| Hairspray | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
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Directed by: |
Adam Shankman |
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Produced by: |
Adam Shankman |
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Screenplay by: |
Thomas Meehan |
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Starring: |
Nikki Blonsky |
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Music by: |
Marc Shaiman |
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Cinematography: |
Bojan Bazelli |
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Editing by: |
Michael Tronick |
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Studio: |
Ingenious Media |
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Distributed by: |
New Line Cinema |
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Release date: |
July 20, 2007 |
Hairspray, is a 2007 musical film, based on the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1988 film with the same name. It's set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland. The film follows Tracy Turnblad, an optimistic girl who wants to be on The Corny Collins Show, and rallies against the racial segregation.
Plot[]
May 3, 1962: Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a pretty, cheerful and plus-sized high school student who resides in Baltimore, Maryland steps out of her bedroom in her apartment and has to endure a full day’s worth of school so that she and her best friend, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes), can watch their favorite TV show, The Corny Collins Show, a teen dance show telecast from station WYZT.
The teenagers featured on the show attend Patterson Park High School with Tracy and Penny, among them are the arrogant, spoiled and wealthy Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow) and her boyfriend, Link Larkin (Zac Efron), the lead male dancer on the show who has already been performing for three years. Amber’s mother, Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer) manages WYZT and goes out of her way to make sure Amber is featured as much as possible on the show, even if it takes going so far as threatening to presumably fire a cameraman and put him in an "ill-fitting tux while snapping bar mitzvah photos", as she claims Baltimore is a small market without that many TV stations.
The Corny Collins Show is sponsored by Ultra Clutch Hairspray. Harriman Spritzer is the owner and president of Ultra Clutch Hairspray and has a lot of influence on the show. He and Velma must ensure that the show will remain racially segregated, despite protests from host Corny Collins (James Marsden) who wants to integrate both black and white dancers to perform on the show.
Under said influence, The Corny Collins Show maintains an all-white performing cast with the exception of a "Rhythm and Blues Day", or frequently referred to as "Negro Day". Rhythm and Blues Day is once a month held on the last Thursday. These special episodes have an all-black performing cast, including Seaweed J. Stubbs (Elijah Kelley) and is hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah) who owns a local record shop in Baltimore doing business as Motormouth Records.
Tracy's reclusive mother, Edna Turnblad (John Travolta) and Penny's strict, Catholic mother, Prudy Pingleton (Allison Janney) disapprove of their daughters' fascination with the program, despite the fact that Prudy watches the show herself. Tracy's father, Wilbur Turnblad (Christopher Walken), is the proprietor of the nearby local Hardy Har Hut joke shop, and is more lenient as a result, letting Tracy dance on the show and try to make a difference on the grounds that in America, she needs to think big to be big.
One day, Corny Collins announces that Council dancer Brenda is going on a nine-month leave of absence, hinting that she is pregnant and that she is going on a maternity leave, and that auditions for a replacement who is just as fun-loving, but maybe not quite as free-wheeling, will be held the next morning during school hours, with Link encouraging them to cut school tomorrow and come down to WYZT to audition for the show if they wanna be one of the "Nicest Kids in Town", which Edna doesn't let her do on the grounds that her diet pill is wearing off, but more importantly, she thinks dancing on the show is not Tracy's future dream, but it is taking over her mother's coin-operated laundromat business, with a tip that she could "take right to the bank" that if she really wants to be a famous young lady, she has to learn how to take blood out of car seating and upholstery. When Tracy attends, after Wilbur lets her go to the audition for the show amid a tearful Tracy, Velma unfairly rejects her for being "overweight" as well as supportive of racial integration.
After the auditions, geology teacher Ms. Whimsey sends Tracy to detention for cutting school to go do her dance on WYZT, where she meets Seaweed and the other “Negro Day” dancers. While she and Seaweed dance, Link sees her through the detention door's window and encourages her to dance like that at a record hop in the gym that Corny Collins will be hosting, ensuring her that if she does then Corny Collins will put her on the show for sure. Tracy immediately falls in love with Link, breaking out into a romantic musical number.
