The movie-musical Hairspray garnered three
prestigious awards from the 11th Annual Hollywood Film Festival held October
17-22. The Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will be held at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel on Monday, October 23.
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron received the Hollywood Producers of
the Year Award. John Travolta, who
starred as Edna Turnblad, won the prize for Hollywood Supporting Actor of the
Year. Plus the cast of Hairspray garnered the Hollywood
Ensemble Musical Comedy of the Year Award.
The cast of Hairspray
included John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes,
James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison
Janney, Jerry Stiller, Paul Dooley and Nikki Blonsky.
The 11th Annual Hollywood Film Festival took place October
17 to 21 at ArcLight Cinemas. This year's festival highlights the films of
emerging filmmakers.
The festival's programming includes features, documentaries,
shorts and music videos from around the world, including films from Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United
States.
For more information on the Hollywood Film Festival and
Award winners, visit HollywoodAwards.com
"Hairspray, written by Leslie Dixon,
produced by Craig
Zadan and Neil Meron
and directed by Adam Shankman,
is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger
heart, who has only one passion -- dancing. Her dream is to appear on 'The
Corny Collins Show,' Baltimore's
hippest dance party on TV. Tracy (Nikki Blonsky)
seems a natural fit for the show except for one not-so-little problem -- she
doesn't fit in. However, when big hair meets big dreams anything can happen --
and does," state press notes. The film features a screenplay
by Leslie Dixon, who adapted it from Thomas Meehan
and Mark O'Donnell's
original book, as well as a score by Marc Shaiman
and Scott Wittman,
who contributed new songs to their existing Tony Award-winning score.
Hairspray is reported as the 3rd most successful movie musical in 30 years, beneath films Grease and Chicago. Hairspray
debuted in theaters on July 20 with the largest opening weekend gross ever for
a musical film.
