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Hairspray
Final theatrical release poster Directed by Produced by Written by Starring Music by Cinematography Editing by Distributed by Release date(s) Running time Country Language Budget Gross revenue Preceded by Official websiteAll Movie Guide profileIMDb profile

Adam Shankman

Craig Zadan Neil Meron

John Waters (original screenplay) Thomas Meehan Leslie Dixon Mark O'Donnell

Nikki Blonsky John Travolta Michelle Pfeiffer Christopher Walken Amanda Bynes James Marsden Queen Latifah Brittany Snow Zac Efron Elijah Kelley Allison Janney Taylor Parks Jerry Stiller Paul Dooley

Marc Shaiman Scott Wittman

Bojan Bazelli

Michael Tronick

New Line Cinema

July 20, 2007

117 min.

English

$75 million[1]

$200,517,357 [2]

Hairspray

Hairspray is a 2007 musical film produced by Zadan/Meron Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2007. The film is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, itself adapted from John Waters' 1988 comedy film. Set in 1962 Baltimore, the film follows a "pleasantly-plump" teen named Tracy Turnblad as she simultaneously pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV show and rallies against racial segregation.
Adapted from both Waters' 1988 script and Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's book for the stage musical by screenwriter Leslie Dixon, the 2007 version of Hairspray is directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman. Hairspray stars John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and introduces newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad. Hairspray features songs from the Broadway musical written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, as well as four new Shaiman/Wittman compositions not present in the Broadway version.
Opening to mostly positive reviews, Hairspray met with financial success, currently holding the record for biggest sales at opening weekend for a movie musical.[3] The film went on to become the third highest grossing musical film in U.S. cinema history, behind the film adaptations of Grease and Chicago.[4] Available in a variety of formats, Hairspray's Region 1 home video release took place on November 20, 2007.[5] The USA Network has purchased the broadcast rights to Hairspray, and will debut the film on cable television in February 2010.[6]

Contents [hide] 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Cameos 3 Production 3.1 Early development 3.2 (Screen to) stage to screen changes 3.3 Pre-production and casting 3.4 Principal photography 3.5 Shankman's inspirations 4 Music 4.1 Musical numbers 4.2 End credits songs 4.3 Song score production and changes 5 Release and reception 5.1 Box office reception 5.2 Critical reviews 5.3 Washington Blade boycott controversy 5.4 Home video and television 6 Awards 6.1 Wins 6.2 Nominations 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

