Hairspray is a 2007 musical romantic comedy film based on the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on John Waters's 1988 comedy film of the same name. Produced by Ingenious Media and Zadan/Meron Productions, and adapted from both Waters's 1988 script and Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's book for the stage musical by screenwriter Leslie Dixon, the film was directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman and has an ensemble cast including John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and Nikki Blonsky in her feature film debut. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad (Blonsky) as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local television dance show and rallies against racial segregation.
The film began development in 2004, and Dixon reworked Meehan and O'Donnell's first draft of the screenplay to tone down the musical's campiness. In 2005, Shankman agreed to direct the film. Composer/lyricist Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman reworked their songs from the Broadway musical for the film's soundtrack, and also wrote four new songs for the film. Principal photography commenced in September 2006 with a budget of $75 million, and ended in December of that year; filming took place on locations in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and on soundstages at Toronto's Showline Studios. Recording sessions for the film's songs and soundtrack took place in San Diego, California in the United States.
Hairspray premiered on July 10, 2007, at the Mann Village Theater and was released on July 20, 2007, in the United States and the United Kingdom. The film was critically and financially successful, breaking the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a movie musical, which the film held until July 2008 when it was surpassed by Mamma Mia! and later High School Musical 3: Senior Year in October. Hairspray went on to become the tenth highest-grossing musical film in US cinema history, behind the film adaptations of Grease, Chicago, and Mamma Mia!, and stands as one of the most critically and commercially successful musical films of the 2000s. Available in a variety of formats, Hairspray's Region 1 home video release took place on November 20, 2007. USA Network purchased the broadcast rights to Hairspray and was scheduled to debut the film on cable television in February 2010, but in the end it did not broadcast that month. Instead the film was pushed back and premiered on USA on July 24, 2010, with sister channel Bravo also showing it multiple times, and in February 2011 aired on ABC for over-the-air broadcasts.

Return to Tiffany Engen Autograph Profile