Director Adam Shankman Finds His Way to "Hairspray"

Oct 1, 2005 - For a while it looked as though "Chicago" director Rob Marshall would helm New Line Cinema's upcoming "Hairspray" movie after the original directors, Jerry Mitchell and Jack O'Brien, withdrew from the project. But Marshall passed and after an extensive search, New Line has hired Adam Shankman ("Bringing Down the House") to direct the musical.

Leslie Dixon wrote the script and New Line expects Shankman to quickly begin working in earnest with Dixon and composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman to get the project rolling.

Now that Shankman is confirmed as the director, casting should start to speed up. John Travolta is rumored to be interested in taking on the role of Edna Turnblad. Variety reports that with the hiring of Shankman, the chance of Shankman's "Bringing Down the House" star Queen Latifah signing on as Motormouth Maybelle has definitely increased.

New Line anticipates shooting the film in early 2006. The studio hopes to release "Hairspray" as their big summer film of 2007.

Director Shankman is currently finishing up work on "Cheaper by the Dozen 2."

SOURCE: Variety