Early development , director and choreographer of the film. Following the success of the
Broadway musical of the same name, which won eight
Tony Awards in 2003,
New Line Cinema, who owned the rights to the
1988 John Waters film upon which the stage musical is based, became interested in adapting the stage show as a musical film. Development work began in late 2004, while a similarly film-to-Broadway-to-film project,
Mel Brooks'
The Producers, was in production.
Craig Zadan and
Neil Meron, the executive producers of the
Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical
Chicago, were hired as the producers for
Hairspray, and began discussing possibly casting
John Travolta and
Billy Crystal (or
Jim Broadbent) as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, respectively. Upon learning he had been hired, Shankman arranged a meeting with John Waters, who advised him "don't do what I did, don't do what the play did. You've gotta do your own thing." The 2007 film's script is based primarily on the stage musical rather than the 1988 film, so several changes already made to the plot for the stage version remain in this version. These include dropping several characters from the 1988 version (such as Arvin Hodgepile (the role Mr. Spritzer fills), Velma's husband Franklin, Corny's assistant Tammy, the
beatniks, et al.), removing the Tilted Acres amusement park from the story, and placing Velma in charge of the station where
The Corny Collins Show is filmed. One notable difference between the stage musical, the original film, and the 2007 film version of
Hairspray is that Tracy does not go to jail in the 2007 version (thus eliminating the musical's song "The Big Dollhouse"). In both previous incarnations of
Hairspray, Tracy is arrested and taken to jail along with the other protesters. Edna is presented in this version as an insecure introvert, in contrast to the relatively bolder incarnations present in the 1988 film and the stage musical. Dixon restructured portions of
Hairsprays book to allow several of the songs to blend more naturally into the plot, in particular "(You're) Timeless to Me" and "I Know Where I've Been". "(You're) Timeless to Me" becomes the anchor of a newly invented subplot involving Velma's attempt to break up Edna and Wilbur's marriage and keep Tracy off
The Corny Collins Show as a result. The song now serves as Wilbur's apology to Edna, in addition to its original purpose in the stage musical as a
tongue-in-cheek declaration of Wilbur and Edna's love for each other. Casting director, David Rubin, introduced an open casting call to cast unknowns in
Atlanta,
New York City, and
Chicago. After auditioning over eleven hundred candidates,
Nikki Blonsky, a high school student from Great Neck, New York was chosen for the lead role of Tracy. Blonsky auditioned for the role of Tracy Turnblad in New York City in 2006 at eighteen years old. She had no previous professional experience in acting or in singing. Blonsky had auditioned for the role because it became her dream to play the role of Tracy after seeing the musical on Broadway. Blonsky, working at
Cold Stone Creamery at the time, received the news from film director,
Adam Shankman, that she had received the part. Relative unknowns
Elijah Kelley and
Taylor Parks were chosen through similar audition contests to portray siblings Seaweed and Little Inez Stubbs, respectively.
John Travolta was finally cast as Edna, with
Christopher Walken ultimately assuming the role of Wilbur. Since
Hairsprays plot focuses heavily on dance,
choreography became a heavy focus for Shankman, who hired four assistant choreographers, Jamal Sims,
Anne Fletcher, and
Zach Woodlee, and put both his acting cast and over a hundred and fifty dancers through two months of rehearsals. The cast recorded the vocal tracks for their songs as coached by Elaine Overholt in the weeks just before principal photography began in September.
Hairspray is explicitly set in
Baltimore, Maryland and the original 1988 film had been shot on location there, but the 2007 film was shot primarily in Toronto because the city was better equipped with the
sound stages necessary to film a musical. The opening shots of the descent from the clouds and the newspaper being dropped onto the
stoop are the only times that the actual city of Baltimore is shown in the film. Most of the street scenes were shot at the intersection of
Dundas Street West and
Roncesvalles Avenue. A
PCC streetcar with
Toronto Transit Commission livery is seen in the opening sequence. Some of the signs for the 1960s-era stores remain up along the street. Toronto's Lord Lansdowne Public School was used for all of the high school exteriors and some of the interiors, while the old Queen Victoria School in Hamilton was also used for interiors. Scenes at Queen Victoria were shot from November 22 to December 2, and the school was scheduled to be demolished after film production was completed. As of the 2017–2018 school year, there are no plans to close this school. Thinner than most of the other men who have portrayed Edna, Travolta appeared onscreen in a large
fat suit, and required four hours of makeup in order to appear before the cameras. Travolta fought for the ability to give his character curves and a thick
Baltimore accent. • Before we see a full shot of Tracy, we see individual shots of her upraised right and left arms. This is reminiscent of our first views of Sadie Thompson (
Joan Crawford) in the 1932 film
Rain. • Several scenes involving Tracy, such as her ride atop the garbage truck during the "Good Morning Baltimore" number and her new hairstyle during "Welcome to the '60s", are directly inspired by the
Barbra Streisand musical film version of
Funny Girl. • During "Without Love", Link sings to a photograph of Tracy, which comes to life and sings harmony with him. This is directly inspired from the
MGM musical
The Broadway Melody of 1938, in which a young
Judy Garland swoons over a photo of actor
Clark Gable as she sings "You Made Me Love You". ==Release==