History Trivia / Hairspray

!!The 1988 film:
* ActingForTwo: Divine plays both Edna Turnblad and Arvin Hodgepile.
* CreatorsOddball: For director John Waters. Ironically, this actually led to a lot more controversy due to parents getting such earlier Waters material as ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' for their kids, which in at least one case resulted in a 911 call. Yes, ''Hairspray'' is for the whole family. Anything else by Waters prior? [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids Not even close!]] As expected, Waters himself found the situation hilarious.
* DescendedCreator: Director/writer Waters plays Dr. Fredrickson.
* DyeingForYourArt: Ricki Lake began rapidly losing weight due to the intense dance lessons she had to take for the film. She reportedly had to "eat like crazy" in order to stay plump.
* DeletedScene: There are a few, including:
** A scene of Tracy working at her father's joke shop.
** After the Record Hop, there was to be a scene where Tracy and Link get into a fight with some local toughs, and Tracy utilizes a can of hairspray as a weapon. The thugs are still given credit.
** One taking place before Tracy's ''Corny Collins'' debut where she skips school to break into the Von Tussle household, where she vandalizes Amber's room and dyes her hair. This scene explains why Tracy's hair changes from brown to blonde between scenes. The removal makes the sudden hair color change an OrphanedReference.
** A scene was filmed where Tracey finds cockroaches in her hair. It was based on an urban legend about a girl whose brain is eaten by cockroaches that were living in her beehive hairdo. While it never made it into the final cut, it explains all the references to roaches in the latter part of the film.
* PlayingAgainstType: During interviews, Divine made it perfectly clear his role as Edna was ''not'' one of his usual drag queen roles. As he put it: "What drag queen would allow herself to look like this? I look like half the women from Baltimore."
* ReferencedBy: Alaska from ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace,'' who showed up for the reunion of All Stars 2 dressed in Tracy's roach dress from the final scene.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Divine was originally going to play both Tracy and Edna. However, he got sick of doing drag for film roles at the time of production, so Waters had him play Arvin instead.
** [[Film/UntamedYouth Mamie Van Doren]] was originally picked for Velma in the original film.
** The character names of Wilbur, Tracy, and Inez were originally planned for "Flamingos Forever", the cancelled sequel to "Pink Flamingos".

* ProductionPosse: NBC reunited at least four of the people behind their critically-acclaimed ''Theatre/TheWiz'' telecast to adapt ''Hairspray'' for television: P\producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (who produced all of the musicals NBC aired during TheNewTens, and also did the same for the 2007 ''Hairspray'' film), director Kenny Leon (who collaborated with Zadan and Meron three times before ''Hairspray''), and scriptwriter Harvey Fierstein. The actress cast as Velma, Creator/KristinChenoweth, had also previously appeared in three other productions produced by Zadan and Meron.

* ActingForTwo: Divine played both Edna Turnblad and Arvin Hodgepile.

* DescendedCreator: Director/writer Waters played Dr. Fredrickson in the 1988 film.

* DeletedScene: There are a few for the 1988 film, including:

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: For the 1988 film:

* AllStarCast: The 2016 TV musical however, starring Music/ArianaGrande, Creator/DoveCameron and Creator/KristinChenoweth. It follows OriginalCastPrecedent of having the main role played by a newcomer: Maddie Baillio, who won the part from one thousand other women who auditioned for the role.

* ProductionPosse: NBC reunited at least four people behind their critically-acclaimed ''Theatre/TheWiz'' telecast to adapt ''Hairspray'' for television: Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (who produce all of the musicals NBC airs during TheNewTens, and also did the same for the 2007 ''Hairspray'' film), director Kenny Leon (who collaborated with Zadan and Meron three times before ''Hairspray''), and scriptwriter Harvey Fierstein. The actress cast as Velma, Creator/KristinChenoweth, also previously appeared in three other productions produced by Zadan and Meron.
* {{Promoted Fan|boy}}girl: Music/ArianaGrande has [[https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/751129504811065344 admitted]] wanting to play Penny Pingleton for years by the time she landed the role in the TV version. Staying with this version, Creator/DoveCameron was a fan of the 2007 film version and had a poster of it in her bedroom.

