Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to you, and that's what you really miss podcast.
Speaker 1: It is another movie.
Speaker 2: Musical, specifically another zach Efron movie musical. This is the
Speaker 2: zach Efron Movie Podcast. Now next week we're doing seventeen again.
Speaker 1: Don't say that we're not doing that.
Speaker 2: Is there a musical number in seventeen again?
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
Speaker 2: But Shankman directed this and.
Speaker 1: That also great film. What a director, that guy.
Speaker 2: He's just got I feel like he's just got like
Speaker 2: sleeper hits on hits on hits, meaning like he's not
Speaker 2: super famous like out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but he is. He he does it all. Wedding
Speaker 1: planner walk to remember. Yes, I'm like, get out of hearing. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, well but today is hair Spray and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of Glee over you know, crossover crossover, waterfalling, Shankman,
Speaker 1: Zach Woodley, There's that's a lot of dancer friends we
Speaker 1: have in this film. So what a stacked cast.
Speaker 2: I just when we were talking about what we were
Speaker 2: going to do with this podcast, and we were talking
Speaker 2: about films and TV shows and things, I feel like
Speaker 2: you know we're naming like Molan Rouge Chicago Cabaret. However,
Speaker 2: when somebody brought up hair Spray, we were like, oh,
Speaker 2: I have to be honest. I only want you to
Speaker 2: be honest.
Speaker 1: I don't remember watching this film and being like and
Speaker 1: maybe this was because it was like in the in
Speaker 1: like I was so deep in the musicals that like
Speaker 1: everything just felt like, oh this is fun but whatever.
Speaker 1: But watching it back now, like I was going in like, yeah,
Speaker 1: sure we'll watch Hairspray. Unlike if we were to be like, oh, Chicago,
Speaker 1: which I know we'll do. I'm like one of my
Speaker 1: favorite films of all time, musical or not, Hairspray not
Speaker 1: so much. But watching this film last night brought me
Speaker 1: mm hmmm, immense joy and feeling correct. It was wow,
Speaker 1: blown away.
Speaker 2: When you're not a hater, the amount of joy that
Speaker 2: you can let into your life. And I'm saying that
Speaker 2: as a hater m because I think I probably I
Speaker 2: remember thinking this movie was really good and you know,
Speaker 2: having some critiques like oh, well, this person's not a
Speaker 2: great vocalist or this like who cares?
Speaker 1: This was so good, top to bottom, so good. I
Speaker 1: didn't stop moving the performances were unreal. It was just
Speaker 1: everybody was giving you You were texting.
Speaker 2: We were texting each other last night because we were
Speaker 2: both watching this. Yeah, and I think part of you know,
Speaker 2: maybe why this one didn't stick out to you or
Speaker 2: it was wasn't one of the first things that came
Speaker 2: to mind. We were talking about musicals. Watch is because
Speaker 2: we were sort of at that time, between like two
Speaker 2: thousand and this Camp two thousand and seven, there were
Speaker 2: a lot of great movie musicals or musical things happening.
Speaker 2: We were done at a high level. We were a
Speaker 2: bit spoiled, that's right, And I think we've sort of
Speaker 2: gotten at that point we were. We were a little
Speaker 2: desensitized to like how hard it is to make a
Speaker 2: great sure musical, and like how to how it translates
Speaker 2: from the stage to film, and also the journey of
Speaker 2: this one. This was film to stage to film, right.
Speaker 1: I When I saw this on Broadway, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: It was not these feel good musicals were not what
Speaker 1: I was looking for at that time. I was looking
Speaker 1: for an angsty musical that made me feel like I
Speaker 1: wanted to cry. I was a teenager in my early twenties,
Speaker 1: like I wanted Michelle Schoenberg opera style musicals like Miss
Speaker 1: Saigone Lay, Miss like give Me the Big Ones. So
Speaker 1: Hairspray at the time was like this, like wonderful ras
Speaker 1: sort of like a musical that like came in and
Speaker 1: was like it was powerful, the message was great and
Speaker 1: it was also feel good, right, and I don't know
Speaker 1: what it was. But I didn't like, turn on Hairspray
Speaker 1: and listen to the cast album, right, But I'm turning
Speaker 1: on the album snacked to the cast album.
Speaker 2: Now you had a different point in your life.
Speaker 1: Now, Wow, it's wonderful. You know, the music is great.
Speaker 2: Yes, I have questions for you because I've never seen
Speaker 2: the Stage Musical. And I was talking with Austin last
Speaker 2: night because yeah, I came up after I watched it.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh god, that movie's so good, and
Speaker 2: he's like, it's amazing. He's like that being said, he's like,
Speaker 2: I even like the Stage Musical more and he's and
Speaker 2: he was saying he loves the movie. So what what
Speaker 2: was what is the experience like? Because there are arson
Speaker 2: differences between the movie and the musical. They changed some lyrics,
Speaker 2: they had some songs for the movie do you see
Speaker 2: that Morrison in it?
Speaker 1: Yes, I did see that Marson in it. I actually
Speaker 1: think I liked the movie more hmmm. I don't remember
Speaker 1: vividly this Hairspray Broadway experience. I was also seeing, like
Speaker 1: in volume I was seeing musicals at this point, and like, yes,
Speaker 1: you had to be really spectacular for to like really
Speaker 1: stick out of my mind. I enjoyed it. I remember that,
Speaker 1: and I remember seeing that, but I don't remember it
Speaker 1: being like life changing to me. And I think that
Speaker 1: the camp was really harnessed in the film, yes, versus
Speaker 1: the camp on musical on a musical theater stage can
Speaker 1: come across as to musical theater e not campy. So
Speaker 1: it felt a little too elevated without like the juxtaposition
Speaker 1: of like what was going on in the world and
Speaker 1: like creating the world more vividly in the movie.
Speaker 2: I think that was one of the Yeah, because one
Speaker 2: of my favorite parts of the movie. And I think
Speaker 2: this is a testament probably to Adam Shankman who directed it.
Speaker 2: The you're as an audience member, we're able to buy
Speaker 2: into the absurdity and that camp that you're talking about
Speaker 2: out of the movie immediately. Yes, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: sensitive topics in this show. There's a lot of things
Speaker 2: that feel like they haven't aged well necessarily. However, in
Speaker 2: context with like the world that they have created in
Speaker 2: this film and the show, it's all sort of when
Speaker 2: something is said like out of pocket, there's a character
Speaker 2: reaction acknowledging that in the movie, yes, and like that
Speaker 2: feels very real and I and I feel like that's
Speaker 2: such a delicate balance. And I feel like because you
Speaker 2: have these ground, really grounded moments mixed with the complete
Speaker 2: opposite in every single scene, and it's just so so impressive.
Speaker 2: And I think technically this movie is done perfect so well,
Speaker 2: it's perfect, Like the lighting is beautiful, it looks there's
Speaker 2: some shots of Michelle Pfeiffer there's like a pan, Oh,
Speaker 2: it's just Michelle Feiffer on film is also just like
Speaker 2: stupid stunning. But there were some of these shots where
Speaker 2: I was like this, if you had shown me this
Speaker 2: movie and said this is from like the fifties or sixties,
Speaker 2: I would have believed you right, Like how it's colored, Yes, yes,
Speaker 2: it just looks really really stunning. I mean how they
Speaker 2: did up like John Travolta, Oh my god, absolutely insane
Speaker 2: like so good. I don't I don't understand how Shankman
Speaker 2: was able to accomplish that.
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, it's it's pretty amazing. I mean, a
Speaker 1: good director or a fabulous director, a really great cast,
Speaker 1: a great story, wonderful music, like you just have to
Speaker 1: buy in, right, And obviously it takes a village, but
Speaker 1: like all the pieces worked because they were all acting
Speaker 1: at the highest level.
Speaker 2: Right, It's just how much we love this for an hour?
Speaker 1: No, I know. Okay, well, let's talk about some of
Speaker 1: the things and then we can get deeper into it.
