clear pros and cons without pulling punches. On the plus side, he called LA “the only place in the world where a person who makes movies about drag queens eating dog shit can walk into a grocery store and get treated like a minor celebrity instead of a pariah.” He praised the city’s dense community of underground artists, its year-round good weather for low-budget location shoots, and its thriving circuit of independent repertory theaters that keep cult film culture alive. On the negative side, he criticized Hollywood’s growing obsession with franchise IP and algorithm-driven content decisions that prioritize box office returns over original, risky work. He also joked that “the traffic is so bad that you can spend two hours driving to a 90 minute film screening, and half the people you meet at parties only care about how many Instagram followers you have, not what you actually make.” Waters wrapped the interview by doubling down on his long-held belief that laughter is the only force that can bring the increasingly divided country back together. “Right now, people on the left and right are told to hate each other 24/7 by the media and politicians, but no political affiliation stops someone from laughing at a really stupid, relatable joke,” he said. “I’ve had fans come up to me for decades, some wearing MAGA hats, some wearing pride pins, all telling me my movies got them through hard times. When you’re both laughing at the same absurd bit about bad taste, all those stupid identity labels melt away for a minute. It’s way more powerful than any political speech.”