Michelle Pfeiffer is stepping into some villainous boots as she has just been cast as Velma von Tussel, the former Miss Baltimore Crabs beauty queen-turned-bitter Baltimore TV station owner, in New Line Cinema’s Hairspray.
Pfeiffer joins John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron and newcomer Nikki Blonsky in the pic directed by Adam Shankman. The film is originally based on Waters’ 1988 comedy about star-struck teenagers on a local Baltimore dance show. The new version of the film will be based on New Line’s hit Broadway adaptation of the film which debuted in 2002, and went on to win eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Director.
The pic is set to begin lensing on September 5 with an anticipated release of December 21, 2007.
The casting of Pfeiffer took some tim, but Shankman was able to wrangle her in as he gives Variety the following quote, “Not only do we have her singing, which she hasn’t done in a long time, but she’s been a delicious villain in roles like Catwoman… Velma is this amazing mess of contradictions. I’m going to dress and wig Michelle to death on this one.”
