Download Hairspray movie

teen | tony-award-source | remake | dance | mother-daughter-relationship | interracial-romance | based-on-musical | baltimore-maryland | 1960s |

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teen | tony-award-source | remake | dance | mother-daughter-relationship | interracial-romance | based-on-musical | baltimore-maryland | 1960s

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,[25] Nikki Blonsky, an eighteen-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.[26] Relative unknowns Elijah Kelley and Taylor Parks were chosen through similar audition contests to portray Seaweed and Little Inez, respectively. John Travolta was finally cast as Edna, with Christopher Walken ultimately assuming the role of Wilbur.[9] 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.[18]

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.[27][24] The cast recorded the vocal tracks for their songs as coached by Elaine Overholt in the weeks just before principal photography began in September.[27]

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