* WrittenByCastMember: Creator/{{NBC}}'s version sees Harvey Fierstein both [[RoleReprise reprise the role of Edna Turnblad]], and write the teleplay.

* AllStarCast: The 2016 TV musical however, starring Music/ArianaGrande, Creator/DoveCameron and Creator/KristinChenoweth. It follows OriginalCastPrecedence of having the main role played by a newcomer: Maddie Baillio, who won the part from one thousand other women who auditioned for the role.

* AllStarCast: Played with. The 2007 film had several all star members (Creator/JohnTravolta, Creator/ChristopherWalken, Music/QueenLatifah and Creator/ZacEfron to name a few), but these were mostly secondary roles, whereas the main role went to entirely new actress Nikki Blonsky (the 2007 version was her debut as a professional actress). The same can be said for the 2016 TV musical however, starring Music/ArianaGrande, [[Film/{{Descendants}} Dove]] [[Creator/DoveCameron Cameron]] and Creator/KristinChenoweth, and similarly having the main role played by a newcomer: Maddie Baillio, who won the part from one thousand other women who auditioned for the role.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Many, if not only the opening scenes of the 2007 film were shot in Baltimore. The rest were in Toronto.
* TheCastShowoff: Several members of the cast were picked either because their musical talents were largely unknown to the general public (Marsden, Walken, Bynes) or had simply been forgotten about in recent years ([[Film/{{Grease}} Travolta]], [[Film/Grease2 Pfeiffer]])
* ChannelHop: Both the 1988 and 2007 films are owned by Creator/WarnerBros through Creator/NewLineCinema, but the ''Live'' show, being produced for NBC, is distributed by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Television]]. However, Warner Bros. Television and New Line were still involved, as was Sony Pictures Television, Universal's partner on the previous live shows.
* CutSong:
** "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" was excised from the 2007 film due to lack of plot advancement but gets covered by the three incarnations of Tracy (Ricki Lake, 1988; Marissa Jaret Winokur, 2002; and Blonsky) during the end credits and is present on the soundtrack.
** "The New Girl in Town" was cut from the stage musical, but reinstated in the 2007 film. Some songs from the stage version were cut from the film, too, such as "Velma's Revenge", a DarkReprise of "Miss Baltimore Crabs" (which is present in the live production).
** "I Can Wait", sung by Blonsky in the 2007 film, also counts, but said song can be heard as a deleted song/scene in the two-disc soundtrack and two-disc home media release.
** "The Big Dollhouse", cut from the film, also didn't make it into the 2016 telecast, in which Tracy goes to jail alone.
* DawsonCasting: Although Tracy is a teen, Maddie Baillio was 20 when she got the role for ''Hairspray Live!''.

** The 2007 film has a couple, including an additional verse of "Big Blonde and Beautiful (Reprise)".
* DescendedCreator: Director/writer Waters played Dr. Fredrickson in the 1988 film.
* DyeingForYourArt:
** In the 1988 film, Ricki Lake began rapidly losing weight due to the intense dance lessons she had to take for the film. She reportedly had to "eat like crazy" in order to stay plump.
** In the 2007 adaptation, Bynes ate so many lollipops during filming there were some genuine concerns she might lose her teeth, especially from her dentist father. Rumors place it at around ''40 a day''. Travolta's fat suit couldn't have been all that pleasant either.
* FakeAmerican: In the 2007 film, anyone who isn't in the main or major secondary cast is played by a Toronto actor, such as Creator/DarrenFrost as the cameraman Velma belittles.
* FanNickname: Amongst the cast, "You Can't Stop the Beat", due to the intense dancing and fast pace, garnered the nickname "You Can't Stop To ''Breathe''." Music/QueenLatifah, being a rapper, was the only one who had no trouble.
* NamesTheSame: In the 2007 adaptation, Nikki Blonsky played a fat girl with a skinny blonde rival named Amber. Three years later, Blonsky starred in the [[OneSeasonWonder short-lived]] TV series ''Literature/{{Huge}}'', where she played a fat girl with a skinny blonde rival named Amber.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** An extremely ''epic'' one for John Waters. Ironically, this actually led to a lot more controversy due to parents getting such earlier Waters material as ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' for their kids, which in at least one case resulted in a 911 call. Yes, ''Hairspray'' is for the whole family. Anything else by Waters prior? [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids Not even close!]] As expected, Waters himself found the situation hilarious.
** This isn't the only time that Creator/ChristopherWalken plays an all-around NiceGuy, but they're rare.
** Creator/BrittanySnow's characters, equally, are usually much nicer.
** During interviews, Divine made it perfectly clear his role as Edna was ''not'' one of his usual drag queen roles. As he put it: "What drag queen would allow herself to look like this? I look like half the women from Baltimore."

