Adam Shankman Interview, Director of HairSpray

MoviesOnline caught up with director and choreographer Adam Shankman at the Los Angeles press day for his new movie, "Hairspray.” Now, in 2007, the third generation of John Waters’ story has been created. Neither a remake of the 1988 film or a filmed version of the 2002 stage musical, the film is a "re-invention” based on the hit Broadway show.

Shankman explains, "I’m a huge fan of John’s film and the Broadway musical. And the reason they both succeeded is because the story of the big girl with the big hair and big dreams holds up no matter what medium is used to tell it. So now, by telling the story using the best of both worlds of film and theatre, a whole new generation of audiences are going to get to experience the crazy comedy of the original film and the sheer joy and exuberance of the Broadway show.”

New Line Cinema and producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron found a perfect choice for director in Adam Shankman. "Hairspray” also marks a return to Shankman’s roots in the entertainment business. "This is truly a dream come true for me, and I feel like I’ve come home, says Shankman, who spent the first half of his career as a successful dancer and stage and film choreographer. He then turned to directing movies like "The Wedding Planner,” "A Walk to Remember,” "Bringing Down the House,” "The Pacifier” and "Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” which combined to earn more the $600 million worldwide.

"Craig and I have known Adam for many years and have watched him grow into a talented filmmaker,” says Meron. "When we first sat down with him to talk about the possibility of him directing this movie, he was very, very passionate. He told us that he understood this show more than anything he’s done in his entire career. To him, the story of Tracy Turnblad and her indomitable spirit to succeed somewhat echoes portions of his own life and his desire and determination to work hard and be successful. Given his expertise in the genres of dance, musical theatre and film, and his intrinsic relationship with the material, he truly was the guiding force behind this film.”

"The films I’ve been lucky enough to direct over the past few years didn’t utilize the skill sets of my years as a dancer,” Shankman says. "Directing ‘Hairspray’ took me back to doing what I felt I was always supposed to do…and I loved it. On top of which, I was surrounded by some of the most talented people I have ever met. The cast is so rich in talent and their collective courage in stepping into a project like this was awe-inspiring.”

Adam Shankman is a sensational director and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new movie musical:

MoviesOnline: Did they come to you and ask you to direct and choreograph?

Adam Shankman: It didn’t go down like that. I wanted to do it, I begged to do it and they ended up going with the director of the play and the choreographer of the play. They hired them. I was heartbroken and wanted to kill myself, and then because of scheduling, they couldn’t do it. Then everybody in Hollywood threw their hat in and I didn’t because I was terrified. I couldn’t go through that again because Marc (Shaiman) and Scott (Wittman) have been two of my best friends for 20 years. To have lost it after being so close to the material and to feel so uniquely qualified to do it because I’m one of the few choreographers around and Rob Marshall didn’t want to do it, I was scared. My agent called them and said, "You are going to consider Adam, aren’t you?” And I think that they were a little gun shy because they knew I was upset. So Neil (Meron) approached me while I was in Toronto shooting my opus, "Cheaper by the Dozen 2” – God forgive me – and I said, "I don’t know if I can go through this again.” He’s like, "Oh, I think you should try. They can’t just offer it to you. They’re really going to want to meet you.” I was like, "They know what I said before…” Anyway, I said basically "If you promise me – if I go in that room, I pretty much better be guaranteed I’m going to get it.” And they said, "Okay. We support you.” So I said, "Fine.” ‘Cause I had been there before them, so I got it. But it was like I had spent over a year like a pit bull biting and shaking and I was so hurt the first time around, so anyway – but hey, it worked out, right? [Laughs] So what do I got to bitch about.

MoviesOnline: How much did your vision change from the first time to the second?

Adam Shankman: None.

MoviesOnline: It was always the same?

Adam Shankman: Yeah, this has been in my head since the second I conceived it. I wish it was more difficult than that. I wish I could give you some fabulous story, but I can’t unfortunately because I’d be so lying like Matthew McConaughey tells me to do.

MoviesOnline: Did you go to Broadway and see it? Did you know it before they came?

Adam Shankman: Marc and Scott have been two of my best friends for over 20 years, so I was around when they were writing the songs and I went to the tryouts in Seattle, and I was at opening night there. I’ve seen the show 20 times. Actually when I got it, I stopped seeing the show because I didn’t want to be [influenced]. There are things in the show that could never have translated into the movie nor should they. So I immediately became my own entity. When I first got the movie, John Waters said, "I’m so excited for you. You’re such a fabulous choice for this.” And I was like, "Thought bubble, question mark, what?” And he said, "My only advice to you is you have to do your own thing. You can’t do what I did, don’t do what they did. This story only works if it’s told from a really personal perspective, so don’t try to – in this case, imitation will not be flattery for you, so just go for it.” So I took that really to heart and while always considering the fan base for both the show and the original movies and wanting to make sure, knowing that they were going to be gunning for me, that I felt very committed to just doing it how I saw it - and I did. That was cool for me because it was the first time.

