Adam Shankman Want to Direct Jersey Boys Movie

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 12:09pm

He's displayed interest in it on Twitter. I personally can't stand him. He did a terrible job with Hairspray. He didn't understand the story and the power of Hairspray and just put a giant mess on the screen. That movie was such a disappointment. He just wanted stars and didn't cast people good for the roles. I hope he doesn't ruin another great Broadway show.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 12:15pm

He also can't spell the name. https://twitter.com/#!/adammshankman/status/207245229559005184

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 4:57pm

I think Shankman knew exactly what he was doing with HAIRSPRAY: turning a popular stage musical into a film with mass commercial appeal. And he found a way to do so while telling the story with a lot more heart and feeling.

Compare his film to THE PRODUCERS, a much more faithful adaptation of a broad stage comedy that ("Springtime for Hitler" excepted) just seemed embarrassingly over-the-top on film.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:01pm

While I have some issue with Travolta's take on the role, I don't think Hairspray was riddled with stars who didn't fit their roles. I'm mixed on Shankman as a director (and I wish I had never seen that movie he did with Adam Sandler, but I feel that way about most movies with Sandler), but he doesn't seem an awful choice.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:04pm

Loved Hairspray. Thought it was one of the best adaptations of a musical I've ever seen.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:05pm

The only real problem with the Hairspray movie is that it stops making sense around the time they get to the dance contest at the end.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:07pm

I, too, really liked the Hairspray movie. I thought it captured the essence of the stage show and made it work in a new medium. The cuts worked. The changes worked. Hairspray on stage is very reliant on... being on the stage. The movie changed that, because it had to.

Not really sure what you mean by saying the "meaning" and "power" were lost... it's Hairspray. It's about acceptance of everyone... and dancing. And that's what was in the movie. Not exactly high art there, just a lot of fun.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:07pm

Phyllis, to be fair... all verisons of Hairspray do that.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:11pm

I agree, tazbar. I saw it five times in the movie theater alone (which is really rare for me nowadays) and countless times on DVD.

Eric, I agree that John Travolta is the least interesting thing about the film. And I do understand why people who love the stage show miss the sort of camp Edna that Divine and Harvey Fierstein created. And, frankly, I wasn't much more impressed with Michelle Pfeiffer, but then "Miss Baltimore Crabs" is a one-joke song. (Reportedly, they tried to find a replacement number but couldn't come up with one that Pfeiffer would approve.)

That said, I think the rest of the cast was terrific. And I got used to Travolta after seeing the film a few times. Once I did, I began to appreciate what he did do rather than resenting what he didn't.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:18pm

The ending does go off the rails a bit, but by that time the movie had me in the palm of its hand and I just went with it.

*******SPOILER?********

I also like that Inez wins the contest. That just seemed to work so well.

******END SPOILER******

Can't wait to see Rock of Ages. Not too crazy about the stage show, but the movie looks like all kinds of fun!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:18pm

I'm sorry, but John Travolta looked constipated through the entire film.

Or like he was trying to push one out.

[jpbran]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:25pm

Thought I thought he gave Edna a lot of heart, Travolta looked like a steroidal Cabbage Patch Kid doll...

[bdn223]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:37pm

John Travolta literally killed the movie, all the other modifications i could understand, because split screen would not have worked for Mamma I'm a Big Girl now, and its not that essential to the plot...
The who "joke" of Edna is that she is a man, not a man playing a woman, hence your "Your Timeless to Me" being a comic gold mine, especially since Edna is a bass, and Wilbur a tenor...Since I think in interviews the only way a studio would back it was if Travolta got on board, i do not honestly blame Shankman, I think it was just a case of stars thinking that they are the end all be all. I

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:41pm

Phyllis, to be fair... all verisons of Hairspray do that.

Ain't it the truth! Living out here in the sticks, I saw the film first. And, yes, I thought its one major flaw was the ending: if Christopher Walken in drag can just sneak in a side door, why all the subterfuge to get Tracy in inside a fake can of hairspray?

So when the bus-and-truck tour came through, I thought, "Oh, good, I can finally see what the ending is supposed to be!" Imagine my surprise when I discovered it makes even less sense than the film.

There's a lesson about how musical comedy works in all this...