Speaker 2: We fully got the number. You and I haven't like
Speaker 2: to sit so into it. When we text each other
Speaker 2: about these things, we really keep it limited because we
Speaker 2: want to keep saving the past. And then we don't
Speaker 2: do an intro.
Speaker 1: We just go into it. I also watched this on
Speaker 1: my computer last night because to save David usually watched
Speaker 1: TV at the end of the night together. It's like
Speaker 1: something we do or like, you know, we converse or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I'm going to save you. I
Speaker 1: have to watch Hairspray Musical on my computer. But all
Speaker 1: I wanted was to watch this on big screen, like
Speaker 1: so desperately. I was like, oh please.
Speaker 2: It's it's sort of an insane movie, like as you
Speaker 2: would say with an album. There's no skips, you know,
Speaker 2: like you do this casting department, this casting director out
Speaker 2: of their mind.
Speaker 1: This is Hairspray and it premiered July twentieth, two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, and the number one song was Umbrella Byriama
Speaker 1: featuring Jay Z and.
Speaker 2: We've never been the same Never No, that honestly changed
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 1: Honestly, these number ones right now are hitting hard. Do
Speaker 1: you know?
Speaker 2: Two thousand and seven was a great year, great year
Speaker 2: minus the Writer's strike, great year. Number one movie Harry
Speaker 2: Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the best Harry Potter films.
Speaker 2: My favorite Harry Potter book, so good.
Speaker 1: This was released the week prior to Hairspray, the fifth
Speaker 1: book and movie in the series. And there's no glean
Speaker 1: news obviously since this is preakly, but here's some pop
Speaker 1: culture snapshots. There was summer TV. It means a lot
Speaker 1: of reality shows. So American Idol season six had just
Speaker 1: wrapped in May with Jordan's Sparks as the winner. Can
Speaker 1: you remember that?
Speaker 2: Yep?
Speaker 1: Ooh, and so you think you can Dance, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite shows at the time, was a big summer staple.
Speaker 1: Obviously I watched every episode. Shankin was eight was it
Speaker 1: Judge on that as well? He's just in everywhere.
Speaker 2: Disney Channel had Hannah Montana and Sweed Life, a second
Speaker 2: Cody pre High School Musical two release which came out
Speaker 2: in August, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the
Speaker 2: final book of the Harry Potter series, was released the
Speaker 2: very next day at midnight, and I dragged my mom
Speaker 2: to the.
Speaker 1: Store, Oh, Burne's and Noble to.
Speaker 2: Go get it. We're on vacation. Oh wow, which take me?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was at Barnes and Noble for hours and I
Speaker 2: read it in two days.
Speaker 1: Hey, listen, if you're if you're trying to drag your
Speaker 1: mother to a bookstore, Like if my child was like,
Speaker 1: please take me to this bookstore, I'd be like willingly,
Speaker 1: like you take sit what you do? Yeah? No, yeah.
Speaker 1: Facebook was just beginning to explode beyond colleges. We had
Speaker 1: talked about this in the previous episode Kevin, I Think
Speaker 1: and and my Space was still very big.
Speaker 2: Also, it was like the golden era of like gossip magazines, Paris, Hilton,
Speaker 2: Lindsay Lowe and Britney Spears. For better or for Worse,
Speaker 2: they were remember that everywhere, So as we've already been
Speaker 2: talking about. Hairspray was directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman.
Speaker 2: He is a director, a producer, a writer, a dancer
Speaker 2: and author, and actor and obviously a choreographer. He began
Speaker 2: in musical theater and was a dancer in music videos
Speaker 2: for Paul Abdul and Janet Jackson. He's choreographed a bunch
Speaker 2: of movies, including Hairspray. He directed The Wedding Planner, as
Speaker 2: we said, a walkcher, remember bringing down the house, the pacifier,
Speaker 2: cheaper Bary that doesn't two Rock of Ages, which I'm
Speaker 2: sure we're gonna get to at some point too. I
Speaker 2: was even more Glee crossover, Yeah, and disenchanted. He's also
Speaker 2: produced the Step Up movies, the Step Up TV show.
Speaker 2: That night was on seventeen again, the last song, And
Speaker 2: as I was watching this movie and as we you know,
Speaker 2: just got done recapping Glee, and how I keep coming
Speaker 2: back to the rocky horror Glee show and how beautiful
Speaker 2: it was and how it felt different than all the
Speaker 2: other episodes in a way he shoots and watching this movie. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it all just came together. That Shankman is the thing here.
Speaker 1: Shankman also likes to put himself in his own films
Speaker 1: and make a very very small cameo. Did you see him?
Speaker 2: I sure did. There were a lot of cameos in
Speaker 2: this movie.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, he also was he Yeah, he always makes
Speaker 1: a cameo in his film. Maybe not in his TV show,
Speaker 1: not in Glee, but in all of his movies. This
Speaker 1: screenplay was by Leslie Dixon Smashed It Smashed and the
Speaker 1: associate choreographers our very own Zach Woodley. And this was
Speaker 1: based on the two thousand and two broad A musical,
Speaker 1: which in turn was based on John waters nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: eight film Hairspray The.
Speaker 2: Year I Was Born Wow, which was also so it
Speaker 2: starred Ricky Lake.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2: And did you see Ricky Lake?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: No, I didn't see cameo sitting next to Adam Shankman.
Speaker 2: Did you see John Waters cameo?
Speaker 1: No, I didn't see that one either.
Speaker 2: John Waters cameo was the flasher Flasher in the beginning
Speaker 2: of the movie. And Jerry Stiller, Yes, Jerry Sailor, but
Speaker 2: Jerry Stiller played Wilbur and the and the movie. Yep,
Speaker 2: he's mister Pinky, the dress shop owner, and this Ricky
Speaker 2: Lake Zach Zach Woodley played one of the smoking guys.
Speaker 2: I loved this is so out of but when she
Speaker 2: does go into the teacher's lounge and they're all smoking,
Speaker 2: I loved it. I loved it. I don't have anything
Speaker 2: else to say it beyond.
Speaker 1: No notes, no notes. This cast is stacked.
Speaker 2: This cast is dumb.
Speaker 1: John Travolta, what in their minds was like, I know
Speaker 1: who ed Na turn Blad should be, John Travolta, And
Speaker 1: I feel.
Speaker 2: Like John Travolta is probably knocking down their door to
Speaker 2: play this.
Speaker 1: You know what, I don't know. I don't know. Either
Speaker 1: way it worked, they both clearly wanted to do it.
Speaker 2: Harvey Firestein, who originated this role on Broadway, is a
Speaker 2: goddamn national icon, hero icon and those are some big
Speaker 2: shoes to fill.
Speaker 1: Right and and Harvey is so one of a kind
Speaker 1: to create a role like this, or to originate this
Speaker 1: version of the role, like to then have somebody step
Speaker 1: into it, like you were saying, like it's it's it's
Speaker 1: a tough one and has to be made originally again
Speaker 1: in a way, right, like you can't replicate Harvey's performance
Speaker 1: or him, so yeah, you have to create this new thing.
Speaker 1: And I was reading about John Javolta playing Edna Turnblatt,
Speaker 1: and I was kind of curious about like having John
Speaker 1: play this role and like what the people thought, and
Speaker 1: like is this something that should have done and happened?
Speaker 1: And of course, like this all started with a man
Speaker 1: playing Edna in the original right, right, And as we've
Speaker 1: gone through these different iterations of the film and musical,
Speaker 1: like John said that he wanted to not not make
Speaker 1: this an ode to drag like as it was originally
Speaker 1: kind of created, but really played this as a woman,
Speaker 1: not a not a man in drag like. It just
Speaker 1: it was and that is his version that made this.
Speaker 1: So this version is so there was something So I'm
Speaker 1: trying to look for the right word.
Speaker 2: Endearing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, close, warming, endearing, joyful, like honest, Like I
Speaker 1: just was like I sunk my teeth so deeply into
Speaker 1: this character, and I was like, I am in, I'm in.
