Source: CCTV.com

03-26-2007 13:50

The musical movie "Hairspray" was unveiled to theatre owners last week, at the annual ShowWest convention for film exhibitors in Las Vegas. But this wasn't your average everyday sneak preview. Instead, it was literally an all singing, all dancing production, which fused the film excerpts with live song-and-dance numbers.

The movie was adapted from the 2002 Tony award-winning Broadway show, which itself was based on John Waters' 1988 cult film, starring Ricki Lake.

"Hairspray" is the story of Tracy Turnblad, an overweight sweetheart of a girl who takes a stand for civil rights in the 1960s by leading the charge to integrate a teen dance show on television.

Newcomer Nikki Blonsky takes the lead. Blonsky was working at an ice-cream palour when she got the part, and she heard the news in a live conference call over the internet.

John Travolta, in first musical since "Grease," in 1978, takes the suprise part of the girl's equally plump "mother".

James Marsden, from both the X-Men series and "Superman Returns", switched genres and showed off his singing talent.

Elijah Kelley, actor of "Hairspray", said, "This guy has pipes, no seriously, he can sing! he has so much more vocally than he does in the movie. You remember that time we were at the Halloween party? We went to a Halloween party while we were filming, I swear, the party was over at like 12 or 1; we sang until about 3 o'clock."

With Adam Shankman directing, the new film also features Michelle Pfeiffer as the villainous TV station owner and mother of Tracy's rival, Queen Latifah plays the saucy record-shop owner Motormouth Maybelle, Amanda Bynes is Tracy's best pal and Christopher Walken, Tracy's dad.

 

Editor:Liu Fang