MoviesOnline: What was the search for Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) like?

Adam Shankman: I think it was more of a nail biter for everybody else. For me, once I said yes, I just assumed that I was going to find her. I wasn’t like, "Oh my God, are we going to find her?” I was like, "Well we have to find her because we can’t do the movie if we don’t find her.” I’m hired so then she’s going to be out there. But I had very stringent requirements which were a) in the tradition of the other two, I needed it to be a complete unknown – which pissed off every agent in Hollywood. [And b)] I needed her to be under 19, which really freaked everybody out because that closed the window so much. I was like, "I’m not going to do 90210 casting. I’m not going to.” And the Broadway community was like, "Why not Marissa (Jaret Winokur)?” "She’s 35 and I have to do close-ups. What are you talking about?” Even Marissa would have felt strange doing this. "Why not Rikki (Lake)?” "You must be kidding.” But in the tradition of Hairspray, Edna’s always a man and Tracy’s always a newcomer, and I was not going to fix that unbroken toy. But I also needed her to be really young and be able to sing and dance, and what happened when I saw Nikki’s audition over my laptop, I was stricken by something that I couldn’t figure out exactly what was the quality, besides thinking, going, "She’s really pretty and she’s really sincere and seems to have the right thing.” And then I went back to it the next day – and it was in a block of 50 girls – and then I went back and I went back again and I went, "Oh my God, she loves her body.” And she was out there shakin’ it and singing and I was like, "She doesn’t think of herself as heavy.” That was the moment when I said, "It’s her. I found her, I found her. Oh f*ck me, this is awesome! This is like great!” And then, it turned out that she came from a really working class family. She was totally unencumbered. No, the whole thing was so amazing -- the resemblance and the specific realities of who Tracy was – and then once I met her, I was like, "I’m done,” which I wasn’t allowed to be because that would have upset too many people. So we had to go through the screen test process, but I was right.

MoviesOnline: Was John Travolta attached when you came on?

Adam Shankman: He was in talks, they were talking to him, and he kept saying, "I don’t get it. Why should I, why should I, why should I?” And they were giving him every reason under the sun, and then once I came on – I also did a draft that was closer to what I would have done with it, because it was being written kind of in a vacuum for Jack and Jerry and then they were gone and still doing notes. How do you write a musical number – you know what I mean - when you’re not the choreographer, how do you write that? It was all like a lot of slugs. I’m the ultimate person who makes the decisions about which songs were going to stay in and which songs were going to go. That was fun going, "Well, I’ve never liked this number so I’m tossing it,” to Marc and Scott and they’re going "Really?” And there were a few of those. [Laughter] It really didn’t go down like that, but in my head it did. But, it was great. They were talking to John and I think it was my saying to him that by virtue of it being a musical, it lives above the normal world, but I was going to do everything to keep it super real. Everything was going to be as authentic as possible. And I also was approaching all the characters from an actually strangely internal and emotional way, given the themes of it and what was going on in the world; and then I was going to toss it to make sure it was still a great comedy. And then I didn’t just say the word "great” because I don’t necessarily think everything I do is great, but it was at least a good comedy and certainly a faithful comedy.

MoviesOnline: Michelle Pfeiffer said she was worried she’d be chewing the scenery because her character was so over the top and that you told her she had a piece of the set in her teeth – how exactly did that go down?

Adam Shankman: She just started laughing, of course. She knew I was like, "There’s big, and then there’s big. We might want to pull back a little bit.” But I wanted everybody to feel that. With Jimmy Marsden, he said, "How far can I go?” And I said, "How far is there?” And I said, "By the way, your name is Corny so clue in, buddy.” [Laughter] But with Michelle, she knew from our first meeting; I said, "I’m coming to you because of Catwoman because you got Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, so right for me because you really made her physically and emotionally correct on both fronts. And I get how you work from that and I love you as a villain; and because you’re so beautiful, I want to punch you in the face. So this is all the requirements that I need for Velma; and I’m not going to redeem you and you are the symbol of all things wrong with the world.” And she was like, "I’ll do it!” [Laughter] No, it was a while – she was nervous, but once we got there, she saw what we were doing and she was fine. She went to that first read through and she and Claudia, her daughter, were crying and I had them.

MoviesOnline: Do you have an overall approach to the process of casting and directing or do you tailor your approach depending on the person?

