Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 Motormouth Maybelle: [watching Edna walk in] If we get any more white people in here, this is gonna be a suburb. Motormouth Maybelle: Well, looks like y`all took a step outta bounds.
[to Seaweed]
Motormouth Maybelle: Who`ve we got here?
Seaweed: Mom, I want you to meet my new friends. This here is Link, Tracy Turnblad...
Tracy Turnblad: [interrupts] This is just so afro-tastic!
Seaweed: And this young lady right here, is Penny Pingleton.
Penny Pingleton: I`m very pleased and scared to be here.
Motormouth Maybelle: Now, honey, we got more reason to be scared on your street.
Link Larkin: I was just at home, practicing my new twist on The Twist, when I overheard it on the news. I can`t believe Tracy savagely bludgeoned an Eagle Scout. That`s just not like her.
Edna Turnblad: But it`s not true! I was there! He didn`t even bleed.
Link Larkin: I shoulda been there, beside her. I can`t sleep. I can`t eat...
Edna Turnblad: You can`t eat? Well, come on in and worry with us. I`ll make you some pork.
Edna Turnblad: [singing] You can`t stop my happiness, `cuz I like the way I am. And you just can`t stop my knife and fork when I see a Christmas ham! And if you don`t like the way I look, then I just don`t give a damn!
Penny Pingleton: [looks into the camera] I am now a checkerboard chick!
[grabs Seaweed and kisses him passionately]
Edna Turnblad: Would you keep that racket down? I`m trying to iron, here!
Tracy Turnblad: Negro Day`s the best! I wish every day were Negro Day!
Seaweed: At our house... it is.
Tracy Turnblad: I think I`ve kind of been in a bubble... thinking that fairness was gonna just happen. It`s not. People like me are gonna have to get up off their fathers` laps and go out and fight for it.
Wilbur Turnblad: [to Tracy] This is America, babe, you gotta think big to be big.
Edna Turnblad: Big ain`t the problem in this family, Wilbur.
Edna Turnblad: Penny, get home before your mother shoots you.
Link Larkin: [presents Amber with a ring] It`s time.
Amber von Tussel: Oh!
[Amber and Link kiss]
Velma Von Tussle: Amber! Save your personal life for the camera, sweetie! Oop, shiny!
[sends Amber off to makeup for more powder]
Motormouth Maybelle: [to Seaweed and Penny] Oh, so this is love?
[pauses, then smiles]
Motormouth Maybelle: Well, love is a gift, a lot of people don`t remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin` at you from a neverending parade of stupid.
Penny Pingleton: [deadpans] So, you`ve met my mom?
Prudy Pingleton: [about Tracy, who was just on the news] You see? You see! If I let you leave the house right now, you`d be in prison, fighting whores for cigarettes. That Tracy Turnblad always was a bad influence! Well, you are never, ever gonna see that beehived harlot again.
Penny Pingleton: [sees Tracy in the window, gets up to leave] Okay, mother. Excuse me.
Prudy Pingleton: Penny!
[offers her a rosary]
Prudy Pingleton: Pray for her. She`s gonna need it.
Velma Von Tussle: They`re just kids, that`s why we have to steer them in the white direction.
Corny Collins: [pause] RIGHT direction?
Velma Von Tussle: Isn`t that what I said?
Velma Von Tussle: `Detroit sound?` What`s that? The cries of people being mugged?
Penny Pingleton: Without that show I have nothing!
Prudy Pingleton: Having nothing builds character!
Amber von Tussel: [to Shelley] Do that again, and there`ll be stumps where your feet are, you got that? You little who...
Link Larkin: [interrupting] Hey, Amber
Amber von Tussel: [to Link] - Oley moley!
Edna Turnblad: [catching Tracy at Motormouth Maybelle`s Record Shop] No call? You just disappear?
[looks Link up and down]
Edna Turnblad: And all mashed up against a crooner!
Tracy Turnblad: Penny, the cops are looking for me everywhere... you could go to jail for helping me!
Penny Pingleton: Tracy, I`m already in jail. Come on!
Penny Pingleton: Oh, no!
Tracy Turnblad: What?
Penny Pingleton: Your hair deflated!
Tracy Turnblad: Let it. It was just a symbol of my conformity to the man.
Penny Pingleton: You are so tough.
Prudy Pingleton: [to Penny] Wait till your father gets out of prison, you`ll see more than a jump rope!
Prudy Pingleton: [tying Penny to her bed with a jump rope, as Penny stoically says nothing]
Prudy Pingleton: Penny Lou Pingleton, you are absolutely, positively, permanently punished. You will live on a diet of saltines and Tang, and you will never leave this room again.
