Adam Shankman just recently finished up Cheaper by the Dozen 2 for Fox and is now moving straight on to the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical, Hairspray, for New Line Cinema.
The production is expected to begin early next year in Baltimore and the film should be released Summer 2007.
As far as casting goes Variety tells us that John Travolta is expected to play Edna Turnblad, the role Harvey Fierstein originated onstage, and apparently Shankman’s involvement is pretty much guaranteeing Queen Latifah as an instant front-runner for the role of Motormouth Maybelle.
One other interesting bit in the Variety article was that Shankman trained as a dancer at Juilliard, and danced in videos of Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul before becoming a prolific choreographer on nonmusical films. “Straight up now tell me” those are some unexpected qualifications from the man that directed Bringing Down the House and The Pacifier.