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[edit] Plot

May 3, 1962 begins the same as every other school day for Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a "pleasantly plump" high school student from Baltimore, Maryland. She endures a day's worth of boring classes so that she and her best friend Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes) can race home to catch their favorite TV program, The Corny Collins Show. The program, a teen dance show, is broadcast from Baltimore's station WYZT on weekday afternoons.
Some of the teenagers featured on the show also attend Tracy and Penny's school, in particular snobby rich girl Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow) and her heartthrob boyfriend Link Larkin (Zac Efron), with whom Tracy is madly in love. Amber's mother Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer) manages station WYZT, and goes out of her way to make sure Amber is prominently featured and that Corny Collins remains a segregated program. Corny Collins (James Marsden) and all of his "Council Kids" are white; black kids are only allowed on Corny Collins on "Negro Day", held the last Tuesday of each month and hosted by local R&B radio DJ Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah).
Neither Tracy's plus-sized, reclusive laundress mother Edna (John Travolta) nor Penny's strict Catholic mother Prudy (Allison Janney) approve of their daughters basing their lives around a TV show, particularly one where teens dance to "race music". Tracy's father Wilbur (Christopher Walken), a joke-shop proprietor, is far more lenient. On one day's show, Corny Collins announces that one of his "Council Kids" is going on a leave of absence, and auditions for a replacement will be held the next morning - during school hours. However, Velma turns Tracy away at the audition for being overweight and supportive of integration. Tracy is sent to detention for skipping school, but finds that detention hall is where the black kids hang out and dance. Tracy befriends the detention hall's best dancer, Motormouth Maybelle's son Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), who teaches Tracy several R&B dance moves. These moves secure Tracy a spot on The Corny Collins Show.
Tracy quickly becomes one of Corny's most popular Council Kids and a threat to Velma's quest to have Amber win the show's yearly "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant. In addition, Tracy also becomes a threat to Amber's courtship with Link, as the boy becomes increasingly fond of Tracy and less so of Amber. Tracy's popularity earns her a sponsorship offer from clothes salesman Mr. Pinky (Jerry Stiller), who wants Tracy to be the spokesgirl for his "Hefty Hideaway" boutique for plus-sized women. Tracy convinces Edna to accompany her to the Hefty Hideaway and act as her negotiating agent, and in the process brings her mother's days as an agoraphobe to an end.
At school, Tracy eventually introduces Seaweed to Penny, and the two are instantly smitten with each other. One afternoon after Amber deliberately gets Tracy sent to detention, Link gets himself deliberately sent there in support of her. There Seaweed invites the girls and Link to follow him and his sister Little Inez (Taylor Parks) to a platter party at Motormouth Maybelle's record shop. At the party, Maybelle informs everyone that Velma has canceled Negro Day. Tracy suggests that Maybelle and the others stage a protest march, which they plan for the next afternoon, a day before the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant. Link, scheduled to sing at the pageant and worried about his budding career, backs out of the demonstration and accidentally offends Tracy in the process.
The next morning, Tracy sneaks out of the house to join the protest march, which comes to a halt at a police roadblock set up by Velma. The entire company of protesters is arrested, although Tracy manages to escape. She flees to the Pingletons' house, where Penny lets her hide out in a basement fallout shelter. However, Prudy discovers Tracy and calls the police, tying Penny to her bed upstairs with a jump rope. Seaweed and a few of the other detention kids (having been bailed out by Wilbur) arrive and help Tracy and Penny escape, and the kids concoct a plan to crash the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant. Meanwhile, Link visits Tracy's house in order to look for her, and realizes that he is as much in love with her as she is with him. Seaweed and Penny also acknowledge their love during the escape from her house.
With the pageant underway, Velma, leaving nothing to chance, places policemen around and inside station WYZT in order to prevent Tracy from entering. In addition, Velma switches the tallies from the pageant's phone lines so that Amber is guaranteed to win. Penny arrives at the pageant with an incognito Edna, while Wilbur, Seaweed, and the Detention Kids help Tracy sneak past the police and into the studio in time to participate in the Miss Teenage Hairspray dance-off. Link breaks away from Amber to dance with Tracy; then he pulls Inez, who has just arrived at WYZT with Maybelle, to the stage to dance for the pageant.
Against all expectations, Inez receives the most votes and wins the pageant, officially integrating The Corny Collins Show. A perturbed Velma loudly declares her frustration, informing her daughter of the tally-switching scheme. Unknown to Velma, Edna has turned a camera on her, and Velma's outburst is broadcast live on the air, getting her fired. Meanwhile, The Corny Collins Show set explodes into a celebration as Link and Tracy cement their love with a kiss.

[edit] Cast

• Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad
• John Travolta as Edna Turnblad
• Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle
• Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton
• Zac Efron as Link Larkin
• Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle
• Elijah Kelley as Seaweed J. Stubbs
• Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle
• Paul Dooley as Mr. Spritzer
• James Marsden as Corny Collins
• Allison Janney as Prudy Pingleton
• Taylor Parks as Little Inez Stubbs

[edit] Cameos

• Jerry Stiller as Mr. Pinky (Wilbur Turnblad in the original film)
• Ricki Lake as William Morris Talent Agent #1 (Tracy Turnblad in the original film)
• Adam Shankman as William Morris Talent Agent #2 (choreographer and director of the film)
• Marc Shaiman as William Morris Talent Agent #3 (co-lyricist and music writer of the film)
• Scott Wittman as William Morris Talent Agent #4 (co-lyricist and music writer of the film)
• John Waters as the "flasher who lives next door" (the writer and director of the original film, also made a cameo in the original film as Penny's insane psychiatrist Dr. Fredrikson)
• Mink Stole as smoking woman on the street whom Waters flashes (Tammy in the original film)
• Corey Reynolds (Audio only) as singer of "Trouble on the Line" (original Broadway cast's Seaweed)
• Harvey Fierstein (Audio only) as brief singing cameo in the end credits "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" (original Broadway cast's Edna)