Speaker 1: I love Edna. I think it is the sweetest. I
Speaker 1: love their relationship. I both totally believed John, like it
Speaker 1: was just everything it was everything.
Speaker 2: And I believed I it makes sense that he would
Speaker 2: say that because I think if you try to come
Speaker 2: across what you can do on stage is one thing,
Speaker 2: and what right I can do on film is a
Speaker 2: completely different thing. Right, And I think if you had
Speaker 2: someone playing it like they did on stage, it would
Speaker 2: probably work. But it's a completely different feeling. And how
Speaker 2: this role is written and how John Travolta played it
Speaker 2: so sensitively yep, just works on film. And who is
Speaker 2: better who have the capability more than John Travolta who
Speaker 2: has been in numerous musical movies.
Speaker 1: Is Danny Zuka, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: And like can dance, can sing and is also just
Speaker 2: as good at acting.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And there's not a lot of those triple threats around.
Speaker 1: No, but clearly in here there are.
Speaker 2: So they're all in this movie.
Speaker 1: Michelle Viiffer, lis Velma, Christopher walk In. I mean one
Speaker 1: and only Michelle Pfeiffer. So when I'm talking about someone
Speaker 1: who's let's say not a vocalist, yep, Michelle Viiffer might
Speaker 1: be that person actors first. Yeah, However, I every second
Speaker 1: like you need a big vocalist for this role. No,
Speaker 1: And I bought every minute of what she did.
Speaker 2: Her presence is the most important thing. And she's such
Speaker 2: an incredible actor, gorgeous. Again, when you are in this
Speaker 2: hyped up musical, campy world, think about any scene she's in,
Speaker 2: how that could have been a caricature? Totally and not
Speaker 2: for one second do you feel Yes, all of them,
Speaker 2: but I feel like especially her, like you know, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're dressed. I think her John Travolta's rolls because it's
Speaker 2: so easily been caricatures.
Speaker 1: Totally, totally and the most elevated Christopher Walking Amanda Binds.
Speaker 2: Christopher Hawking makes me laugh.
Speaker 1: It's the toy Shop, uh musical number. I just was like,
Speaker 1: this is actually everything I've ever Walking can do anything.
Speaker 1: Just like I was watching this and David was watching
Speaker 1: Dune and he popped up on the screen and I
Speaker 1: was like, man, this really this guy really can do
Speaker 1: it all.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: I was just about to say the only time Christopher
Speaker 2: walking doesn't really work for me watching Dune too, and
Speaker 2: he pops up and he's just he's Christopher Walking, and
Speaker 2: do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like you know, he's always Christopher.
Speaker 2: It totally works in this It works. And catch me
Speaker 2: if you can it works in everything he does, and
Speaker 2: doone too, just like this is like, what's what's Chris walking?
Speaker 2: I just picture Chord doing the accent. You have Timmy
Speaker 2: shallow May who was like very serious and this whole
Speaker 2: thing is so serious and Christopher walk stop. But I
Speaker 2: feel like he doesn't necessarily get a chance to be
Speaker 2: like when he's so sweet, like in this movie he
Speaker 2: loves Edna adores and and he loves his daughter, and
Speaker 2: like those moments are so touching, and I feel like
Speaker 2: we don't get a lot of Christopher walking like that.
Speaker 1: Correct, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2: And he's so sweet and heartbreaking in these moments. Like
Speaker 2: everyone really makes so much of their time. And also
Speaker 2: you know, of course that's a testament to the writing.
Speaker 1: Yep. And yeah, it's a really big cast in a happens,
Speaker 1: But none of it seems cut short, Like none of
Speaker 1: it seems like you don't get the full picture right.
Speaker 2: Amanda Binds hardly speaks in this movie. However, in the
Speaker 2: back of my head.
Speaker 1: She is a gigantary part part of this movie, huge part,
Speaker 1: huge part.
Speaker 2: And I feel like she doesn't speak for like the
Speaker 2: first twenty minutes of this movie and when she does,
Speaker 2: it's like a word.
Speaker 1: Like but with the lollipop and the hair and the
Speaker 1: looks and the reactions and the physical comedy and.
Speaker 2: Like the whole thing is just and she just really
Speaker 2: sticks out. Amanda Binds again not a vocalist, genius casting
Speaker 2: because she is a she is a community. Yeah, like
Speaker 2: absolutely brilliant and what she can bring to that role
Speaker 2: like that is that's what she brought.
Speaker 1: Was like Amanda to Penny and it worked beautifully.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, we talked, but her Alison Janny plays
Speaker 2: her mom stupid every time I say stupid. By the way,
Speaker 2: for those of you who don't know me, it's a
Speaker 2: huge compliment. Alison Janny and Amanda Bynes his mother and daughter.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Alison Jenny's in about three scenes in this movie, and
Speaker 1: is also makes a big.
Speaker 2: Splash when she falls over that coffee table.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's Alison God. Everybody like you get
Speaker 1: like you get there.
Speaker 2: Sorry to everyone listening.
Speaker 1: I just keep saying, you get their revenge, you know,
Speaker 1: like all these characters like the Michelle Pfeiffer, like Velma
Speaker 1: and Prudy, you know, Prudy and all these characters that
Speaker 1: are like the evil characters Britney Snow's character, you know Amber,
Speaker 1: they're all they say such outlandish, terrible, inappropriate things. They're mean,
Speaker 1: they're not good, but like you still they're still human
Speaker 1: to this movie, Like they're still human and their comedic
Speaker 1: moments are funny and they're the revenge of like them
Speaker 1: not winning at the end is it's fulfilling, and it's
Speaker 1: just really well like all the arcs are well played
Speaker 1: out and seen and shown displayed in like such a
Speaker 1: beautiful way.
Speaker 2: It reminds me of high school musical of where good
Speaker 2: just always wins, right, And this obviously has a bit
Speaker 2: more of as some dialogue and story that would never
Speaker 2: be on a Disney Channel movie, right, But at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, we don't like we don't really
Speaker 2: drill down into those too far before we can get
Speaker 2: ourselves out of it. And so at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, like our good people, our good characters constantly
Speaker 2: are winning, even when Christopher Walkin gets accused of doing
Speaker 2: something bad, you know, like that's the least bad thing
Speaker 2: to happen in this movie.
Speaker 1: Right, right exactly. But and the thing was that like
Speaker 1: Tracy knows the good, like she sees the good in
Speaker 1: him and is like she didn't. You have to know
Speaker 1: he would never do that, right, Like there's this like
Speaker 1: level of trust and giving people the benefit of the
Speaker 1: doubt in this way, like Tracy in particular in this
Speaker 1: character that like she just believes so deeply and knows
Speaker 1: who they are and is like, but they would never
Speaker 1: do that, like she I like it pulls everybody else
Speaker 1: out of it.
Speaker 2: Our main character is someone we can trust, yes, and
Speaker 2: she's smart, Like she's not stupid at any turn. No,
Speaker 2: it's not just blind optimism exactly like she happens. It's
Speaker 2: sort of like she's she's like anything she wants and
Speaker 2: she sees or envisions happens, and it's always a positive thing.
Speaker 2: It's always a good thing. And it's like even her
Speaker 2: love for Link, it's like it just happens and it's easy,
Speaker 2: and it's like we love her for it.
Speaker 1: Before we get too deep in theos again. James Marsden,
Speaker 1: Corney Collin, Queen, Latifa Motormouth, Maybell, Britney snow and Raman Telsa,
Speaker 1: zac Efron, Link, Elijah, Kelly Seaweed, Alison, Jenny Nicki, Blonsky,
Speaker 1: are Star, Taylor Parks, Lily Nez, Jane Eastwood, Miss w Lindsay,
Speaker 1: Paul Dooley, and just I could go on and on
Speaker 1: about these actors.
Speaker 2: We should probably do a whole separate episode just.
Speaker 1: Talking about this cast list, honestly.
