Adam Shankman sits on a hotel suite couch, his right arm cradled in a navy blue sling. "It's just director's elbow," he jokes quietly. The director and choreographer is actually recovering from a bit of surgery he had a week and a half ago for inflamed bursitis. "I'm resilient, I bounce back fast."
Shankman's in Toronto, a city he says he's spent more time in over the past three years than his L.A. home due to shooting schedules. His last jaunt to the city was to film Hairspray, the musical, candy-coloured remake of the 1988 John Waters romp. And while he insists he's a resilient guy, Shankman also admits there's one thing that would have bulldozed him flatter than ironed hair – the disapproval of Hairspray's creator.
"I would die if he didn't like the movie," says Shankman, stretching his words for maximum melodrama. "I'd seriously, I would kill myself. It would be horrible if he didn't like the movie."
Thankfully, Shankman got the thumbs up, and, along the way, Waters offered plenty of support. Before filming began, Shankman famously got the chance to meet the cult director. He happened to be in Waters' Baltimore stomping grounds while producing dance flick Step Up. After shooting Waters a timid e-mail, the two went for a lunch he'll not soon forget.
"I said to him, 'What would you like to see me do with this movie?' And he said, 'Just please make it a hit.' OK, I'll do what I can," Shankman laughs.
Waters also had some more serious advice: "He just said do it your own way," remembers Shankman. "Don't do what they did, don't do what I did, do it your own way."
It was easy advice to follow, Shankman says. Ever since he saw the movie in theatres back in '88, he loved the main character, Tracy Turnblad, the mashed-potato-ing teen sensation, who is as wide as her ratted 'do is high.
"Oh my God, yes [I identified with Tracy]. A zillion per cent." Shankman gushes. "I was just trying to figure myself out at the time and it was great to see a movie that portrayed an outsider that goes in and conquers. It was pretty inspirational at the time for me."
Shankman knew his Hairspray would have to be told through Tracy's super-positive eyes. Of course, it helped that Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman had written a crazy-mad-successful Tony-award-winning musical that did just that.
And since Hairspray's release this summer, Shankman has not only gotten the thumbs up from Waters, but millions of movie fans who've tittered at the sight of John Travolta in a fat suit. The movie is the third largest grossing musical in U.S. history.
"I'm still reeling from all of this. It's really weird. … People really respond to this material in a really emotional way. They really see themselves as Tracy or they respond to the music," he says.
Shankman's excited as he remembers all the "wow moments" of Hairspray's release – like how he broke down in tears when an audience cheered for the movie's show-stopping opening number, "Good Morning Baltimore." But then he sighs. Heavily. And the mood changes.
Shankman's reached audiences before – his last few flicks Cheaper By the Dozen 2, The Pacifier, Bringing Down the House have been money-making favourites among families seeking G-rated escape – but it seems he's never been satisfied making them.
"The last few movies I made were made," Shankman exhales deeply, "both kind of as favours. I made – I was asked, strongly, by important people, to do those movies. And I did them, but it's a year of your life. And I think I was kind of depressed because I don't think I was doing anything that had much of me inside it," he says. "And with Hairspray, I knew there was going to be a ton of me inside it. I mean, that movie is like a first-class ticket inside my brain. That's me, splattered up there.
"I hope that I don’t have so much ego that I think I've made the definitive Hairspray. I mean, John [Waters] made the definitive Hairspray. And now, I’ve just sort of fallen into the legacy. And that's cool. Very cool."
He's also created a legacy for a pack of young entertainers, young teens who star in the movie and do the twist, the mashed potato and the Madison. Along with tween-set superstars such as Zac Efron and Amanda Bynes, Shankman took a chance on several unknowns. As the story goes, Nikki Blonsky, who plays Tracy, was slinging sundaes in an ice cream parlor when she mailed in her audition tape. Another newcomer was 21-year-old Elijah Kelley, who plays Seaweed – a slick dancer who teaches Tracy some moves that no white girl on the Corny Collins Show has ever done before.
Kelley's tagged along with Shankman on this press tour. He's a scene stealer in the movie – but then, acrobatic, high-kicking dance moves tend to catch most people's attention. Kelley's not dancing today, but he can't keep still, either. He shifts spots on his sofa, jumps around to check out the downtown view. Eventually, he finds a comfortable spot – or perch, anyway – crouched on top of the couch.
Hairspray fever is fizzling out, what with the DVD coming out on Tuesday (Nov. 20), but Kelley doesn't think there'll ever be a time he won't be doing interviews like this, and talking about the film.
"It really doesn't feel like this is wrapping up," says Kelley with a laugh. "I think if it's as iconic as a film as people are expecting it to be, then I think we're never going to stop talking about it. It's the launching pad for so many people's careers. Nikki is definitely not going to stop talking about it. Zac, Amanda, Brittany [Snow]. These are staples in all our careers, and I think we owe it to never stop talking about it."
As it is, he finds himself talking about the flick with fans all the time -- including the crazier ones. A couple of hardcore Hairspray heads tracked him down at a red carpet event dolled up like Tracy Turnblatt and her bff Penny Pingleton.
"They have Hairspray parties and all that stuff," Kelley says. "And it's like, 'Wow, you guys are either really crazy or you really love Hairspray."
For the record, Kelley has never been to one of the cult parties, though he might consider it. "Probably if 10 of my friends came along with me."
It's that sort of reaction that has made the film such a breakthrough, personally, for Shankman.
"The fact that I'm the guy who got to make this – if you look at my body of work, I've just done a bunch of things because I wanted to continue to work. I'm a director who takes jobs as they are offered to me. I am not a writer/director who has a really intense story to tell. I'm not Oliver Stone, I'm not that guy. I'm the guy who just wants a career. And the fact that I've just stumbled onto something that people are responding to in this way is just extraordinary to me."
Of course, no movie is ever just stumbled upon. And Shankman's goal of directing a big, musical, spectacular-spectacular has been with him since the Julliard-trained dancer helmed his first popcorn movie, The Wedding Planner, back in 2001.
"So now, is this the end?" he jokes. "I would kill to do another musical."
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