Sixteen years after the release of the original film, New Line Cinema is bringing a feature film adaptation of the Tony award-winning Broadway production Hairspray to life. Featuring new and original material based on John Waters’ 1988 cult classic about star-struck teenagers on a local Baltimore dance show, the comedy features a remarkable collection of talent including John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago), and director Adam Shankman (Bringing Down The House).
At last, John Travolta won’t have to invent excuses for himself to dance, the dancing will happen as a natural part of the script. Travolta will play Edna Turnblad, who I’m just going to assume isn’t a nearsighted superhero costume designer. Yes, we’ll get to see John Travolta soft-shoeing in drag. The really exciting part of this story is that the film’s screenplay is written by co-written Leslie Dixon, the guy who co-wrote Travolta’s Look Who’s Talking Now. This officially means Travolta’s career is once again dead, doesn’t it? Where’s Tarantino?
Other than the opportunity to see John Travolta cross-dress, I’m not sure how to explain all the interest in this project, but it’s there. People seem to be following it closely, but then people are also pretty interested in whether or not Brad Pitt enjoyed his new daughter's first burp. It’s a strange world.
What’s strange is that Hollywood still hasn’t caught on to the fact that the movie musical craze is over with. Maybe Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd will be worth watching, just for the weirdness of Johnny Depp singing and dancing, but since Chicago audience interest in the musical genre has gone right back into hibernation again. Unfortunately, Hollywood’s interest in doing them hasn’t followed suit. So, until they lose enough money to wake them up, here’s Hairspray. They’d better use extra hold Aquanet if they want it to stick.
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Loved the John Waters film with Divine and Rikki Lake and the B'way show actually improved upon it with great new songs that were memorable long after leaving the theater (when was the last time THAT happened?). But this adaptation looks like a big glitzy mess. Oprah devoted a full hour to the film (altho she co-produced THE COLOR PURPLE on Broadway she claimed to have never even heard of this show) and every clip they showed was cringe-worthy. What a shame that Harvey Fierstein wasn't able to recreate his Tony Award winning performance as Edna. But even forgetting this mis-step, John Travolta seems awful in every clip shown in the Edna role. He seemed proud of his suposedly-authentic Baltimore accent but it didn't sound like anyone else in the cast and was often incomprehensible. The songs have been restaged, re-cast (different people who sang them on stage now sing them in the film) and ruined. I LOVED the B'way musical, butthis film looks like its going to be terrible.
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July 11, 2007 at 16:41
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