[edit] Production

[edit] Early development

Following the success of the Broadway musical Hairspray, which won eight Tony Awards in 2003, New Line Cinema, who owned the rights to the 1988 John Waters film upon which the stage musical is based, became interested in adapting the stage show as a musical film. Development work began in late 2004, while a similar film-to-Broadway-to-film project, Mel Brooks' The Producers, was in production.[7]
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron's Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago, were hired as the producers for Hairspray,[8] and began discussing possibly casting John Travolta and Billy Crystal (or Jim Broadbent) as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, respectively.[7] Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell, authors of the book for the stage musical, wrote the first draft of the film's screenplay, but were replaced by Leslie Dixon, screenwriter for family comedies such as Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and Freaky Friday (2003).[7] After a year's deliberation on who should direct the film, Zadan and Meron finally decided to hire Adam Shankman to both direct and choreograph Hairspray.[9] Upon learning he had been hired, Shankman arranged a meeting with John Waters, who advised him "don't do what I did, don't do what the play did. You've gotta do your own thing."[10] Despite this, Shankman still noted "all roads of Hairspray lead back to John Waters."[10]

[edit] (Screen to) stage to screen changes

Dixon was primarily hired to tone down much of the campiness inherent in the stage musical.[11] The 2007 film's script is based primarily on the stage musical rather than the 1988 film, so several changes already made to the plot for the stage version remain in this version. These include dropping several characters from the 1988 version (such as Arvin Hodgepile, Franklin Von Tussle, Tammy Turner, the beatniks, etc.), removing the Tilted Acres amusement park from the story, and placing Velma in charge of the station where The Corny Collins Show is filmed.
One notable difference between the stage musical, the original movie, and the 2007 film version of Hairspray is that Tracy does not go to jail in the 2007 version. In both previous incarnations of Hairspray, Tracy is arrested and taken to jail along with the other protesters. Edna is presented in this version as an insecure introvert, in contrast to the relatively bolder incarnations present in the 1988 film and the stage musical.[11] Among many other elements changed or added to this version are the removal of Motormouth Maybelle's habit of constantly speaking in rhyming jive talk, and doubling the number of teens in Corny Collins' council (from ten on Broadway to twenty in the 2007 film).
Dixon restructured portions of Hairspray's book to allow several of the songs to blend more naturally into the plot, in particular "(You're) Timeless to Me" and "I Know Where I've Been". "Timeless" becomes the anchor of a newly invented subplot involving Velma's attempt to break up Tracy's parents' marriage and keep the girl off Corny Collins as a result. The song now serves as Wilbur's apology to Edna, in addition to its original purpose in the stage musical as a tongue-in-cheek declaration of Wilbur and Edna's love for each other.[11] Meanwhile, "I Know Where I've Been", instead of being sung by Maybelle alone after being let out of jail, now underscores Maybelle's march on WYZT (which takes place in the stage musical only briefly during "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful").[11]
The song "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful" was inspired by a line that Tracy Turnblad delivered in the original film, but in the stage version and this film, the song is performed by Motormouth Maybelle. A reprise of the song was added to the 2007 film, which is sung by Edna and Velma.

[edit] Pre-production and casting

Hairspray was produced on a budget of $75 million.[1] An open casting call was announced to cast unknowns in Atlanta, New York City, and Chicago. After auditioning over eleven hundred candidates, Nikki Blonsky, an 18-year-old high school senior from Great Neck, New York who had no previous professional acting experience, was chosen for the lead role of Tracy. Relative unknowns Elijah Kelley and Taylor Parks were chosen through similar audition contests to portray Seaweed and Little Inez, respectively. Travolta was finally cast as Edna, although Crystal's role was instead assumed by Christopher Walken. Several other stars, including Queen Latifah, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Allison Janney were chosen for the other supporting adult roles of Motormouth Maybelle, Corny Collins, Velma Von Tussle, and Prudy Pingleton, respectively. Teen stars Amanda Bynes, and Zac Efron were cast as Tracy's friends Penny and Link, and Brittany Snow was cast as her rival Amber. Jerry Stiller, who played Wilbur Turnblad in the original film version of Hairspray, appears as Mr. Pinky in this version.
Since Hairspray's plot focuses heavily on dance, choreography became a heavy focus for Shankman, who hired four assistant choreographers and put both his acting cast and over a hundred and fifty dancers through two months of rehearsals.[12][13] The cast recorded the vocal tracks for their songs in the weeks just before principal photography began in September.[12]