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:53pm

The giant hairspray can was a diversion. They want Velma to believe that Tracy was in the can, so that they could actually sneak her in the front door.

Seems perfectly musical theatre clear to me.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 6:01pm

Phyllis, to be fair... all verisons of Hairspray do that.

True, but I still think the way Cooties was cut and they all just randomly dance until someone who wasn't even in the contest somehow got enough votes to win...

I still like the movie better than the stage version, so I ain't hating.

[JP2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 6:09pm

Next to LITTLE SHOP, Hairspray is probably my all time favorite musical adaptation. In a lot of ways, I love it more than I love the show, and I adore the show. Travolta is kind of jarring at first, but I've honestly seen it so many times that I don't really care. I like his "sweet" Edna.

With that being said, I think Shankman excels at bright, fun, energetic musical comedies. Hairspray and Rock of Ages are in his wheelhouse. Jersey Boys? Not so much.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 6:51pm

The giant hairspray can was a diversion. They want Velma to believe that Tracy was in the can, so that they could actually sneak her in the front door.

Pardon me, TDiva, but I don't think so. I believe Tracy IS in the can when they use it to break in the locked front door. The cops then leave the can in the lobby and report back to Michelle Pfeiffer. When they mention how heavy the can was, they all realize the ruse and rush back to find the top of the can kicked open and that whoever was inside (Tracy) has escaped.

Meanwhile, Tracy's father simply waltzes through a side door which some of the kids open for him.

Of course, all of the above still makes more sense than (SPOILER) concealing Edna in a hairspray can just so she can be in the finale. But still...

But TD I will grant you that either ending is consistent with the logic of musical comedy and no more incredible than the ending of GUYS AND DOLLS.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 7:25pm

Oh, see, I'm going by the play. I pushed that can out onstage for almost two years on the tour...

I saw the movie once, and forgot most of it.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 8:31pm

You're not alone, TDiva. A lot of my friends who loved the stage show hated the film.

I guess I was just lucky to see the film first. But I do think it's a different medium with different requirements. For one thing, a lot of the humor of "Timeless" on stage seems to be based on the actors pretending to crack themselves up and having to stop the number. There's really no equivalent in a film.

For another, film is inherently more representational, so the choice to go for a little more heart and a little less camp in the movie may have saved the film from having no more than cult appeal.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 9:37pm

I love the film. I think it's the best movie musical since the genre was revived. Easily.

I am FAR less confident for Rock of Ages.

However, I think Shankman would KILL Jersey Boys and if I had the option, I would drop everything and go see that immediately.

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 9:48pm

I guess I'm in the unpopular opinion group here (if there is a group haha). I didn't like half of the leading cast. Walken and Baynes had the comedy, but not the singing chops. Efron really only had the dancing and looks going for him.

I also felt like Big, Blonde, and Beautiful which is a fun and didactic song, was reduced to an almost racist five minutes of just dancing and singing with no meaning behind it.

My biggest problem with the movie was how they mixed the songs and auto-tuned the singing so much more than needed. I understand that auto-tuning is used in almost any type of recording, but they way it was done in this movie, it was obvious that everything was recorded earlier and just played back when it came to filming. It was so inorganic and it sounds like GLEE's music.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 9:58pm

Hairspray is by far one of the best musical turned movie adaptations i have ever seen. I normally hate JT but i loved his Edna. Yes a couple of the stars like Walken etc were not the best singers but neither were many who played the Edna/Wilbur roles on stage. They added a lot of heart to the film i thought. I know Efron is that easy target for many but i thought he did a great job as Link. I honestly liked the whole cast and thought the film was **** brilliantly and captured the essence of Hairspray.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 10:49pm

Walken is a throw-back to the song-and-dance men of vaudeville. None of them were great singers or dancers (by Jerome Robbins' standards), but that wasn't the point.

I loved Efron in HAIRSPRAY, despite having found HSM unwatchable, and the switch from "It Takes Two" to "Ladies Choice" as Link's big number was inspired.

And I was particularly impressed with James Marsden as Corny Collins. Who knew?

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 10:54pm

I was impressed with "Hairspray"…but anyways, lets get back on track. If not Shankman who would do it or could do it?