Bringing HAIRSPRAY to the Screen: Craig Zadan and Neil Meron

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, under their Storyline Entertainment banner, are the producers of critically acclaimed and award-winning feature films, television movies and series.  All totaled, their films and television movies have garnered six Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, eleven Emmy Awards, two Peabodys, two GLAAD Media Awards, the Actors Fund Nedda Logan Award, and the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Award.  For their work in television, their movies have amassed 66 Emmy nominations. 

The pairs film projects include Chicago, The Music Man, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadow, The Beach Boys: An American Family, Annie, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Gypsy with Bette Midler, The Reagans and Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story.

The dynamic duo sat down for a phone interview with BroadwayWorld.com to discuss their latest collaboration on HAIRSPRAY.

When did you first become interested in turning HAIRSPRAY back into a film?

Neil: We became first interested in doing a movie of Hairspray when we went to see a preview of it before opening. We went on what was an incredible night because there were so many people there from Los Angeles all descending on the show. That night there was Steven Spielberg, Rob Reiner, Francis Ford Coppola – a true galaxy of film directors there on the same night… not to mention all the usual local theatre stars!

Craig: Then we got a call asking for us to have dinner with Marc (Shaiman) and Scott (Wittman) and Jack (O'Brien) and Jerry (Mitchell). At the time, we had heard that New Line wanted to make a movie musical based on the Broadway show. We went into New York, and had dinner with the group at Orso and we explained our approach, based on all the other movie musicals that we had produced. They got very excited, and said that they'd like to collaborate with us and have us produce the film.

Where did things go from there on the road to the screen?

Craig: We had several meetings with New Line, and the process really began about 2 and a half years ago. 

After Chicago we looked around to see what was out there and the only musical that we wanted to do as a film was Hairspray. We thought that it had all the fun and entertainment value of Grease, but it had this subtext of seriousness and weight with the civil rights undertones.

Neil: It was so completely different from Chicago. Chicago is very dark and cynical while Hairspray is filled with optimism and sunnyness and humor so it was a chance to do a musical with a different feel.

I'm sure that theatre fans will be curious to hear how Jerry Mitchell and Jack O'Brien wound up not involved with the film?

Craig: Purely scheduling… The situation was that Jack and Jerry had hoped to start the production right away and based on our experience we felt that we needed more time to fine-tune the script and get the film cast properly. We had started talking to Travolta and Latifah, but none of the other casting had gotten underway. We had hired Leslie Dixon as our screenwriter and we had begun the process of creating a brand new screenplay based on the Broadway show.

Jack had postponed the The Coast of Utopia, the Stoppard trilogy already and Lincoln Center was getting very antsy. Jerry was getting his big chance to direct and choreograph Legally Blonde and making his big transition into being a director/choreographer. So, they both had 2 stage pieces waiting in the wings and they finally said that although they're dying to do the film they had these previous commitments, that did not allow for any further postponements.

Even at that point, we couldn't guarantee a start date. So Jack and Jerry departed and Neil and I started on a search for several months meeting with 20 major film directors. At the end of that search, we came to the conclusion that only correct choice was to offer the movie to Adam Shankman.

Adam started as a dancer, became a choreographer, and actually choreographed about 50 numbers in different films before he even became a film director...so in our minds, Adam had it all.  He understood music, dance, comedy and emotion. He was perfect. We took him to New Line, and they excitedly signed off on him and the process began anew.

And how did things progress from there on the film's development?

Neil: Adam came aboard – about a year and half ago. Unofficial pre-production began last April/May with official production first week of July...exactly a year ago this week.

Let's talk about the stars… Please tell us about the casting of John Travolta which seemed like the longest "sales pitch" according to other interviews?

Craig: John had been asked 3 times to play Billy Flynn in Chicago and after the film was released, he expressed to us that he realized that he had made a big mistake by turning it down. That meeting took place when we were beginning to get our feet wet with Hairspray. John was the first and only idea that we presented to New Line to play Edna and we told John that we would not let him make the same mistake twice by passing.

After several dinners, and many phone conversations John figured out how he would play Edna and committed to do the movie. The reason that he took a year and two months for him to decide, was because in the thirty years since Grease, he knew that if he did another musical, it had to be the right one.

And Michelle Pfeiffer? 

Craig: Michelle read the script and loved it. She hadn't worked in about five years because she was raising her family. We had heard that she wanted to go back to work and we thought that there was no one better to play an ex-beauty queen than Michelle Pfeiffer. We knew she could sing because of her performances in The Fabulous Baker Boys and Grease 2 and we knew that she was very eager to do another musical.

So, she signed on much easier? 

Craig: In our meeting, she said that she had only one problem with the script. She loved the scene where Velma seduces Wilbur. She wanted to know why the sequence wasn't musicalized. We looked at each other and then said – "you're right!" A few hours later, Adam came up with the idea to do a reprise of "Big, Blonde and Beautiful" and to do it as Velma's seduction of Wilbur while Edna was simultaneously getting all dressed up to seduce her husband.  

Several of the actors actually came up with very specific ideas for the movie. John Travolta for instance was very particular about the costumes, the colors and textures of the fabrics, the design of the fat suit and his use of a Baltimore accent. He also had a very particular idea about his choreography in "You Can't Stop the Beat" and Adam beautifully translated those notions into what you now see on the screen in that number.

What about Queen Latifah?