Speaker 2: So, I saw something on I think it was TikTok
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago about Britney Snow talking about
Speaker 2: getting cast in this movie. Yeah, and how she auditioned
Speaker 2: the first time and didn't get it and she's like,
Speaker 2: I know this sounds crazy. Yeah, She's like, I know
Speaker 2: this sounds crazy. She went to a psychic or something
Speaker 2: like that. Sam, did you see this too? Am I Right?
Speaker 2: So she went to a psychic and the psychic told
Speaker 2: her it was her part, so she like fought for
Speaker 2: and went back in and did it again, and you
Speaker 2: know the rest is history. Hey, and I also loved
Speaker 2: as a huge fan of American Dreams, where her and
Speaker 2: Vanessa Lunji starred, which is also in this era. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it feels just right seeing Britney Snow in the sixties.
Speaker 1: Right, Oh, yes, yes, yes, I see what you're saying.
Speaker 1: I I can't I can see other people playing this role.
Speaker 1: This is probably the most castable role of them all
Speaker 1: in a way that's like the Regina George and the
Speaker 1: you know, Ameron Tusslo, like the beautiful blonde villain, right.
Speaker 1: But Brittany, I don't. She's so likable even in this
Speaker 1: character of like I think that's what I was talking about,
Speaker 1: like the human side of it, right, even though she's
Speaker 1: the villain and she says all these awful things and
Speaker 1: is in the wrong and is not a good person, right, Like,
Speaker 1: she's still human and I still like want to watch
Speaker 1: her and I want to see what happens, and I'm
Speaker 1: still like invested in it versus like somebody that you
Speaker 1: a character that you hate so deeply that you're like,
Speaker 1: I don't even I can't watch this movie. You know,
Speaker 1: she does such a really good job with it. But
Speaker 1: that's so interesting. I love when people actors like campaign
Speaker 1: for things that they really believe because they're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm like, get.
Speaker 2: It, genius, genius move from all sides of zach Efron
Speaker 2: going from my school musical to this singing it's his
Speaker 2: real singing voice. Oh good, like cut being one of
Speaker 2: the sort of bigger male characters in this movie. And
Speaker 2: also I feel like when we write to high school musical.
Speaker 2: The way he's able. I think he's such a good
Speaker 2: actor mm hmm. And he's able to do heightened things
Speaker 2: like anything with Disney or even this, yes, where it's
Speaker 2: not easy to sort of be like the well, your
Speaker 2: whole character trait, we were one character trait is that
Speaker 2: you're hot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, right, like.
Speaker 2: There's nothing else to you other than oh, he's just
Speaker 2: really good looking and he's nice, Like that's that that
Speaker 2: can get tired. It's like a superhero. Yeah. And he's
Speaker 2: so charismatic and you never see the doubt in his
Speaker 2: eyes or the corniness in his eyes of like what
Speaker 2: he's doing. He's so fully invested and committed. And you
Speaker 2: can tell the difference obviously when you see someone who's
Speaker 2: not naturally as good as he is, and he was
Speaker 2: super young when he's doing these things and it's so good. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wish there were more opportunities for people to do
Speaker 2: movies like this, because you get to see other sides
Speaker 2: of actors like this, and so many actors can do
Speaker 2: what he's able to do. I don't know if they're
Speaker 2: as good as him, but he's.
Speaker 1: He's very i mean excellent what he does, and he
Speaker 1: does it all right, but this is Yeah.
Speaker 2: Did you know I know Elijah Kelly. No, I grew
Speaker 2: up with Elijah Kelly.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, wow.
Speaker 2: My boy band days.
Speaker 1: So Elijah was out in La.
Speaker 2: Yes. And Elijah Kelly was always maybe the most talented
Speaker 2: person I've had ever known. I mean, like I remember
Speaker 2: meeting him. I heard him saying we were in the
Speaker 2: recording studio. Actually, I don't know why he was there.
Speaker 2: I don't know who he knew. He got on the drums,
Speaker 2: he started playing the drums like he is just so
Speaker 2: musically gifted. Wow, I saw him. I saw him like
Speaker 2: a year and a half ago, two years ago, first
Speaker 2: Simon a while and I remember when he got this,
Speaker 2: and I it just made so much sense. I need
Speaker 2: to know he acted, and I knew him as like
Speaker 2: a musician and yeah, of course, of course he's gonna
Speaker 2: be incredible in this. And it was like at the
Speaker 2: time zac Efron had blown up and it's John Travolta,
Speaker 2: Michelle Pfeiffer, Like Elijah Kelly is on these billboards like
Speaker 2: Hollywood where we all used to like hang out, and
Speaker 2: like there's Elijah. He's seaweed, yes, and he's a standout
Speaker 2: in this movie talk about one of my naturally gifted
Speaker 2: and charismatic Yeah, like, he's up there. I don't doubt
Speaker 2: for one second that he does not belong with Zach
Speaker 2: Effron and Michelle Pfeiffer and John Travolta and Christopher Walking
Speaker 2: and Queen Latifa.
Speaker 1: Oh he held his own for sure. I mean he
Speaker 1: was that. He was extraordinary. He's so good, He's so good,
Speaker 1: and his voice is something else.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, have you seen the original movie, the
Speaker 2: John Waters version of this movie.
Speaker 1: No, I am not. I should. I have either no
Speaker 1: need to watch it. I barely have time to watch
Speaker 1: the movies for this podcast, so I guess.
Speaker 2: We'll have to make it an official assignment.
Speaker 1: So then yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. No, but I
Speaker 1: can imagine in the eighties what this musical movie was.
Speaker 1: I mean I've seen pictures, you know, film styles from it.
Speaker 1: But like, h even more so, I think this musical
Speaker 1: probably meant it was a lot of it was so
Speaker 1: relevant to the political times and to the I'm sure
Speaker 1: that some of the other topics were a little more
Speaker 1: digestible at that point as well, in terms of like
Speaker 1: having Tracy Turnblad be a Kurby girl as the lead
Speaker 1: of this musical, right, and having I'm sure having uh
Speaker 1: Edna be played by a man also because it was
Speaker 1: always played by a male actor. Right, Yes, it was
Speaker 1: the drag queen and actor Divine.
Speaker 2: Wait, Divine was in the original Hairspray. Yeah, good god, Jenna,
Speaker 2: we are bad gays.
Speaker 1: We have to go watch that now, I know. Wow.
Speaker 3: Hi, I'm Terry Hatcher and you may remember me as
Speaker 3: Susan Meyer from Desperate Housewives.
Speaker 4: I'm Andrea Bowen, though you may know me as Terry's
Speaker 4: on screen daughter Julie Meyer.
Speaker 5: And I'm Emerson Tenney, Terry's real life daughter.
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Speaker 1: Of whom is watching the show for the very first time. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's me Andrea.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine if I had let her watch it
Speaker 3: as a six year old.
Speaker 1: We will dive into all the behind the scenes stories
Speaker 1: of Osteria Lane.
Speaker 5: And look at how the show continues to inform conversations
Speaker 5: about relationships, identity, and culture today.
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Speaker 3: it Mike Emerson for the very first time. We are
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Speaker 3: we are desperately devoted to you.
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Speaker 1: I was thinking about like kind of the all the
Speaker 1: different things that didn't age as well right in this movie.
Speaker 1: But I'm sure how meaningful it is to have Tracy
Speaker 1: term blad be this adorable young like curby girl is
Speaker 1: not what you normally see as a young angenou in
Speaker 1: a movie or a musical leading a show, and how
Speaker 1: you know that's like it's another part of like having
Speaker 1: such representation for women out there saying like young girls
Speaker 1: out there saying, Wow, that's looks like me. That's me.
Speaker 1: I can do things just like anybody else, even though
Speaker 1: I'm not this like leading lady m mirror thing that
Speaker 1: we've created, right.
Speaker 2: And she's like complex, she doesn't fall fall. I feel
Speaker 2: like when you have like stereotypes and cliches of certain
Speaker 2: types of people as characters, there's obviously certain archetype features
Speaker 2: that you fall into, and I feel like she doesn't
Speaker 2: that balance and like no.
