Just want to let you know I truly feel this to be one of the finest movie adaptions of a broadway musical. Shankman truly captured the magic of the stage and the Waters "wrong-ness" from the original... The teacher's lounge section of "I can Hear the bells" had me reeling.
Thank you for letting it unapologetically and unabashedly be a MUSICAL. No silly concepts to rationalize charaters breaking into song,etc. Adam was intelligent enough to trust the material AND the audiences and left it alone.
Humanizing Edna was also a heartbreaking thrill. Kudos to Travolta, I didnt think He had THAT performance in him.
Congratulations! I hope the directors of some of the more recent musical debacles pay a visit and see how it's supposed to be done. Continued success!

Updated On: 7/21/07 at 12:43 AM

Marc,

Incredible movie--I had a grin on my face almost the entire movie. I took two buddies tonight, who were not crazy about seeing it. Imagine my surprise when they enjoyed it as much as me, and we listened to the soundtrack during the car ride home.

Question: why was the movie not filmed in Baltimore?

Peace and Love,

Chitty Flies

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Unfortunately, I wasn't AT the filming so I got no answer for that one

Marc,

Were you as impressed with Bynes' voice as we are !!!??

What were your initial thoughts when you heard her?

She sounds great !!!

Where can I get a copy of the Turnblad's wedding photo that is shown in the film? It is hilarious!

Yes, that wedding photo is hysterical. No, you can't have it!

I would like to know though, how much trouble did you have getting this movie produced? Would you mind giving us some details about shopping this around Hollywood and the response it got?

As far as getting the movie produced, we were lucky that two Hollywood heavyweights really wanted to make it. A man named Joe Roth (whose company REVOLUTION PICTURES went on to make "RENT" after they didn't get "HAIRSPRAY") and also a gentlemen named Steven Spielberg, who really wanted to direct it.

New Line had the rights to match any other movie studios offer (since New Line made the original film) so, once Joe Roth made us a beautiful offer, New Line stepped forward to match it and make the film. They could not make a deal with Spielberg, and so the musical chairs began for the job of director, and at the end of the day, we were lucky enough to sign up Adam Shankman, who (aving nothing to do with his hiring) is one of mine and Scott's best friends!

Updated On: 7/22/07 at 08:13 AM

Whats next for Nikki and Elijah

I hope the chance to use their amazing talents for as many years and projects as possible! They are both CRAZY talented!

I know this will be difficult, since I'm sure it's kinda like asking you to choose your favorite child: which song do you think was your favorite in the movie? I mean in terms of the whole package: arrangement, performance by the individual, editing/cinematography, etc? .

There is NO way to choose a favorite. Every number has special things about it that thrill me to no end.

did Inez *really* get a landslide of votes, or was Corny being a sneaky little devil and making up the winner? Either way works for me, I'm just suspicious. I usually am when a phenomenally talented and handsome man is involved.

I believe "Inez" won fair and square!

And when you mention the phenomenally handsome man, I assume you are speaking of me, right???

Updated On: 7/22/07 at 08:21 AM

Were you as impressed with Bynes' voice as we are !!!?? What were your initial thoughts when you heard her?

When I heard they wanted to cast Amanda Bynes, I was a snobby ass and thought "Oh Lord, she probably can't sing". And then they showed me her audition tape (yes, she auditioned) and there she was, singing great and making me feel like a jerk for assuming she wouldn't be able to! She is the GREATEST girl also, by the way!

Updated On: 7/22/07 at 08:31 AM

Apologies in advance if you've answered this already, but why was "Momma I'm A Big Girl Now" cut from the movie?

First thing is, filming a musical is WILDLY expensive. We simply didn't have the TRANSFORMER type budget to just do everything.

And we had to cut about an hour from the show. That was a given. A good movie should not be 2 and a half hours, like what the Broadway show is (with the intermission). We knew we didn't need a song to perk up the audience from intermission, and that is really what THE BIG DOLLHOUSE's function is in the show. So that song (and scene) went bye bye.