* RecursiveAdaptation: From movie to Broadway musical and back again.

* StillbornFranchise: Waters wrote a sequel to the 2007 adaptation entitled ''White Lipstick'', detailing everyone's struggles to adjust to new music trends of the late 1960s. Plot points he shared included the African-American dancers planning an all-Black music program, Link becoming FakeBrit to attract fans of Music/TheBeatles, and Edna losing weight through weight loss pills. New numbers included Link having a MushroomSamba and singing with his pimples, and Edna gorging back all the weight she lost after learning that Wilbur thinks she looked better when she looked fat.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** For the 1988 film:
*** Divine was originally going to play both Tracy and Edna. However, he got sick of doing drag for film roles at the time of production, so Waters had him play Arvin instead.
*** [[Film/UntamedYouth Mamie Van Doren]] was originally picked for Velma in the original film.
** As for the 2007 film:
*** Creator/JamesMarsden beat out his ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' co-star Creator/HughJackman and [[Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock Joey McIntyre]] for Corny.
*** Music/QueenLatifah won out over Music/ArethaFranklin.
*** Christopher Walken was chosen over Creator/JimBroadbent and Creator/BillyCrystal.
*** Creator/MerylStreep and Music/{{Madonna}} were considered for Velma.
*** Creator/HaydenPanettiere was considered for Amber.
*** Creator/TomHanks, Creator/SteveMartin and Creator/RobinWilliams were considered for Edna.

* FakeAmerican: In the 2007 film, anyone who isn't in the main or major secondary cast is played by a Toronto actor.

** [[Film/UntamedYouth Mamie Van Doren]] was originally picked for Velma in the original film.

** One taking place before Tracy's ''Corny Collins'' debut where she skips school to break into the Von Tussle household, where she vandalizes Amber's room and dyes her hair. The removal makes the sudden hair color change an OrphanedReference.

* DyeingForYourArt: Bynes ate so many lollipops during filming there were some genuine concerns she might lose her teeth, especially from her dentist father. Rumors place it at around ''40 a day''. Travolta's fat suit couldn't have been all that pleasant either.

* AllStarCast: Played with. The 2007 movie had several all star members (Creator/JohnTravolta, Creator/ChristopherWalken, Music/QueenLatifah, and Creator/ZacEfron to name a few), but these were mostly secondary roles, whereas the main role went to entirely new actress Nikki Blonsky (the 2007 version was her debut as a professional actress). The same can be said for the 2016 TV musical however, starring Music/ArianaGrande, [[Film/{{Descendants}} Dove]] [[Creator/DoveCameron Cameron]] and Creator/KristinChenoweth, and similarly having the main role played by a newcomer: Maddie Baillio, who won the part from one thousand other women who auditioned for the role.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Many, if not only the opening scenes of the 2007 movie were filmed in Baltimore. The rest were shot in Toronto.
* TheCastShowoff: Several members of the cast were picked either because their musical talents were largely unknown to the general public (Marsden, Walken, Bynes) or had simply been forgotten about in recent years (Travolta, Pfeiffer)
* ChannelHop: Both the 1987 and 2007 films are owned by Creator/WarnerBros through Creator/NewLineCinema, but the ''Live'' show, being produced for NBC, is distributed by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Television]]. However, Warner Bros. Television and New Line were still involved, as was Sony Pictures Television, Universal's partner on the previous live shows.

** "The New Girl in Town" was cut from the stage musical, but put into the 2007 film. Some songs from the stage version were cut from the film, too.
** "I Can Wait", sung by Nikki Blonsky in the 2007 movie, also counts, but the said song can be heard as a deleted song/scene in the two-disc soundtrack and two-disc DVD/Blu-Ray release.
** "The Big Dollhouse" didn't make it into the 2016 telecast, in which Tracy goes to jail alone.