Prudy Pingleton: [tosses holy water on Penny] Devil child, devil child!
Penny Pingleton: [glowers at her mother]
Penny Pingleton: Seaweed? Shhh, don`t let her hear you!
Seaweed: What happened to you?
Penny Pingleton: [sighs] She`s punishing me for harboring a fugitive without her permission. What are you doing?
Seaweed: I`m here to rescue the fair maiden, baby.
Penny Pingleton: Oh, Seaweed, you do care! I was afraid the colors of our skin would keep us apart.
Seaweed: No... but these knots might.
[still trying to untie her]
Seaweed: Was your mom in the Navy?
Seaweed: Livin` in the ghetto, black is everywhere you go. Who`d have thought I`d love a girl whose skin was white as winter snow?
Penny Pingleton: In my ivory tower, life was just a Hostess snack, but now I`ve tasted chocolate, and I`m never goin` back!
Corny Collins: Role Call!
Council Members: I`m Amber! Brad! Tammy! Fender! Brenda! Sketch! Shelley! IQ! Lou Ann! Joey! Mikey! Vicki! Becky! Bix! Jesse! Darla! Paulie! Noreen! Doreen! And I`m... Link!
Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton: [scream from home in front of their TV]
[from trailer]
Motormouth Maybelle: [after demonstrating a dance] That`s the way you do it!
Corny Collins: Tell me, Velma, how exactly do you fire Corny Collins from the Corny Collins show?
[walks away]
Velma Von Tussle: [starts to speak and then pauses, frustrated] They do it all the time on "Lassie"!
Edna Turnblad: First the hair, now this?
Wilbur Turnblad: But, all the kids are battin` up their hair now, hon.
Edna Turnblad: [to Wilbur] You`re no help.
Tracy Turnblad: It`s ratting, daddy.
[to Edna]
Tracy Turnblad: And our first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy does it!
Edna Turnblad: I don`t believe that.
Tracy Turnblad: What do you mean you don`t believe that? How else would it look that way?
Edna Turnblad: I believe that it is naturally stiff.
Police Chief: [while on the lookout for Tracy] I doubt she`ll risk jail to win some beauty pageant.
Velma Von Tussle: [to herself] I risked communicable diseases. She`ll certainly risk jail.
Penny Pingleton: [about Amber] Plastic little spastic.
[from trailer]
Mr. Pinky: [guessing Edna`s sizes] 54-Double D?
Edna Turnblad: Triple E
[chuckles]
Mr. Pinky: [shouts] I hit the Mother Lode!
[from trailer]
Penny Pingleton: [to Tracy, at the dance] Get out there and show them!
Corny Collins: Velma, isn’t this where it’s all heading anyway? Now you can fight it, or you can rock out to it!
Tracy Turnblad: People who are different, their time is coming!
Link Larkin: That`s my shot, Trace.
Tracy Turnblad: But, it`s whats right.
Link Larkin: I`m sorry, Trace. I just think this adventure is a little too big for me.
Wilbur Turnblad: This heart only beats for size 60.
[from trailer]
Motormouth Maybelle: [to Edna] Are you sure you wouldn`t like to have a little something to eat?
Edna Turnblad: [looks at pot roast] Is that braised?
Edna Turnblad: No one is auditioning for anything in this household!
Tracy Turnblad: But why not? Why not?
Edna Turnblad: Dancing is not your future. One day, you`re going to own Edna`s Occidental Laundry.
Tracy Turnblad: I don`t want to be a laundress. I want to be famous.
Edna Turnblad: If you want to be famous, learn how to take blood out of car upholstery. That`s a skill you can take right to the bank.
Teacher: Oh, and Mr. Larkin, perhaps you`d like to share with the rest of the class, Patrick Henry`s immortal last words?
Link Larkin: Kiss my ass?
Corny Collins: I`d like to welcome our new council member, Miss Tracy Turnblad! Tracy, cozy up to ol` Corny and tell us a little bit about yourself
Tracy Turnblad: Well, I watch the Corny Collins show everyday and I do nothing else!
Corny Collins: Oh!
Tracy Turnblad: I also hope to be the first female president... or a rockette!
Corny Collins: As your first act as president, what would you do?
Tracy Turnblad: I`d make everyday Negro Day!
Corny Collins: I read you like tomorrow`s headlines!
Velma Von Tussle: [singing to Wilbur] You`re gonna need more than some seltzer to put out this fire.
Velma Von Tussle: [disgusted] Oh!
[forces a smile]
Velma Von Tussle: Mrs. Turnblad! I`d know whose mother you were ANYWHERE.