Speaker 1: Question that like link just falls like falls for her, right,
Speaker 1: She's so charming, she's she's outspoken, she's smart, she sees
Speaker 1: the world like in a different way, Like she's exciting,
Speaker 1: and like there's no question that, Like, yeah, he's with
Speaker 1: like ambervon Tussle, but like she's also a terrible person.
Speaker 1: So he just naturally gravitates for Tracy and that's it.
Speaker 1: Like there's no huge ifans or butts about it, which
Speaker 1: I get loved.
Speaker 2: I wanted to talk about some of the the behind
Speaker 2: the scenes of how this movie actually got made real quick.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, great.
Speaker 2: Obviously, the movie came out eighty eight. The musical was
Speaker 2: in two thousand and two and won eight Tonies, no
Speaker 2: big deal, and the New Line started developing the film
Speaker 2: project in two thousand and four because Chicago did so
Speaker 2: well and had the same producers. But it took a
Speaker 2: year to find Shankman to choreograph and direct this. And
Speaker 2: in the meantime, the original book writers for the stage
Speaker 2: show wrote the first draft and this is why I
Speaker 2: think this is probably so good, as we keep saying,
Speaker 2: they brought in Leslie Dixon to rewrite it, and Leslie
Speaker 2: Dixon famously wrote Missus, Doubtfire and Freaky Friday. Yeah, talk
Speaker 2: about being able to be funny, heartfelt, satirical, all these
Speaker 2: things all at once, and warm, which also I feel
Speaker 2: like matches Adam's directing style so well where I was.
Speaker 2: Whoever decided to call up Leslie Dixon to write this
Speaker 2: thing just absolutely brilliant. M Did you also notice there
Speaker 2: were several cameos. We saw Zach but Jamal Simms, I
Speaker 2: noticed he's in it a lot. Really, Yes, Jamal Sims
Speaker 2: a US for drag Race. Jenna and I worked with
Speaker 2: him Celebrity drag Race. He's all in this movie. And
Speaker 2: then Anne Fletcher also had a cameo.
Speaker 1: And Anne and Adam are like via Fax and so
Speaker 1: they always worked together.
Speaker 2: They were all on as assistant choreographers all in this movie.
Speaker 1: Pause for a second. Do you also remember the open
Speaker 1: casting call, uh for like the little nationwide search for
Speaker 1: Tracy startin Blood?
Speaker 2: Yes, I remember when that was happening, do you I.
Speaker 1: Remember this very vividly because this was around that time,
Speaker 1: Like I think they had done it for Annie as well,
Speaker 1: back in the day when we were a little bit younger,
Speaker 1: and so, like I remembered, they were doing like the
Speaker 1: legally Blonde one for finding the star for the musical,
Speaker 1: and I remember Nikki worked at a cold streamery on
Speaker 1: Long Island. Really yeah, And when Shangrin called her that
Speaker 1: she got the job, she was working at Coltstone. I
Speaker 1: remember like she was wearing her uniform and like they
Speaker 1: called her, and I remember like, I don't remember, I
Speaker 1: don't know, it messed up, been in the news. I guess.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was like a show of Uddy Start.
Speaker 1: But I always remember being like, oh, yeah, she's from
Speaker 1: Long Island, that's right.
Speaker 2: They filmed it over four months in two thousand and
Speaker 2: six in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: The opening clouds plus news newspaper drop are the only
Speaker 2: shots actually from Baltimore. And they made it for seventy
Speaker 2: five mil. Wow it made. It ended up making two
Speaker 2: hundred and three million dollars, and Don made for a
Speaker 2: Golden Globes two hundred and three million.
Speaker 1: We have a couple of Hairspray Glee crossovers. We had
Speaker 1: some songs that we covered on Glee from Hairspray, one
Speaker 1: of them being you Can't Step the Beat, which we performed.
Speaker 2: Which I feel so stupid because I sing the apart.
Speaker 2: Elijah sings and last night. I last night. My thoughts
Speaker 2: in this morning, my thoughts were about how cool is
Speaker 2: it that Elijah and I saying the same parts? And
Speaker 2: I am so dumb because I never realized it. Oh,
Speaker 2: and then because I'm seeing it with Chris and like
Speaker 2: Kurt says Artie instead of Seaweed. And then I was
Speaker 2: thinking about, oh, does any other character in Glee get
Speaker 2: their name put into so many songs? Larti is mentioned
Speaker 2: in several songs you do yeah mentioned? Anyway, That's where
Speaker 2: I was going last night, falling asleep.
Speaker 1: There's also uh, the icon I know where I've been
Speaker 1: sung by Unique in season six.
Speaker 2: Which makes me want to talk about Queen Latifa, who
Speaker 2: Shankman you know, worked with on Bringing Down the House,
Speaker 2: which was a classic movie. Yeah, yeah, died laughing. Chicago, obviously,
Speaker 2: there's such a Yeah, there's such a good amount of
Speaker 2: crossover from different things happening here. There's Chicago, there's Grease, Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's high school musical. Yeah, there's Grease too between Michelle Pfeiffer,
Speaker 2: right right, And it's just so like Shankman is so
Speaker 2: good at doing these intentional things, and he does them
Speaker 2: tastefully and it's not just like, oh, we have cameos,
Speaker 2: or we have these people that you know have been
Speaker 2: a famous musical. They're also right for these roles and
Speaker 2: they're making this story even better. Yeah, there was supposed
Speaker 2: to be a sequel that ended up not happening. It
Speaker 2: was announced in two thousand and eight and John Waders
Speaker 2: actually wrote a treatment and it's going to be set
Speaker 2: in the late nineteen sixties. It would talk about British
Speaker 2: invasion and psychedelic hippie culture in the Vietnam War, and
Speaker 2: Shankman was supposed to direct again, and then it got
Speaker 2: canceled in twenty ten.
Speaker 1: While I would have loved a second Hairspring, I'm also like,
Speaker 1: don't touch it. Don't touch it. I'm just the way
Speaker 1: I feel about sequels in general that have really strong
Speaker 1: original pieces that like, I just don't touch it. What
Speaker 1: why you said you wanted to talk about all the
Speaker 1: Queen Latifa did? We cover everything?
Speaker 2: Queen Latifa has been a staple our entire lives. Can
Speaker 2: do everything.
Speaker 1: She raised us.
Speaker 2: Is there anybody else who has done why variety of things?
Speaker 2: And successfully? Is her?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean? Like, she's an iconic
Speaker 2: hip hop artist, She's an Oscar nominated actor. She's an
Speaker 2: incredible singer, Like what can't she do? She's hosted TV shows.
Speaker 2: It's just it's I love that we keep her around
Speaker 2: and I feel I hope as a public she knows
Speaker 2: how grateful we are, and I don't think you can
Speaker 2: cast her too often.
Speaker 1: I have a question, isn't that people didn't like John
Speaker 1: Child's casting?
Speaker 2: Yeah, people didn't like it. Do they not like it
Speaker 2: because of him or because of the role itself?
Speaker 1: Like casting him as a woman.
Speaker 2: People want to cast a drag queen, which I understand,
Speaker 2: especially when Divine originated the original role.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2: I think that's a fair complaint. I think I think
Speaker 2: if John Travolta was trying to.
Speaker 1: Do drag, that would be a different story.
Speaker 2: That would be an issue. It's also not for us
Speaker 2: to say either way, but right right, I know John
Speaker 2: Waters was heavily involved in this, and John Waters gave
Speaker 2: Adam Shankman the blessing to like put his spin on it, right, right,
Speaker 2: So I feel like if John Waters is co signing
Speaker 2: this this version of it, yeah, yeah, I think if
Speaker 2: he was trying to do drag and it was going
Speaker 2: to be compared and being you know, those performances. I
Speaker 2: think that's a whole different story, right, And maybe I
Speaker 2: also feel like I'm wondering if people were more upset
Speaker 2: speculating about it until it came out, or once it
Speaker 2: came out they were also no.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that when I came out there was some issues.