At the record hop, Tracy’s amazing dance moves attract the attention of Corny Collins, who appoints her to the Council and makes her the newest Nicest Kid in Town. Tracy instantly becomes one of Corny's most popular Council Members on the show, which threatens Amber's chances of winning the show's yearly "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant as well as her relationship with Link, who ends up growing fonder and fonder of Tracy. Later that day, Corny Collins finally preaches on the idea of racial integration on the show to an angered couple of Velma and Harriman, with the former Von Tussle matriarch suggesting that she fire Corny Collins and that the show replaces him with a new, better host, claiming that they regularly replace dog performers on Lassie. Harriman blames Velma for letting Tracy dance on the show, which, to reiterate, was really Corny's responsibility, which angers Velma even more. One day, three white female dancers from the show perform a song called "The New Girl in Town"; being replaced by three black female dancers performing the same song the next, which just happened to be Rhythm & Blues Thursday sponsored by Napaway Stubborn Hair Kink Remover and hosted by Motormouth Maybelle, who is told by a mad Velma to watch herself before she has her fired and that Negro Day is eliminated from the show (and the station) for good, claiming WYZT's key demos are cleaning ladies and lawn jockeys.
That night, over the phone, Mr. Pinky suggests that Tracy be the plus-size spokesgirl for his Hefty Hideaway boutique for ample women. Tracy convinces Edna to accompany her to the Hefty Hideaway as her agent, and in the process, helps cure her mother's agoraphobia, meaning that the last time Edna left the apartment was eleven years ago, in 1951. However, Edna wants to reconsider Tracy's opportunity after being embarrassed as usual by Velma and her daughter Amber in a local diner they are all eating at, but Tracy won't let her rethink a thing because she believes Velma only her and Edna claiming that the only reason for that is she does not want Amber to be defeated at the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant, which is in only a few days.
HAIRSPRAY Official Trailer
At school, Tracy introduces Seaweed to Penny, and the two are instantly smitten. One afternoon, Amber arranges for Tracy to be sent to detention by drawing an inappropriate, disruptive portrait of special ed instructor Mr. Flak with "breasts". But her plan somewhat fails when a lovestruck Link follows her to the detention room by saying "kiss my ass" to Mr. Flak, who asks him to share Patrick Henry's immortal last words to the class. Seaweed invites all the girls and Link to follow him and his attractive, talented younger sister, Little Inez to a Sock Hop/platter party at the record shop. Meanwhile, as Amber is distraught by Link going with Tracy and everyone else, she just stays in her bedroom crying. When a disgruntled Edna finds Tracy at the shop and tries to take her home, Maybelle convinces her to stay and tells her to take pride in herself. Then, Maybelle sadly informs everyone at the shop that Velma has indeed terminated Negro Day from the Corny Collins show as well as from WYZT itself. Tracy suggests that Maybelle and the others, if not immediately integrated to dance on the show racially together, stage a Demonstration (people) protest march, which they plan for the next afternoon, a day before the "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant. Realizing that he now has a chance at stardom by singing at that pageant, Link decides to miss the demonstration protest, which disappoints Tracy to the brink of tears. After the party, Edna goes to the Hardy Har Hut, Wilbur's self-owned joke shop, so that she can flirt with him. However, Velma gets there first and, while unsuccessfully, tries to seduce Wilbur. Edna arrives and accuses Wilbur of infidelity. Edna, out of hatred for Velma and crushed by seeing Wilbur with her in the shop, forbids Tracy from ever being on the show anymore for what is most likely the 401st time, or so Tracy believes. Wilbur and Edna soon reconcile as Tracy talks to him about what happened.