* FanNickname: Amongst the cast, "You Can't Stop the Beat," due to the intense dancing and fast pace, garnered the nickname "You Can't Stop To ''Breathe''." Music/QueenLatifah, being a rapper, was the only one who had no trouble.

* ProductionPosse: NBC reunited at least four people behind their critically-acclaimed ''Theatre/TheWiz'' telecast to adapt ''Hairspray'' for television: Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (who produce all of the musicals NBC airs during TheNewTens, and also did the same for the 2007 ''Hairspray'' movie), director Kenny Leon (who collaborated with Zadan and Meron three times before ''Hairspray''), and scriptwriter Harvey Fierstein. The actress cast as Velma, Kristin Chenoweth, also previously appeared in three other productions produced by Zadan and Meron.
* {{Promoted Fan|boy}}girl: Music/ArianaGrande has [[https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/751129504811065344 admitted]] wanting to play Penny Pingleton for years by the time she landed the role in the TV version. Staying with this version, Creator/DoveCameron was a fan of the 2007 musical film version and had a poster of it in her bedroom.

* RoleReprise: In addition to Fierstein as Edna, Broadway's original Dynamites, Kamilah Marshall, Judine Somerville, and Shayna Steele, reunited for the 2016 TV adaptation.
* StillbornFranchise: John Waters wrote a sequel to the 2007 movie titled ''Hairspray 2: White Lipstick'', detailing everyone's struggles to adjust to new music trends of the late 1960s. Plot points he shared included the African-American dancers planning an all-Black music program, Link becoming FakeBrit to attract fans of Music/TheBeatles, and Edna losing weight through weight loss pills. New numbers included Link having a MushroomSamba and singing with his pimples, and Edna gorging back all the weight she lost after learning that Wilbur thinks she looked better when she looked fat.

** Mamie Van Doren was originally picked for Velma in the original film.

*** Creator/JamesMarsden beat out his ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' co-star Creator/HughJackman and Joey [=McIntyre=] for the part of Corny Collins.

*** Creator/MerylStreep and Music/{{Madonna}} were considered for the role of Velma Von Tussle.
*** Creator/HaydenPanettiere was considered for the role of Amber Von Tussle.
*** Creator/TomHanks, Creator/SteveMartin and Creator/RobinWilliams were considered for Edna Turnblad.

* DescendedCreator: Director/writer John Waters played Dr. Fredrickson in the 1988 film.
* DyeingForYourArt: Amanda Bynes ate so many lollipops during filming there were some genuine concerns she might lose her teeth, especially from her dentist father. Rumors place it at around ''40 a day.'' John Travolta's fat suit couldn't have been all that pleasant either.
* FanNickname: Amongst the cast, "You Can't Stop the Beat," due to the intense dancing and fast pace, garnered the nickname "You Can't Stop To ''Breathe''." Music/QueenLatifah, being a rapper, was the only one who had no trouble singing the song.

* ChannelHop: Both the 1987 and 2007 films are owned by Creator/WarnerBros through Creator/NewLineCinema, but the ''Live'' show, being produced for NBC, will be distributed by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Television]]. However, Warner Bros. Television and New Line were still involved, as was Sony Pictures Television, Universal's partner on the previous live shows.

** This isn't the only time that Creator/ChristopherWalken plays a all-around NiceGuy, but they're rare.

** During interviews, Divine made it perfectly clear her character was ''not'' one of her usual "drag queen" roles. As she put it: "What drag queen would allow herself to look like this? I look like half the women from Baltimore."

* ActingForTwo: Divine played both Edna Turnblad and Arvin Hodgepile. Waters had to give Divine a male role because she was getting sick of doing drag for film roles.

** Creator/JamesMarsden beat out his ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' co-star Creator/HughJackman and Joey [=McIntyre=] for the part of Corny Collins.
** Music/QueenLatifah won out over Music/ArethaFranklin.
** Christopher Walken was chosen over Creator/JimBroadbent and Creator/BillyCrystal.
** Creator/MerylStreep and Music/{{Madonna}} were considered for the role of Velma Von Tussle.
** Creator/HaydenPanettiere was considered for the role of Amber Von Tussle.
** Creator/TomHanks, Creator/SteveMartin and Creator/RobinWilliams were considered for Edna Turnblad.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Many of the Baltimore scenes in the 2007 movie were shot in Toronto.

