Film director John Waters is like an eccentric relative at a family reunion, John Tibbets said.

“He has outrageous behavior, but he gets away with it because everybody likes him,” said Tibbets, associate professor of film at Kansas University.

Waters will speak at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Tickets are $6 for KU students and $10 for the public.

He’ll also meet with film students Tuesday afternoon and sign books from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Oread Books in the union.

His trip to Lawrence is sponsored by Student Union Activities, Oread Books, Liberty Hall Video and the KU Department of Theatre and Film.

Waters’ directing and acting credits include “Hairspray,” “Polyester,” “Cecil B. Demented” and “Pecker.” Tibbets said Waters’ career, which began in the mid-1960s, gave independent filmmakers confidence to do things their own way.

“When he comes along with pictures like ‘Pink Flamingos,’ what he shows is there is no proper subject matter for the movies, as had been assumed for several decades,” Tibbets said. “He could make it independently and distribute it independently, include misfits, freaks, outrageous behavior, scatological behavior and be a success. Waters becomes the standard-bearer for independent cinema.”

Quinn Gorges, a Wichita senior who helped organize Waters’ visit for SUA, said his speech should have wide appeal.

“He’s a really unusual individual,” she said. “He built a career of being bizarre. He really understands popular culture.”

She said Waters’ speaking fee was $9,000. But SUA signed the contract with him before “Hairspray” opened as a Broadway musical this summer. She said his fee probably has increased since then.

For Oread Books, formerly Mount Oread Bookshop, Waters’ book-signing highlights a grand reopening week. The shop moved to a larger location across the hall on the second floor of the Kansas Union.

Lisa Eitner, general books supervisor, said sponsoring Waters would be a good way to celebrate the new location.

“It’s a fairly rare occasion that we can have a book-signing with someone of this reputation,” she said.