Adam Shankman: A little of both. A little secret, I’m the child of a shrink. I am. My mom’s a shrink and my father’s a lawyer. So believe me, I analyze and negotiate. [Laughter] That is a huge amount of the director’s work, especially when you’re working with such a variety of people. I have somebody who’s never set foot outside of New York, whose last job was literally crushing Oreos into vanilla ice cream, and then I have Oscar winners. So it’s like you’re looking at a range here. So you definitely have to cater to your audience and each person has their own set of problems. The good news is on this one, this is in no one’s wheel house – or, for the ones who it is, they haven’t done it in 30 years -- so they were out there doing some crazy-ass sh*t. Chris Walken is playing John Travolta’s husband -- doesn’t happen everyday, those offers. Everybody was bringing their "A game” while they were in an out-of-town game, do you know what I mean? I like that analogy, you just got that for the first time. I’m going to use it in every interview. No, it was just a really cool experience. Plus, unless really needing to, I had to not care. That was to a certain extent their problem to figure out all those things because I had a lot to do. And it was only in moments – and I’m really articulate about explaining "This is what I want a scene to be. This is where you are here.” My favorite scene of John’s is right before "Welcome to the 60’s” when he does not want to go outside and you see all that hurt and fear in his eyes and all of that – and that’s the person we talked about him being from the very beginning. I was like, "There’s the lyric.” He hasn’t left the house in 11 years. What is she? She’s a total shut in and a control freak at the same time because she’s doing everybody else’s laundry. There’s all sorts of really cool character clues in there, but I don’t want to get too heavy about it because it’s a big, really fun musical. It happens to have some very, very serious themes but it’s a really big, fun musical.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about the timing of the film coming out in the middle of summer?

Adam Shankman: How about the timing of it coming out after Don Imus did what he did, and Michael Richards, Isaiah (Washington)? This is as relevant as anything and we are truly unusual. By the way, I’m miserable that we’re coming out in the middle of summer, but I understand that they need the kid dollars. I’m surrounded by Harry Potter and Simpsons and I’m opening up against Chuck and Larry.

MoviesOnline: How relevant is this film to today’s society?

Adam Shankman: Oh, like I said, this is ripped from the headlines right now, and I am stunned that this is still a problem. I grew up with it. I do not understand. Listen, I understand that we live in a stressed out world, but I can’t believe that this country -- the land of the free, the melting pot – still is so friggin’ afraid of anybody who is different. Tracy is a minority because of her weight. Anybody who’s different than Velma is a minority in this movie so it’s not just those two groups. This is everybody. I also think it’s funny that in this movie there’s not a single gay character. How great is that? I guess the whole movie is a gay character [laughter], but it’s really interesting that it’s representative of all minorities. It’s too pertinent really for comfort, but at the same time, it’s like throwing up a mirror in our culture’s face, but doing it with a song and a dance and a laugh. So you’re thinking about the song and the dance and then maybe the next day you’re thinking about what’s going on. That’s what I’m hoping happens.

MoviesOnline: So many recent Broadway adaptations have a cameo from someone in the show. Was it a deliberate choice not to have the full cameo in the movie but instead feature the three Traci’s, past and present -- Rikki Lake, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Nikki Blonsky -- singing together at the end?

Adam Shankman: When is "Momma I’m a Big Girl Now” in the movie? It’s at the very, very, very end of the credits, which I just found out yesterday. How did you know that, that’s so crazy?

MoviesOnline: It was online or I read it somewhere.

Adam Shankman: Really? No, we just thought that was fun because the three Tracy’s is like the second coming of Christ for Hairspray fans.

Ekta Kapoor: It was on Entertainment Tonight the other night.

Adam Shankman: Oh, it was? Oh, okay. I did not do any of that on purpose. It’s just how it all unfolded. There was no intention about that. Marissa, who did it on Broadway, wasn’t in the movie. She sang it on the soundtrack. That song is very popular from the show and it’s repurposed inside of the movie as the "Stricken Chicken” and so we thought it’d be fun to do it on the album for Hairspray fans.

MoviesOnline: What are you doing next?

Adam Shankman: An Adam Sandler movie called "Bedtime Stories.”

MoviesOnline: And the soundtrack of this is coming out?

Ekta Kapoor: July 10^th.

MoviesOnline: Are you going to do "Wicked”?

Adam Shankman: I don’t know. Do we really want to see a lead actor in close-up who’s green?

MoviesOnline: Yes. (laughter and a chorus of yesses from the press)

Adam Shankman: Okay, okay.

"Hairspray” opens in theaters on July 20^th.