[notices Edna`s outfit]
Velma Von Tussle: Oh, let me guess - new dress?
Edna Turnblad: [nods, shyly but proudly]
Velma Von Tussle: Well... you`ll stop traffic!
[laughs]
Edna Turnblad: [looks away, crushed]
Velma Von Tussle: It was nice meeting you... Tracy.
[struts away with Amber, as Edna starts crying]
Tracy Turnblad: Mama, don`t you DARE listen to a word she says!
[Edna appears not to hear her]
Tracy Turnblad: Come on! She`s just worried that I`m going to win the Miss Teenage Hairspray contest!
Edna Turnblad: [stops crying immediately and looks at Tracy, impressed] ... Really?
Motormouth Maybelle: [singing] Oh, oh, oh... you can`t stop today as it comes speeding down the track! Child, yesterday is history, and it`s never coming back! `Cause tomorrow is a brand new day, and it don`t know white from black! `Cause the world keeps spinnin` `round and `round, and my heart`s keepin` time to the speed of sound... I was lost `till I heard the drums and I found my way, `cause you can`t stop the beat!
Link Larkin: Uh... we`re on live.
Amber von Tussel: You have to vote for a person! Not one of the Himalayas.
Velma Von Tussle: Incredible! I could do a fan dance with a lettuce leaf and you would remain completely obtuse!
Wilbur Turnblad: Obtuse?
Velma Von Tussle: Yes, obtuse!
Wilbur Turnblad: I flunked geometry...
Velma Von Tussle: ...yes, and biology too, no doubt!
Mr. Pinky: There`s my shining star! Fantastic to meet you! I`m Mr. Pinky
Tracy Turnblad: It`s so nice to meet you!
Mr. Pinky: Tracy, is this your older sister?
Edna Turnblad: Oh!
[chuckles]
Mr. Pinky: Perhaps you both would like some complimentary couture?
[hands them a tray of doughnuts]
Edna Turnblad: Couture?
Mr. Pinky: [presents Edna with Tracy`s spokesgirl contract] Now, if you could just sign here...
Edna Turnblad: Flattery will not distract Miss Turnblad`s agent from reading the fine print!
Mr. Pinky: [flabbergasted] Her agent?
Edna Turnblad: [hands Tracy the food tray] Tracy, eat your doughnuts.
[to Mr. Pinky]
Edna Turnblad: Let`s talk...
Corny Collins: [at the conclusion of "It`s Hairspray"] Hey, baby! You look like you could use a stiff one!
Amber von Tussel: I lost, Mom. Let`s just deal with it!
Velma Von Tussle: [as she pulls the tallies out of her dress] You did not lose! You can not have lost because I switched the damn tallies!
Edna Turnblad: [standing behind a live television camera] Smile, Miss Crabmeat! You`re on Candid Camera!
Wilbur Turnblad: That was a good shot! Don`t you think?
Edna Turnblad: Well, I had a dream that I would own a coin-operated laundromat but I came down from that cloud real quickly!
Penny Pingleton: I don`t know why we have this room, but there`s food, water, a bed, gas mask, Russian language books...
Tracy Turnblad: ...and it`s really well insulated.
Wilbur Turnblad: [to Edna, as she resists the urge to jump onto the stage and dance] Do it now! Do it now or forever wish you had!
Velma Von Tussle: [singing] Those poor runner-ups/Might still hold some grudges/They padded their `cups`/But I screwed the judges.
[first lines]
Tracy Turnblad: [singing] Oh, oh, oh, woke up today, feeling the way I always do. Oh, oh, oh, hungry for something that I can`t eat. Then I hear that beat. That rhythm of town starts calling me down. It`s like a message from high above. Oh, oh, oh, pulling me out to the smiles and the streets that I love. Good morning, Baltimore!
[last lines]
Ensemble: [singing] Ever since we first saw the sun, a man and woman liked to shake it when the day is done. And so we`re gonna shake and shimmy it and have some fun today. Cause you can`t stop the motion of the ocean or the rain from above. They can try to stop the paradise we`re dreamin` of, but you`ll never stop the rhythm of two hearts in love to stay. Cause you can`t stop the beat. You can`t stop the beat. You can`t stop the beat. You can`t stop the beat. You can`t stop the beat.
Motormouth Maybelle: Napaway. For stubborn hair. Every kink, will be gone in a blink.
Corny Collins: And now it`s time to say goodbye to our very own fun-lovin`, free-wheelin` little Brenda.
Corny Collins: [looks to Brenda] Come on up here, Brenda. Brenda will be taking a leave of absence from the show. How long are you gonna be gone, Brenda?