(If there HAD been a scene inside the women's jail, I suggested filming an Ann-Margeret type actress singing and dancing "THE BIG DOLLHOUSE" as if it was from a slinky, chessy Ann-Margeret female JAILHOUSE ROCK type movie of the day, and have the Prison Matron watching it on T.V., but we never got that far)

Anyway, about MAMA...we (the audience) already know from the scenes that proceeded it what the girls situations are, the song doesn't REALLY further the story. That being said, it was still a heartbreaking suggestion to cut it (New Line was in shock!). And then, as we continued to talk it over, Adam brought up two very interesting points. One, that the cross-cutting between the three girls (actually many teenage girls and mothers all across Baltimore) would be just too close to "The Telephone Hour", the iconic number form "BYE BYE BIRDIE".

And, (and here's what I thought was the strongest argument) Adam felt FOR A MOVIE, it would be bad story-telling to feel that Velma & Amber are so much like Edna & Tracy. Onstage you can get away with it somehow, but to show the villains in an empathetic way SO close to the beginning of the story just seemed, wrong for clean story-telling. Better to keep the antagonists evil, and not make them share similar emotions as the protagonists.

And so, we cut it. But we ALWAYS said to ourselves, let's record it for the CD.

So, while driving to town from the beach one day during the orchestration period of post-production, I was thinking "I guess we need to start calling the actresses to sing MAMA" and then it hit me like a bolt from the blue: There is ANOTHER trio of girls associated with HAIRSPRAY that would be a FABULOUS addition to the CD, joining all the different "families" of HAIRSPRAY.

I pulled over to Email Ricki and Marissa from my Treo, to see if they would be interested and got back two big "YES's!" soon after.

When I spread the news around of this idea to all the producers, executives and the director, NOT ONE PERSON involved said "No!" or "Why?" or "I don't know..." it was "YES" all around! That was a first!!!

And that's the story of what became of "MAMA, I'M A BIG GIRL NOW".

Updated On: 7/22/07 at 08:56 AM

Concerning the opening scene of "Good Morning Baltimore" right before John Water's cameo, are two of the three ladies Kirstie Alley and who looks to be Julie Halston? I had to do a double take but even after that I looked on imdb.com and still couldn't find the answer.

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right before John Water's cameo, are two of the three ladies Kirstie Alley and who looks to be Julie Halston? I had to do a double take

no, the actresses on the street are Toronto based. Wonderful faces.

In the Broadway production, Penny really is sort of an ugly duckling goofy kind of gal who blossoms into a beauty once she and Seaweed pair together. Was it too hard to portray Amanda as the former?

It's clear that Adam and his team didn't go for quite as nerdy approach to Penny. She is sweetly innocent and supportive. I LOVE the look Amanda gives Nikki on the very last section of "I CAN HEAR THE BELLS" (when you score a movie, you become very familiar with every single frame). As Tracy says her final "Listen!" to Penny, Amanda gives her a look and a smile that seems to say "huh? um, oh, ok, if you hear it, I am gonna support you, absolutely no problem!"

Updated On: 7/22/07 at 10:13 AM

Just wanted to let you know that we enjoyed the movie in it's entirety specially the brilliant dynamics of the casts from the newcomer Nikki to veterans Travolta and Pfeifer!

Congratulations!

It may be too soon but.....just curious what's your next project? :P

Updated On: 7/21/07 at 11:01 AM

Marc.

Love, love, loved the movie.

Question- In the lyrics to I CAN HEAR THE BELLS in the CD booklet, it has Penny's dialouge listed, but it's not heard.

Was that listed to let you know she says those lines or were they recorded then taken out?

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MARC - YOU ROCK!

Thanx so much for your talent and your willingness to take time out to help us love the film even more! It truly is a movie where you can sit through the entire thing with a huge smile on your face without even knowing it!

One quickie that noone else mentioned yet:

How did it come about that Jerry Stiller was in the new film but not as Wilbur? Was that a decision that was made at the start or did it just evolve into that scenario? You have to admit it would have pretty funny watching Jerry and John in the "Timeless" scene! HAHA!

CONGRATULATIONS on a great film!

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