[edit] Principal photography

Principal photography on Hairspray took place in Toronto, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada from September 5 to December 8, 2006,[14] Hairspray is explicitly set in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and the original 1988 film had been shot on location there, but the 2007 film was shot primarily in Toronto because the city was better equipped with the sound stages necessary to film a musical.[15] Some second-unit footage was indeed shot in Baltimore.
The majority of the film was shot at Toronto's Showline Studios[16] Most of the street scenes were shot at the intersection of Dundas Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue. Some of the signs for the 1960s-era stores remain up along the street. Toronto's Lord Lansdowne Public School was used for all of the high school exteriors and some of the interiors, while the old Queen Victoria School in Hamilton was also used for interiors. Scenes at Queen Victoria were shot from November 22 to December 2, and the school was scheduled to be demolished after film production was completed.
Canadian made Electrohome and Fleetwood television sets, unlikely to have been found in Baltimore at the time, are prominently shown in the movie.
Thinner than most of the other men who have portrayed Edna, John Travolta appears onscreen in a large fat suit, and required four hours of makeup in order to appear before the cameras.[17] His character's nimble dancing style belies her girth; Shankman based Edna's dancing style on the hippo ballerinas in the Dance of the Hours sequence in Walt Disney's 1940 animated feature Fantasia.[10] Travolta fought for the ability to give his character curves, as opposed to a dumpier figure, and a thick Baltimore accent.[17]

[edit] Shankman's inspirations

Shankman included "a lot of winks" to films that influenced his work on Hairspray:[10]

• For example, the film's opening shot — a bird's eye view of Baltimore that eventually descends from the clouds to ground level — is a combination of the opening shots of West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965).[10]
• The dress Penny (Amanda Bynes) wore was made from her bedroom curtains, a descend from The Sound of Music also.
• Several scenes involving Tracy, such as her ride atop the garbage truck during the "Good Morning Baltimore" number and her new hairstyle during "Welcome to the '60s", are directly inspired by the Barbra Streisand musical film version of Funny Girl (1968).[10]
• During "Without Love", Link sings to a photograph of Tracy, which comes to life and sings harmony with him. This is directly inspired from the MGM musical The Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), in which a young Judy Garland swoons over a photo of actor Clark Gable as she sings "You Made Me Love You".[10]

[edit] Music

See also Hairspray (2007 soundtrack)

[edit] Musical numbers

1. "Good Morning Baltimore" — Tracy
2. "The Nicest Kids in Town" — Corny and Council Members
3. "It Takes Two" — Link (only coda is used in film)
4. "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" — Velma and Council Members
5. "I Can Hear the Bells" — Tracy
6. "Ladies' Choice" — Link
7. "The Nicest Kids in Town (Reprise)" — Corny and Council Members
8. "The New Girl in Town" — Amber, Tammy, Shelley, and The Dynamites
9. "Welcome to the '60s" — Tracy, Edna, The Dynamites, and Hefty Hideaway Customers
10. "Run and Tell That" — Seaweed, Little Inez, and Detention Kids
11. "Big, Blonde and Beautiful" — Motormouth Maybelle
12. "Big, Blonde and Beautiful (Reprise)" — Edna and Velma
13. "Big, Blonde and Beautiful (Velma-Only Reprise)" - Velma (alternate reprise and deleted scene on two-disc DVD)
14. "(You're) Timeless to Me" — Edna and Wilbur
15. "I Know Where I've Been" — Motormouth Maybelle with Nadine and Chorus
16. "I Can Wait" — Tracy (deleted scene on the two-disc DVD)
17. "Without Love" — Link, Tracy, Seaweed, and Penny
18. "(It's) Hairspray" — Corny and Council Members
19. "You Can't Stop the Beat" — Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed, Edna, Motormouth Maybelle, and Company

[edit] End credits songs

1. "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)" — Motormouth Maybelle, Link, Tracy, and Seaweed
2. "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" — Ricki Lake, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Nikki Blonsky
3. "Cooties" — Aimee Allen