Looks like you just can’t stop the beat. The sequel to the insanely popular Hairspray is on its way and the twisted mind of John Waters has some ideas already.
As for the plot, he said: “People hate Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) because she doesn’t lose weight. They ask ‘Now that you’re famous, why won’t you lose weight?’. And Link (Efron) experiments with drugs. Throughout half the movie, he has an ongoing dialogue with three pimples on his forehead.”
“Edna (John Travolta) loses weight, but sees her husband (Christopher Walken) lusting after fat women,” Shaiman laughed, citing one of the musical numbers he’s particularly eager to write. “And so, she finally breaks down and runs over to a snack table. Just within one number, she gets fat again; gaining 20 pounds at a time. [Her fat] pops out, and by the end of the song she’s completely at her old weight again.”
Shaiman, whose hilarious “Prop 8 – The Musical” is currently one of the hottest viral clips on the Internet, said another fun facet of the “Hairspray” sequel will be writing Beatles and Kinks-era tunes to depict Efron’s desire to remain hip during the British Invasion.
“Part of John Waters’ idea is that he gets caught up trying to masquerade himself as a member of the British Invasion,” Shaiman said of Efron. “And it’s wearing that mop-top Beatles hairdo that causes those pimples on his forehead!”
I think they are taking the weight issue a little too far. I agree that these bone rail supermodels (among other things) are setting unrealistic standards that people can never live up to, so Hairspray’s secondary message of liking yourself just the way you are worked great with the charismatic Nikki Blonsky in the lead. But now they are shifting the message to “its cool to be fat”?
I do look forward however to Waters crafting beautifully insightful scenes with Efron trying to stay hip while everyone falls over moptops instead of greaser heartthrobs.
But regardless of what the story is, as long as the music is as catchy as the original and has you replaying the closing number, then I am in.