* WrittenByCastMember: Creator/{{NBC}}'s version sees Harvey Fierstein both [[RoleReprisal reprise the role of Edna Turnblad]], and write the teleplay.

** The 2016 telecast cut "The Big Dollhouse". To be fair, only Tracy was the one arrested there.

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor: It wasn't until halfway through production that Creator/MichellePfeiffer realized that the character she plays is actually racist. She became worried about what people would think, but director Adam Shankman reassured her.

* ActorAllusion:
** Face it, Ruth Brown ''was'' Motormouth Maybelle.
** On the 2007 album, during "Nicest Kids in Town," Corny Collins describes them as "The [[Film/SugarAndSpice Sugar and Spice-est]]"
** In the 2007 film, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken have a scene where she advances on him sexily, and he tries to stop her by using practical jokes as weapons. It's a deliberate homage to the end of ''Film/BatmanReturns'', where they did the same thing as Catwoman and Max Shreck (although Walken used an actual gun in the latter).
** In the 2016 live broadcast, Penny being carried out in the finale might be a reference to the rumor that Music/ArianaGrande demands she be carried everywhere.
** BrittanySnow actually played a dancer on American Bandstand, the show that the Corny's was based on in Series/AmericanDreams.
** Creator/DrewCarey played Wilbur Turnblad in the 2011 Hollywood Bowl production, and at the end of "You're Timeless to Me", Edna (played [[RoleReprisal once again]] by Harvey Fierstein), seductively tells him, [[Series/ThePriceIsRight "All this can be yours if the price is right!"]]

* CastingGag:
** 2011 would have Creator/MichellePfeiffer and Creator/ZacEfron star together again, but instead of him dating her daughter, it's her he goes after in ''Film/NewYearsEve''.
** In the 2007 film, Jerry Stiller plays fashion store owner Mr Pinky. Stiller played Wilbur Turnblad in the original 1988 film. Several other actors from the original and the director appear as well, see "The Cameo".
** BrittanySnow in the 2007 version essentially fulfilled the same role as Tracy in her show ''Series/AmericanDreams'' except she actually danced on ''Series/AmericanBandstand''.
** Marissa Jaret Winokur, Tracy of the musical, and Allison Janney, Mrs Pingleton of the 2007 film, were both in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' - but Janney with the larger part.
** For the 2016 live version, [[Film/{{Descendants}} this isn't the first time Kristen Chenowith and Dove Cameron have played a villainous mother-daughter duo.]]

* CreatorCameo: Creator/JohnWaters has a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in the 2007 film as "The Flasher That Lives Next Door" during "Good Morning Baltimore." In the original, he's the quack psychiatrist who tries to "cure" Penny's racial tolerance.

* FanNickname: Amongst the cast, "You Can't Stop the Beat," due to the intense dancing and fast pace, garnered the nickname "You Can't Stop To ''Breathe''." Queen Latifah, being a rapper, was the only one who had no trouble singing the song.

** BrittanySnow's characters, equally, are usually much nicer.

** James Marsden beat out his X-Men co-star Creator/HughJackman and Joey [=McIntyre=] for the part of Corny Collins.
** Queen Latifah won out over Aretha Franklin.
** Christopher Walken was chosen over Billy Crystal.

** John Waters wrote a sequel to the 2007 movie titled ''Hairspray 2: White Lipstick'', detailing everyone's struggles to adjust to new music trends of the late 1960s. Plot points he shared included the African-American dancers planning an all-Black music program, Link becoming FakeBrit to attract fans of Music/TheBeatles, and Edna losing weight through weight loss pills. New numbers included Link having a MushroomSamba and singing with his pimples, and Edna gorging back all the weight she lost after learning that Wilbur thinks she looked better when she looked fat.
* WrittenByCastMember: NBC's version sees Harvey Fierstein both [[RoleReprisal reprise the role of Edna Turnblad]], and write the teleplay.