Speaker 1: I think also because John was in the costume and
Speaker 1: given a fat suit, and also in prosthetics. There's just
Speaker 1: a lot of things that I think, no long like
Speaker 1: we've learned from and so I think that it's definitely
Speaker 1: not something that would have happened now given the situation
Speaker 1: that he was in with what he had. I thought
Speaker 1: he didn't want job, and I loved it, but I
Speaker 1: understand the the pushback, of course. And I would have
Speaker 1: loved to see a drag queen do this. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Like there's a lot of there's a lot of really
Speaker 1: incredible drag queens that are It's like some of our
Speaker 1: favorite stars that I think would be really good. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's another version of this.
Speaker 2: Who played who played that role in the NBC was
Speaker 2: the NBC did the live version of it NBC Live
Speaker 2: with Ariana and Christian Shannaman. Oh was Harvey Firesteine. Oh,
Speaker 2: Harry Firesteine came back and did it okay? Hell yeah?
Speaker 1: Then yeah, that's fine. There's so much music in this
Speaker 1: I'm not even to name on these songs.
Speaker 2: None of these musical members are filmed, simply that most
Speaker 2: of these musical numbers take place in multiple locations. Yes,
Speaker 2: and it's not a lazy shot. There's not a lazy
Speaker 2: shot to be seen, right.
Speaker 1: I know that this last number of you can't stop
Speaker 1: the beat like Hairspray, So you can't stop the beat
Speaker 1: took like days to film, like multiple days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense. There's so many moving parts in that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. There's a lot of friends that we have in
Speaker 1: this show, in this movie. And so I actually texted
Speaker 1: our wonderful friend JP Faery, who was in one of
Speaker 1: the dancers.
Speaker 2: I don't know JP was in this, and when he
Speaker 2: came on, I started screaming. It was just like baby Jp,
Speaker 2: Baby Spencer neat baga Like what? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I texted Jp, our dear friend, and he wanted
Speaker 1: to say Hi, Hi Jenna, Hi Kevin.
Speaker 4: It's crazy to think now because this upcoming July, it's
Speaker 4: going to be twenty years since we started rehearsal. And
Speaker 4: filmed it. So one thing, You Can't Stop the Beat
Speaker 4: I remember took about I think two to three weeks
Speaker 4: just to film that whole number in the entirety because
Speaker 4: there were so many moving parts and other scenes involved.
Speaker 1: Started off with the whole.
Speaker 4: Hairspray and the whole Miss Hairspray pageant, all of that,
Speaker 4: and then into the actual you Can't Stop the Beat number,
Speaker 4: and I remember we were filming all the way, you know,
Speaker 4: all the way until you know, four o'clock in the
Speaker 4: morning towards the end of the week, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 4: One thing for me that was cool was that I
Speaker 4: remember Adam Shankman telling me that I was one of
Speaker 4: the first or yeah, I was the first dancer to hire,
Speaker 4: which was kind of crazy to me. But yeah, Hairspray
Speaker 4: it's going to be twenty years and twenty twenty seven,
Speaker 4: which is kind of crazy to me. But but yeah,
Speaker 4: I love you guys.
Speaker 1: Grandma we call him Grandma, but we love Grandma. JP
Speaker 1: was one of the council members, and JP is also
Speaker 1: an amazing dancer. Was also in Newsy's the Musical and uh,
Speaker 1: I can't believe that it was in the days it.
Speaker 2: Was weeks weeks, which again makes sense. You get two
Speaker 2: thousand and seven different time, you have budget, you have
Speaker 2: the time. I mean that opening number, Good Morning Baltimore, Like,
Speaker 2: think about all the places Tracy goes, all the little
Speaker 2: things that are the hijinks, all these.
Speaker 1: Numbers so long.
Speaker 2: Oh god, I love that Tuck.
Speaker 1: It got me so good. He's so good, you know what.
Speaker 2: Some of those moments reminded me of like the Truman Show,
Speaker 2: Yes right where like the garbage truck drivers, like, what
Speaker 2: the hell is happening?
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, I thought she was gonna get hit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And there she is on top of the world.
Speaker 2: Oh man, James Marsden when the nicest kids in town,
Speaker 2: like who knew?
Speaker 1: What a what a heart throb you have? Don zach
Speaker 1: Efron in one movie What heart? What heart Throbs?
Speaker 2: I gave her.
Speaker 1: Also, I can hear the bells. It's just it's Tracy's
Speaker 1: I want song, right, And she comes out of the
Speaker 1: classroom and the spotlight on her in the hallway and beautiful,
Speaker 1: my gosh, her voice.
Speaker 2: Oh she's she's incredible in this, you see.
Speaker 1: It's just the tone is just like, oh, it's so good.
Speaker 2: So Lady's choice which is zach Efron's song they wrote
Speaker 2: for this movie. They wrote Lady's Choice, they wrote Come
Speaker 2: So Far, Got So Far to Go, and the New
Speaker 2: Girl in Town, which was originally written for Broadway but
Speaker 2: it got.
Speaker 1: Cut and then they brought it into the film. Is
Speaker 1: the Dynamites numbers?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I loved all those things as well. I loved
Speaker 2: using the dynamites. I loved all the interaction in different
Speaker 2: musical numbers with TVs or looking at the picture that moved.
Speaker 1: Yes when in link song. Also how funny, like the
Speaker 1: physical comedy again with a man of mines, Like when
Speaker 1: Tracy ends up on the show and she's running home,
Speaker 1: running to Tracy's parents' house, She's like, yes, it's so good,
Speaker 1: it's so memorable. Yeah, these numbers obviously I know where
Speaker 1: I've been. So beautiful. It's also a really nice moment
Speaker 1: to slow the film down because it moves so fast.
Speaker 1: It's not too fast, but it's like, I think this
Speaker 1: music takes up half the film, if not more.
Speaker 2: Right, Oh yeah? Do you think that's because for something
Speaker 2: to get to Broadway and then to work on Broadway,
Speaker 2: it has to go through so much, right, like so
Speaker 2: much sort of like vetting, workshopping and previews. All these
Speaker 2: things get so much attention to make sure it works properly,
Speaker 2: and you're getting real feedback from audience and from producers
Speaker 2: and the director, you know, all these different departments. And
Speaker 2: because this show probably works so well on stage, do
Speaker 2: you think that's why, like in movie form, it is
Speaker 2: able like that pacing is so great or are they
Speaker 2: not necessarily directly correlated?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I don't think the directly correlated. I think it's all
Speaker 1: based upon the director and the pace of the filming
Speaker 1: because I think you can mess up paste very easily,
Speaker 1: I think. Yeah, And like getting the beats in between
Speaker 1: the music is just as important, if not more important,
Speaker 1: because that's part of you know, that's the story lead
Speaker 1: into the bigger you know, the elevated story of the music.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's just like the magic of having a
Speaker 1: really great musical that has really good story, really good characters,
Speaker 1: really great pacing. Really like all the pieces come together
Speaker 1: in a way that's like this will make for a
Speaker 1: really great film if it translates and you do it well,
Speaker 1: but like it could also just fall flat. So like
Speaker 1: imagine like Spring Awakening, which is so such an incredible musical.
Speaker 1: The music is so good. The the music is a
Speaker 1: bit superior to the story because the story is so
Speaker 1: old and it's it's more about the duxtaposition of the
Speaker 1: you know, the time in which that was happening, all happening,
Speaker 1: and then like the the modern music, right, and the
Speaker 1: lights and the neon lights and the microphones and all that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you really need to like, I don't know
Speaker 1: that that would translate correctly, Like I think stage might
Speaker 1: be the place that that actually should live forever, right.
Speaker 2: Especially because of the ages of the kids doing these
Speaker 2: things right, right, that'd be very complicated.