Brenda: [smiles nervously] Just nine months.
Velma Von Tussle: How can you taint a cancerous can of chemicals?
Wilbur Turnblad: [to a sobbing Edna, who thinks he`s been cheating on her] Honey, took me five years to figure out you were flirting!
[softly]
Wilbur Turnblad: How could I ever?
Velma Von Tussle: [after "New Girl in Town"] How dare they steal our song!
Motormouth Maybelle: They wrote it.
Trivia
Nikki Blonsky`s film debut.
Cameo: [Ricki Lake (Tracy Turnblad in the first Hairspray (1988), director Adam Shankman, and songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman] [William Morris talent agents in the finale - note Shaiman`s very out of character and period beard.]
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# The original Broadway cast included Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy), Harvey Fierstein (Edna), Clarke Thorell (Corny Collins), Laura Bell Bundy (Amber), `Matthew Morrison` (Link), Kerry Butler (Penny), Linda Hart (Velma), Dick Latessa (Wilbur), Corey Reynolds (Seaweed) and Mary Bond Davis (Motormouth Maybelle).
Jerry Stiller, who played Wilbur Turnblad in the original film version of Hairspray (1988), appears as Mr. Pinky in this version.
Billy Crystal and Jim Broadbent were both considered for the role of Wilbur Turnblad before the role eventually went to Christopher Walken.
Elijah Kelley had to go through an hour of hair dressing every day.
It took John Travolta four hours to put on the fat suit and make-up required for him to become Edna Turnblad.
Amanda Bynes` bunches took two hours in hair and make-up every morning.
To facilitate filming for the "Run and Tell That" dance number, the production cut up a 1957 GMC transit bus into 9 pieces.
Nikki Blonsky revealed on the May 16, 2007 episode of "Oprah" that when she entered the studio on the first day, John Travolta had said to her, "Come to Momma".
The soundtrack for the new "Hairspray" features a rendition of all of the "original" Tracys (Ricki Lake from the first film, Marissa Jaret Winokur from the Broadway cast, and Nikki Blonsky from this film) singing "Mama, I`m A Big Girl Now". Harvey Fierstein also appears in this song near the end, but isn`t credited.
According to Film Journal International, the song "Big, Blonde and Beautiful (Reprise)" was added in as at the suggestion of Michelle Pfeiffer to replace a scripted scene, giving her the chance to sing.
# Two characters not featured in this movie that were in the 1988 film are Arvin Hodgepile and Franklin von Tussle. The characters were both played by actors who have died since the original film: Divine in 1988 and Sonny Bono in 1998.
Travolta`s fat-suit weighed more than 30 pounds.
There are 5 gel-filled silicone prosthetic appliances for parts of Edna`s face
One day, while the cast was waiting between takes, John Travolta began singing "Summer Nights" from his first musical, Grease (1978). Co-stars Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron were so excited that they immediately began sending text messages to their friends about what was happening.
Penny Pingleton`s dress in the "You Can`t Stop the Beat" song was made from the curtains in her room.
Most of the cast jokingly called the song "You Can`t Stop the Beat" "you can`t stop to breathe" because of its pace and fast-moving lyrics. The exception was Queen Latifah, who said that she had no trouble singing a lot of words very quickly because she had started her career as a rapper, and that`s what rappers do.
Meryl Streep and Madonna were considered for the role of Velma Von Tussle.
Costume designer Rita Ryack actually got vintage outfits for some of the characters to wear during a number of the scenes shot in the high school. Link Larkin`s blue sweater was a sweater vest found at a vintage shop.
Amanda Bynes` character, Penny, is seen constantly eating lollipops. Her father, who is a dentist, became very worried for Amanda`s dental health, as it was estimated she ate about 40 lollipops a day. Amanda told him that she wasn`t really eating all of them, when in reality she ate them all.
Season 3 "American Idol: The Search for a Superstar" (2002) runner up Diana DeGarmo auditioned to play Penny Pingleton but did not get the part because she was "too short". She is, however, in the Broadway show.
This 2007 production of "Hairspray" is the first time a John Waters story made into a movie was not filmed in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland; Toronto was used instead.
Nikki Blonsky celebrated her 18th birthday with her family and friends while on the set of this movie.