Neil: Queen Latifah was a no-brainer. She was our first choice and only choice because we had just worked with her on Chicago, and Adam had just worked with her on Bringin' Down the House. She trusted this group of people and committed to doing the role before reading a script or seeing the show.

You assembled an extremely talented younger cast in the film as well…

Craig: Nikki Blonksy was a true fairy tale story. After we auditioned thousands of girls across America, Canada, Australia and England, she was the only one that we felt had all of the elements to bring Tracy to life in this movie musical. Adam's instinct about her was rock solid from the first audition. From time to time, Adam and I would email each other on our BlackBerrys late at night. I would ask: "How are you feeling about Tracy?" and he would always email back: "Nikki Blonsky."

Zac Efron came in and auditioned, and we thought that he would make a great Link. His worldwide popularity from High School Musical didn't hurt either. We wanted a teen idol and he is indeed a teen idol. What baffled us was that he didn't get to do his own singing in High School Musical and we thought that he was such a good singer that Marc and Scott wrote him a new song, "Ladies Choice". Needless to say, Zac did all of his own singing in Hairspray.

Neil: Elijah (Kelley) was the very first person to audition for Seaweed for the film, and we knew it right away. Literally, he was the first audition on the first day and we knew that we had to offer him the part. He has clearly become one of the major breakout stars of the movie. He's astonishing.

And how about James Marden as Corny Collins, who seemed like an unlikely choice to many when the casting news came out?

Craig: Jimmy has been a friend of ours and we knew that he could sing. Adam at first was unsure, as was the studio, but after watching a minute of a tape of him on Ally McBeal in which he sang, Adam jumped out of his seat saying "we have our Corny Collins!" 

What was the New Line approval process like on casting and other production items?

Craig: Adam, Neil and I would decide who we wanted and then we brought those people to the studio to sign off on. New Line was very in sync with our team's vision of the movie. 

We were crystal clear about the movie we wanted to make, just as we were with Chicago. Adam, Neil and I were as clear about Hairspray as Rob Marshall, Neil and I were about Chicago.

Neil: It's interesting, because I'm reading this theatrical book – and there's a quote from Richard Rodgers, and he says that in great musicals, no individual parts stand out above others, all of the elements work together, and that's true of every great musical.  I of course think that it applies to Hairspray as well. 

Were Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman involved in this process as well?

Craig: We were thrilled to be working with Marc and Scott and we were so happy that they wrote new songs for the movie. "Ladies Choice" is one of the most exciting numbers in the film now and "Come So Far" which they wrote for the end credit sequence and was sung by Queen Latifah, Zac, Elijah and Nikki, is now one of my favorite songs in the score. I must say that one of the reasons that the movie works as well as it does is because it's one of the best Broadway scores that we ever heard. Every song is a showstopper. There really is not enough praise that one can lavish on Marc and Scott's work. 

What was Leslie Dixon's contribution as screenwriter?

Craig: Leslie was a wonderful collaborator who did a remarkable job in taking the essence of the Broadway show and the quirkiness of John Waters and creating something very cinematic. We all knew that we did not want to shoot the stage show. We wanted to reinvent Hairspray for the movies. Leslie understood how to craft the piece so that it worked as a standalone movie. Once Adam came on as director, he sculpted and shaped the screenplay in collaboration with Leslie, so that the movie then reflected the director's vision. It was a wonderful and exciting collaboration.

BroadwayWorld.com was lucky enough to get on-set photos from Craig Zadan and it looks like everyone was having a great time. What was the on-set experience like?

Craig: Total joy, the essence of the movie reflects the essence of the set.  Adam is the funniest person alive, he is just hilarious all the time, and keeps everyone smiling and laughing.  Adam is a bundle of energy and a great leader. You always felt secure that we were going down the right path because he was always so clear each day with what he set out to accomplish.

For those of us who are less informed on the world behind the scenes, what exactly do producers do on set?

Neil: You let the director lead what's going on in front of the camera, and our job is to make sure that nothing interferes with his process.

Craig: We were there the whole time. We all moved to Toronto six months before filming and we were there for every rehearsal, every recording session and every day of shooting. 

What is the post production experience been like?

Craig: Marc Shaiman has been in all his glory. He's like a little kid, because he's been focused on turning the Broadway sound of the stage show into the movie sound for the film. He's had a much bigger orchestra and it sounds glorious, it's really thrilling!

The film seems like it's simply all over the place with a marketing blitz, how involved have you guys been in the marketing of the film?

Neil: We're involved as producers getting our hands dirty along with Adam. New Line has been very collaborative in allowing all of us to participate in the campaign. 

What's next for the Storyline Entertainment team?

For features, we will be releasing for Warner Bros. an extraordinary new film called The Bucket List directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. It's about 2 guys finding the joy in their lives and the performances by Nicholson and Freeman are stunning.

For TV, we are planning on an early 2008 broadcast of A Raisin in the Sun on ABC with Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan for ABC, with Kenny Leon directing. Although we used the Broadway cast and the Broadway director, this is by no means a filmed version of the play. It is a brand-new movie, based on Raisin and all of the performances are gut-wrenching and brilliant. We can't wait for it to air.

Our next TV musical will be the first movie version of the Mary Martin Peter Pan. No one has previously made a film of the musical and we will do it very much like we did Cinderella and Annie for ABC.

After that, we have a bunch of new projects in the works for television and feature film.

We here at BroadwayWorld.com can't wait to see them!