Speaker 1: No, no, exactly exactly, And it's all about that, right, the awakening,
Speaker 1: the exploration, you know, all of that. So yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I do think that there's a part of it that like,
Speaker 1: of course, if you get a musical, right, it's because
Speaker 1: of all the work that went into the workshopping of
Speaker 1: it again it right, But I don't know that translates
Speaker 1: to like the film inevitably being really good.
Speaker 2: But there are plenty of instances of stage musicals that
Speaker 2: are great and they do not necessarily work on film, right,
Speaker 2: We won't we won't mention those, but should we rate
Speaker 2: some of these performances while we're here.
Speaker 1: Well, we just talked about Good Morning Baltimore, and I
Speaker 1: give them an A plus.
Speaker 2: Plus, absolutely a plus plus. And uh, is this just
Speaker 2: gonna be a's all around.
Speaker 1: Saying nicest Kidston Town. Yeah, it takes two. I can
Speaker 1: hear the bells. Yeah, I feel like across the board today,
Speaker 1: like obviously I know where I've been. Gets like an
Speaker 1: A plus plus plus for me, actually, definitely.
Speaker 2: I was just thinking about me miss Baltimore Crabs. The
Speaker 2: choreography in this movie. The choreography in this entire movie
Speaker 2: is incredible, and everybody is so clean. Obviously, JP said
Speaker 2: they started rehearsing in July. They didn't start shooting n
Speaker 2: till September, so they had months of choreography. And obviously
Speaker 2: there are so many musical numbers, and their long musical numbers,
Speaker 2: many of them. It just it makes so much sense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I think you also coming off of watching High
Speaker 2: School Musical, where this obviously is a much bigger budget.
Speaker 2: They have much more time to do these things. You
Speaker 2: see the difference in that the scale of it is
Speaker 2: obviously very different. Yeah, and so even you can a
Speaker 2: be it with Zach Efron's performance because he's in both
Speaker 2: of them. And see he's a great dancer in high
Speaker 2: school musical, but in Hairspray he's just as good as all.
Speaker 1: The professional dancers totally.
Speaker 2: And you have that with time, I mean Adam Shankman,
Speaker 2: and you have all those those three incredible choreographers as
Speaker 2: assistant choreographers on this movie. Bryan Fletcher jamals so like.
Speaker 1: The way you shoot people, you make them look good.
Speaker 1: You play into their strengths, you play into what's going
Speaker 1: to make them look really good, right, And he.
Speaker 2: Had a beautiful balance of shooting choreography and also shooting
Speaker 2: stories where he did fit in a lot of close ups,
Speaker 2: but you also did get a lot of beautiful wides
Speaker 2: about this choreography. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I got distracted.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, I think you're right though. I think
Speaker 1: they all go across the board as like as.
Speaker 2: So Lady's Choice, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 1: You know, I actually gave Lady's Choice a B and
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I just feel like it. It
Speaker 1: didn't push the story along as much as like some
Speaker 1: of these other ones that also had such a great
Speaker 1: hook in the song and was like a bigger number.
Speaker 1: I think it kind of it's great, but I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know that I necessarily was like, oh I should,
Speaker 1: I should just give it an A because it's great.
Speaker 2: Right as far as songs written for a movie musical,
Speaker 2: I feel like it fits in pretty seamlessly. But I
Speaker 2: think you are pointing out the reasons why it may bump. Yeah, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: because every something else does further the story a lot. Yes,
Speaker 2: New Grown Town I loved. I also thought it was so,
Speaker 2: for lack of a better word, up how detention had
Speaker 2: all the black kids?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think that one of the critics
Speaker 1: issues in some of the things, the qualms that they've
Speaker 1: had with this film in general, which I agree with,
Speaker 1: is like it undermines the story of the civil rights
Speaker 1: movement and segregation and how you know it wasn't so
Speaker 1: easily fixed, right, There wasn't just a march and everything
Speaker 1: is seemingly right. You know, people are hugging and together right, like, Yes,
Speaker 1: the journey and the experience.
Speaker 2: Feels like this is the white version of it, right,
Speaker 2: with a white lead. Yes. Part of it though, did
Speaker 2: feel like a little satirical though to me, because there's
Speaker 2: those moments where Queen Latifa's like, you know, you're like
Speaker 2: chipping away once up at a time. But it also
Speaker 2: feels like this movie isn't that serious, right, where like
Speaker 2: it feels.
Speaker 1: Like they're making it trying to be.
Speaker 2: It feels like they're making fun of how easy they're
Speaker 2: making it seem right. But maybe that's me doing a
Speaker 2: lot of work as an audience member. Yeah, but I
Speaker 2: felt like I felt like it was a little edgyar
Speaker 2: in that way mmmm or like, you know, there's other
Speaker 2: things to do.
Speaker 1: I appreciate, like Tracy being the the like the one
Speaker 1: who kind of sways back and forth and does the
Speaker 1: right thing. I just I really like that hero aspect
Speaker 1: from her. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just and it wasn't a love story, Like her
Speaker 2: story wasn't didn't have to be right about.
Speaker 1: Her finding a man right right right, that was.
Speaker 2: Just part of her story. Run until that A plus plus,
Speaker 2: Like come on, Elijah doing Olympics. He's like hurdling, he's
Speaker 2: big things. It does the splits on the grass, get
Speaker 2: out of here, big blonde and beautiful. Yes, just yes, yes, everybody.
Speaker 2: I feel like we said like it's.
Speaker 1: All gonna be A's right, and like everything is it
Speaker 1: has been great, but like we love it.
Speaker 2: We like, don't get a troupe number because I feel
Speaker 2: like we're going to be doing a lot of movies
Speaker 2: and TV shows. Not everything is going to be all
Speaker 2: peachy like this. No, but like when it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1: And this one was great. Yeah, like all of it
Speaker 1: your time lists to me at the sweetest cutest number ever,
Speaker 1: I can't get.
Speaker 2: I can't get enough.
Speaker 1: No, you know, honestly, as for all of these, I
Speaker 1: know and like a special shadow for I know where
Speaker 1: I've been a plus plus plus plus. I can't believe
Speaker 1: it's you know, hairspray. You can't stop. The beat took
Speaker 1: like weeks. I can well, it's just the way that
Speaker 1: we record and shoot and do things. That was like
Speaker 1: in a half a day, and you're like, oh, what
Speaker 1: is it like to have weeks to like do something
Speaker 1: and perfect? Are you sick of it? Are you? It's like,
Speaker 1: don't stop believing that took us, you know, three days
Speaker 1: to do, but like, are you sick of it?
Speaker 2: At that point? We it took us for forever, but
Speaker 2: it was a much shorter sequence. You can't stop the
Speaker 2: beat isn't just the number, there's no like JP said,
Speaker 2: there's a huge scene before and there's a lot going on.
Speaker 2: I mean, how many minutes of the movie is that?
Speaker 1: And also a big part.
Speaker 2: Shankman was shooting this out of this and I mean
Speaker 2: that in a positive way. Yeah, well, like it was
Speaker 2: almost shocking to see. I know where I've been. There's
Speaker 2: probably the simplest number in the entire movie, but they
Speaker 2: go and it's perfect. Yeah, but like that's how intricate
Speaker 2: I think, you know, Shankman was doing it, and it's
Speaker 2: like when we get to Chicago Mulan Rouge, think about
Speaker 2: how intricate those things are. And so I know I
Speaker 2: can without Love a perfect number, truly perfect because talk
Speaker 2: about comedy, the acting, singing, like everything is just wonderful.
Speaker 2: A plus that Without Love is one of the things
Speaker 2: that has always stuck with me. Yeah, I think because
Speaker 2: I just thought, like Amanda Binds especially, I feel like
Speaker 2: it's sort of like her moment to shine, like her
Speaker 2: comedy genius really comes.
Speaker 1: Through there and it's so funny.
Speaker 2: It's also like, you know, it's it's turning point in
Speaker 2: the movie for me or to me where like the
Speaker 2: kids are finally like coupled up like finally doing what
Speaker 2: they set out to do in like a more meaningful way.