The next morning, Tracy sneaks out of the apartment to join the big protest march, frightening Edna, who goes to tell Wilbur about it. The protest, which has a catchy chant of "Two, four, six, eight, TV's gonna integrate!", comes to a halt at a police roadblock set up by Velma. The protesters are arrested, but Tracy, who hits one of the officers on the head with a sign she is holding, runs to the Pingletons' house, where Penny hides her in a well-insulated fallout shelter with food (including Prudy's canned tuna), water, a gas mask, a first aid kit and Russian language textbooks. Prudy catches Tracy in the act and calls the cops before tying Penny to her bed, grounding her in her room forever with an everyday diet of saltine crackers and Tang orange drink mix and making her listen to a religious LP every day, and finally calling Penny a "devil child". Seaweed and his friends, having been bailed out by Wilbur, help Tracy and Penny escape. Meanwhile, Link visits Tracy’s house to look for her after hearing on the radio on what had happened and realizes that he loves her, Edna makes Link some pork to eat to calm him down. Seaweed and Penny also acknowledge their love during the escape from her house.
With the pageant underway, Velma places police officers around WYZT to stop Tracy. She also changes the pageant tallies so Amber is guaranteed to win. Penny arrives at the pageant with Edna "incognito", while Wilbur, Seaweed, and the Negro Day kids help Tracy infiltrate the studio in time to participate in the Miss Teenage Hairspray dance contest. Link breaks away from Amber to dance with Tracy; later, he pulls Little Inez, who has just arrived at WYZT with Maybelle, to the stage to dance in the pageant.
Little Inez receives the most votes and wins the pageant, officially integrating The Corny Collins Show. Velma loudly declares her frustration, informing her daughter of the tally-switching scheme. Unknown to Velma, Edna and Wilbur have turned a camera on her, and Velma's outburst is broadcast on the air, causing her to be fired from the program. Meanwhile, The Corny Collins Show set explodes into a celebration as Tracy and Link cement their love with a kiss.
Cast and Characters[]
| ROLE | PERFORMER | ROLE | PERFORMER | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracy Edna Turnblad | Nikki Blonsky | Prudy Pingleton | Allison Janney | |
| Edna Turnblad | John Travolta | Harriman F. Spritzer | Paul Dooley | |
| Velma Von Tussle | Michelle Pfeiffer | Miss Wimsey | Jayne Eastwood | |
| Seaweed J. Stubbs | Elijah Kelley | Mr. Pinky | Jerry Stiller | |
| Penny Pingleton | Amanda Bynes | Mr. Flak | George King | |
| Motormouth Maybelle | Queen Latifah | Brad | Curtis Holbrook | |
| Link Larkin | Zac Efron | Tammy | Hayley Podschun | |
| Wilbur Turnblad | Christopher Walken | Fender | Phillip Spaeth | |
| Little Inez Stubbs | Taylor Parks | Brenda | Cassie Silva | |
| Corny Collins | James Marsden | Sketch | Nick Baga | |
| Amber Von Tussle | Brittany Snow | Shelley | Sarah Jayne Jensen | |
| The Dynamites | Arike Rice | IQ | Jesse Weafer | |
| Rhonda | Ariel Reid | Lou Ann | Kelly Fletcher | |
| Hoo Hoo | Whitney Brown | Joey | J.P. Ferreri | |
| Tyrone | Jason Dolphin | Mikey | Spencer Liff | |
| Duane | Anthony Carr | Vicky | Laura Edwards | |
| Jermaine | Chris Andrew Robinson | Becky | Tabitha Lupien | |
| Janetta | Sarah Francis | Bix | Corey Gorewicz | |
| Pearl | Starr Domingue | Jesse | Joshua Feldman | |
| Little Mo | Shawn Byfield | Darla | Becca Sweitzer | |
| Skillet | Shane Simpson | Paulie | Everett Smith | |
| Stooie | Jade Anderson | Noreen | Tiffany Engen | |
| Cameraman | Darren Frost | Doreen | Brooke Engen | |
| Flasher | John Waters | Police Chief | Bruce McFee | |
| News Anchorman | John Anderson | Officer Nick | Nick Loren | |
| Good Morning Baltimore Hostess | Geri Hall | Officer at Protest | Neil Crone | |
| Good Morning Baltimore Host | Don Pardo | Male Cop on TV | Brendan Wall | |