The creative team modified several songs from the Original Broadway production for use in this film. In addition, several vocal numbers from the stage musical were removed altogether, while several new songs were added: - "Mama, I`m a Big Girl Now", a number performed in the stage musical by Tracy, Penny, and Amber opposite their respective mothers, was reluctantly cut from the script during preproduction - but was sung over the credits by all three "original" Tracys (Ricki Lake, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Nikki Blonsky). While the crew liked the song, screenwriter Leslie Dixon felt the number did not adequately advance the plot, and would also be impossible to film without a three-way split screen, which neither she nor director Adam Shankman wanted to use. - "It Takes Two", sung in the stage musical by Link to Tracy during her first day on "The Corny Collins Show", was relegated to an earlier position in the film, where Link sings it just before Tracy learns that the TV station will be holding auditions for a new Council Member. However, only the song`s coda remains in the final release print. - "Cooties", performed by Amber at the climactic "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant in the stage musical, is also instead present in the film as an instrumental during the pageant contestants` dance-off. "Mama" and "It Takes Two" are also present in the final film as instrumentals during scenes featuring broadcasts of "The Corny Collins Show". - A reprise of "Big, Blond, and Beautiful", sung by Velma and Edna, was added to the film as part of a new subplot involving Velma Von Tussle`s attempt to seduce Tracy`s father Wilbur. - "I Can Wait", a climactic ballad written for the film, was to have been performed by Tracy as she is hiding out in Penny`s basement. The sequence was indeed filmed, but was removed from the final release print. - "The New Girl in Town" was a number written for the stage musical, but dropped during the workshopping stage. The song was resurrected and used in this film to underscore Tracy`s rise-to-fame montage, and also to show "The Corny Collins Show" on Negro Day. While Negro Day is a pivotal element of all three versions of "Hairspray", it is never seen in the 1988 film or the stage musical. - "Ladies` Choice", an upbeat song performed by Link at a school dance, was added to the film to replace "The Madison", a dance number carried over into the stage musical from the original 1988 film. - "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)" was written for the film for use during the closing credits.
#
# Six songs were written for the film, but didn`t make the final cut. "I Can Wait" (the only one filmed, available on Special Edition DVD), "Mrs. Von Tussle Says" (meant to replace Miss Baltimore Crabs), "Save Your Applause `Till The End" (Velma follows Tracy around, complaining), "Turn Back The Hands of Time" (Original "Come So Far"), "It Ain`t Over `Till the Fat Lady Sings" (Tracy confronts Amber at the Miss Teenage Hairspray Pagant), "It Doesn`t Get Better Than This" (Wilbur comforts Tracy). All the songs are on the 2-Disc Special Edition Soundtrack.
Cameo: [John Waters] [The flasher in the opening `Good Morning Baltimore` sequence.]
In a classroom scene a teacher mentions that Everest is not Earth`s highest geographical point. She asks what the actual highest point is and there isn`t time for an answer before the bell. The answer is Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador, which is the furthest point from the Earth`s center, but closer to local sea level than Everest. (The Earth bulges at the equator.)
After Penny and Seaweed fall in love, she sings, "And if they try to stop us, Seaweed/We`ll call the N-double A-CP," a nod to the fact that until the 1967 initiation of the Supreme Court litigation that became the Loving v. Virginia decision, interracial marriage was illegal in 17 states, including Maryland. This film is set in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1962, so Seaweed and Penny`s relationship was not just unusual or taboo but in fact grounds for imprisonment.
In the scene in which Prudy Pingleton reads the bible out loud to herself, she is reading from Genesis 19:30-38, in which Lot`s daughters do indeed make their father drunk and then conceive children with him.
Hairspray opened at the Neil Simon Theater on August 15, 2002 and has had 2375 performances as of May 2008.
Adam Shankman offered the role of Link Larkin to Zac Efron after seeing him in _High School Musical (2006)_.
Cameo: [Rikki Lake] Talent Agent at Corny Collins Show.
Rumors circulated that Jesse McCartney and Lucas Grabeel were in the running for the role of Link Larkin before eventually going to Zac Efron.
Actor Dermot Mulroney plays cello on the soundtrack along with the Hollywood Studio Orchestra.
The "Nicest Kids in Town" are; Amber Von Tussle, Brad, Tammy, Fender, Brenda, Sketch, Shelley, IQ, Lou-Ann, Joey, Mickey, Vicki, Becky, Bix, Jessie, Darla, Paulie, Noreen, Doreen, Link Larkin and when Brenda leaves, Tracey Turnblad.
This film reunites Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken; they had previously appeared together as villains in Batman Returns (1992).
With $27.5 million, this had the best opening ever for a movie musical until Mamma Mia! (2008).
This film brings together John Travolta who starred in Grease (1978), and Michelle Pfeiffer who starred in Grease 2 (1982).
Adam Shankman made Zac Efron make out with the picture frame in the "Without Love" sequence for over an hour.
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Nikki Blonsky
(as Tracy Turnblad)
with Zac Efron
(as Link Larkin)
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