Speaker 1: It's cute. Yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 2: Did you like doing you Can't Stop the beat? On Glee?
Speaker 1: Aside from the fact that I could never remember the words,
Speaker 1: like even up until we were recording, like filming on
Speaker 1: the day, like something about those words can will not
Speaker 1: stick for me. But I remember doing that ugly and
Speaker 1: it was so much fun with uh, with the Heather's
Speaker 1: face that she had that character she was doing for Stolets,
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, I had the best time doing that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know that you can sing that
Speaker 1: song and jump up and down and dance to that
Speaker 1: number and not have a good time, do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Even if you're like, oh, I hate
Speaker 1: this song, it's kind of like how I felt about
Speaker 1: ABBA for a long time.
Speaker 2: Correct, But.
Speaker 1: Now I'm like, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Still Yeah, there's like a second hook section that I
Speaker 2: will never know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, we'll never know it. I think there was
Speaker 1: a lot of head turning on that one.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I was so confident. I was at a
Speaker 2: gay bar a couple of weeks ago, and you know,
Speaker 2: they played like the musical theater things and they played
Speaker 2: that from the movie and I was like, oh, I
Speaker 2: know this one, and I was like, Nope, still don't
Speaker 2: know the same sections. I never know when we shot.
Speaker 1: It, never know it. No, what was he gonna My love?
Speaker 1: Is your Love?
Speaker 2: That one? I know? No, I don't know, but it's
Speaker 2: only because I sang a lot of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I had to you did, Okay, fair enough, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's do some tarty takes.
Speaker 2: Okay, great?
Speaker 1: U Ow, she's I think the you know, the Treval's
Speaker 1: casting was, while it was controversial, I thought what he
Speaker 1: did with the choices he made and what he went
Speaker 1: into doing like I think actually was he was. We
Speaker 1: loved clar but like, you know, the costuming and the
Speaker 1: fat suit of it all and the whole thing, Like
Speaker 1: I think that's not you know, it doesn't still work.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: If you can isolate him as an actor.
Speaker 6: As an actor within the movie, great work, Yeah, great work.
Speaker 6: Best dance move Seaweed, Seaweed, Peyton's Place after Midnight, honest.
Speaker 2: Best single dance move I think is Elijah jumping into
Speaker 2: that half split mmmm.
Speaker 1: Yes. And also little and as solo and you can
Speaker 1: stop the beat. Yes, I like teared up when that
Speaker 1: moment came.
Speaker 2: So also like vocals, oh yeah, vocals.
Speaker 1: All the choreography though, like Shankman and and Zach, everybody
Speaker 1: really a plus.
Speaker 2: Place outstanding every it was so clean and nothing looked
Speaker 2: how do I say this respect Actually nothing looked musical
Speaker 2: theater it all. This is my problem. I'm going to
Speaker 2: bring it up as we watch these movies when shows
Speaker 2: don't have a definitive style or like dance language.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: All of this fit so perfectly within the setting and
Speaker 2: the story and the time period. You don't even notice
Speaker 2: it right, like it's all part of the scenes and
Speaker 2: it works so well, and that I think is usually
Speaker 2: not the case. But that's because Shankman and Zach and
Speaker 2: it are like they're incredible and they have great taste
Speaker 2: and they really understand how to use dance as a.
Speaker 1: Lang story exactly. Best song, you know, I will say
Speaker 1: without Love really now that I yes, is like really good.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it because like on its own,
Speaker 1: the song alone, like it's a really good song. It
Speaker 1: is also I know where I've been obviously mm hmm.
Speaker 1: And I will say when we when the when when
Speaker 1: the show opened with Good Morning Baltimore. I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm here. I think something about that milk.
Speaker 2: I think good Morning Baltimore and you Can't Stop the
Speaker 2: Beat are like the biggest earworms. Yeah, yeah, yeah, those
Speaker 2: songs will stay in your head for days. But I
Speaker 2: think I'll run until that is probably I know where
Speaker 2: I've been. Are probably my favorite song.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, fair enough? Uh performance by a prop
Speaker 1: Oh my god, there's so many.
Speaker 2: This is gonna be very hard doing movies with this.
Speaker 1: I mean the hairspray.
Speaker 2: I want to ask Shankman about how do you get
Speaker 2: that spray for film? You're like, that's a good spray.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's like, is that just water? Maybe
Speaker 2: they it's a beautiful spray. Yeah, I don't know. That's
Speaker 2: a good question.
Speaker 1: Well say that the giant hairspray bottles were pretty great.
Speaker 1: Oh beautiful.
Speaker 2: Also the yeah, the giant hairspray bottle that Britney snow
Speaker 2: eventually gets caught in.
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. I think those are great speaks to the movie. Yes,
Speaker 1: or then the show best line.
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is the best line, but
Speaker 2: it's one of my favorites. You see, if I let
Speaker 2: you leave the house right now, you'd be in prison
Speaker 2: fighting horse or cigarettes. That Tracy term but always was
Speaker 2: a bad influence. Well, you never are ever sorry. You
Speaker 2: are never ever gonna see the beehived Harlot again. It's
Speaker 2: so good.
Speaker 1: Oh no.
Speaker 2: I also think Penny says, oh no, and Tracy goes what.
Speaker 2: Thenny goes your hair deflated and Tracy goes, oh, let it.
Speaker 2: It was just a symbol of my conformity to the man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a good fun That was a really
Speaker 1: good one. I also don't know how I'll right this
Speaker 1: one is either, but this is America. Baby, gotta think
Speaker 1: big to be big. Big, ain't the problem in this family?
Speaker 1: Wil b oh Man, Oh god, the show is great,
Speaker 1: right right? Okay? It really is so good? Uh performance
Speaker 1: MVP oh Man. I mean it's gotta be Nicky. She
Speaker 1: carried this She really did with ease. I mean you
Speaker 1: wouldn't even know.
Speaker 2: Social media star Nicky Blonski carried this movie so.
Speaker 1: Good on her shoulders, but I mean shoulders.
Speaker 2: Everyone was incredible. Yeah, truly mean that.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, what you got for me? Camon Genta?
Speaker 2: Mmmm we found on TikTok oh No, Yes, Jen I
Speaker 2: get into it, Get into it. It is a shot
Speaker 2: for shot remake, Run Joey Run, Oh my gosh, Corona Films.
Speaker 2: All right, listen, So Jenny doesn't care about Glee, then
Speaker 2: explain why we did this as our film degree project
Speaker 2: and it is a shot for shot Listen.
Speaker 1: I am not one to hate on a good a
Speaker 1: good project, and this the effort was there. They did
Speaker 1: it like good work, you guys, I run jo Anyone
Speaker 1: may not be my cup of tea, but this project
Speaker 1: was unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Look at the when he sits up and Betty the curtain.
Speaker 1: The editing of this all, yeah, it's very good. Kevin,
Speaker 1: guess what our guest Adam Shankman h all You're dying
Speaker 1: clash will be answered.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited me too.
Speaker 1: I guess like I feel like we get to talk
Speaker 1: to him about Glee all the time and stuff, but
Speaker 1: like to be able to talk to him about a
Speaker 1: completely different project is very exciting.
Speaker 2: I also, I'll never mind. I'll save it for the pod.
Speaker 2: All right, Okay.
Speaker 1: Thanks for this.
Speaker 2: Was Hairspray. I loved it so much. Beyond If you
Speaker 2: haven't seen it a long time, or if you've never
Speaker 2: seen it. Please do yourself a favor and go watch
Speaker 2: it immediately.
Speaker 1: I hope this made you want to watch it, because
Speaker 1: I would watch it again absolutely.
Speaker 2: This is now going to be added to my comfort
Speaker 2: movie list.
Speaker 1: Yes, who knew?
Speaker 2: And that's what you really missed. Thanks for listening and
Speaker 2: follow us on Instagram at and that's what you really
Speaker 2: miss pod. Make sure to write us a review and
Speaker 2: leave us five stars. See you next time.