| Teen | Kyle Golemba | Police Sergeant at Protest | Ted Ludzik | |
| Science Teacher | James Kirchner | Stage Manager | Seth Howard | |
| Nurse | Anne Fletcher | Janitor | C.J. | |
| Driving Instructor | Joey Pizzi | Drunk | Jerry Mendicino | |
| Smoking Teacher | Zachary Woodlee | Mr. Pinky's Cashier | Sharron Matthews | |
| Gawky Kid | Jeffrey James | Mr. Pinky's Seamstress | Mary McCandless | |
| Auditionees | Alison Smyth
Christine Moore Emily Andrews Julianne Jackson Laura Lawson Melissa Leifer |
Mr. Pinky's Customers | Tiffany Green
Rachael Dolan Kristina Uranowski Charlotte Szivak Deborah Overes | |
| Hairdressers | Janelle Hutchison
Jenny Parsons Susan Henley |
Talent Agents | Ricki Lake
Adam Shankman Marc Shaiman Scott Wittman | |
| Maybelle's Store Dancers | Rhonda Roberts
Jennifer Abbey Sherisse Springer Vanessa Cobham Eboni Nichols Holly Hyman Jamal Sims Damon Butler Stephen Boss Marc Spaulding |
Record Hop Dancers | Reggie Jackson
Tramaine Montell Ford Khetanya Henderson Loriel Hennington Daniel Dyer Kristen Munro Ingrid Gaynor Stacey Martin | |
| Welcome to the 60's Dancers | Sal Scozzari
Charles Seminerio Carla Guiliani Chantelle Leonardo Melissa Williams Krystal Kiran Faye Rauw Niky Johnson Krista Leis Sammy Rosen Stephen Findlay Mike Cota Dennis Lupien Shaun Amyot Blaine Totten Glen Kerr Paul Gordon Darcy Evans Larry Mannell Wally Michaels Matthew Caruso |
Welcome to the 60's Dancers | Jessica Dawson
Sheri Godfrey Jessica Dawn Keeling Romina D'Ugo Julia Juhas Cindy Willems Shannon Whelan Diana Coatsworth Keri Tkacz Serge Kushnier Austin Di Iulio Chad McFadden Ted Banfalvi Gerard McIsaac Josh Epstein Derek Gilroy A. Frank Ruffo Marc Kimelman Lyne Tremblay Mary Pitt Janice Luey |
Soundtrack[]
The soundtrack for the film was released in 2007. It contains all of the songs from the film, plus "I Can Wait," a song that was cut from the film. See Hairspray (2007) Soundtrack.
Home Media[]
Hairspray Soundtrack Cover
Hairspray was released in standard DVD and HD Blu-ray Disc formats in Region 1 on November 20, 2007. The Blu-ray disc is encoded with 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio. The standard DVD was released in two versions: a one-disc release and a two-disc "Shake and Shimmy" edition.
Bonus features on the two-disc release include two audio commentary|audio commentaries, a feature-length production documentary, featurettes on the earlier versions of Hairspray, dance instruction featurettes, deleted scenes including Tracy's deleted song "I Can Wait", a slightly extended ending, and an alternate version of the "Big, Blonde and Beautiful" reprise, and behind-the-scenes looks at the production of each of the film's dance numbers. The Blu-ray release, a two-disc release, includes all of the features from the two-disc DVD, and includes a picture-in-picture behind-the-scenes feature, which runs concurrently with the film. An HD DVD version of the film was originally slated for release in 2008, but has since been canceled due to New Line Cinema's announcement that it would go Blu-ray exclusive with immediate effect, thus dropping HD DVD support.
Televised airings[]
In February 2010 USA Network acquired the cable rights to the film, but due to unknown problems it didn't air til July of that year. Sister networks Oxygen and Bravo have also aired the film. In February 2011 ABC Family acquired cable rights to air the film. From 2010-2011 USA showed the film in its entirety, then when it aired in 2012 it was heavily edited to fit into a two-hour time-slot. Oxygen and Bravo have aired this version as well. ABC Family broadcasts the film in its entirety, albeit the closing credits being marginalized. Sister network ABC has also aired the film as of February 2011. The film is rated TV-PG without sub-ratings on USA, Oxygen and Bravo, and on ABC Family and ABC it is rated TV-PG-DL for Suggestive Dialogue, and Mild Language.