Trivia / Hairspray (2007)

• All-Star Cast: The film has several all star members in its cast (John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron to name a few), but they mostly play secondary roles, whereas the main role went to entirely new actress Nikki Blonsky (this movie was her debut as a professional actress).
• California Doubling: Many of, if not only, the opening scenes of the film were shot in Baltimore. The rest were in Toronto.
• The Cast Showoff: Several members of the cast were picked either because their musical talents were largely unknown to the general public (Marsden, Walken, Bynes) or had simply been forgotten about in recent years (Travolta, Pfeiffer)
• Cut Song:
  • "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" was excised due to lack of plot advancement, but gets covered by the three incarnations of Tracy (Ricki Lake, 1988; Marissa Jaret Winokur, 2002; and Blonsky) during the end credits, and is present on the soundtrack.
  • Some other songs from the stage version were cut from the film too, such as "Velma's Revenge", a Dark Reprise of "Miss Baltimore Crabs" (which is present in the live production).
  • "I Can Wait", sung by Blonsky, also counts, but said song can be heard as a deleted song/scene in the two-disc soundtrack and two-disc home media release.
  • "The Big Dollhouse" was cut from this film, and it also didn't make it into the 2016 telecast, in which Tracy goes to jail alone.
  • "Cooties" was cut in favor of going straight from "(It's) Hairspray" to "You Can't Stop The Beat". A cover by Aimee Allen was used during the end credits and included on the soundtrack.
• Descended Creator: Adam Shankman, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman appear as three talent agents from the William Morris Agency.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Amanda Bynes ate so many lollipops during filming there were some genuine concerns she might lose her teeth, especially from her dentist father. Rumors place it at around 40 a day. Travolta's fat suit couldn't have been all that pleasant either.
• Fake American: Since the film was shot in Toronto, almost all the minor and supporting roles are played by Canadians, such as Darren Frost as the cameraman Velma belittles and Jayne Eastwood as Miss Wimsey.
• Playing Against Type:
  • This isn't the only time that Christopher Walken has played an all-around Nice Guy, but such roles are rare for him.
  • Brittany Snow's characters, equally, are usually much nicer.
• Recursive Adaptation: From movie to Broadway musical and back again.
• Stillborn Franchise: Waters wrote a sequel to this film entitled White Lipstick, detailing everyone's struggles to adjust to new music trends of the late 1960s. Plot points he has shared include the African-American dancers planning an all-Black music program, Link going Fake Brit to attract fans of The Beatles, and Edna losing weight through weight loss pills. New numbers included Link having a Mushroom Samba and singing with his pimples, and Edna gorging back all the weight she lost after learning that Wilbur thinks she looked better when she was fat.
• What Could Have Been:
  • James Marsden beat out his X-Men Film Series co-star Hugh Jackman and Joey McIntyre for Corny.
  • Queen Latifah won out over Aretha Franklin for Maybelle.
  • Christopher Walken was chosen over Jim Broadbent and Billy Crystal for Wilbur.
  • Meryl Streep and Madonna were considered for Velma.
  • Hayden Panettiere was considered for Amber.
  • Tom Hanks, Steve Martin and Robin Williams were considered for Edna.

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