Interview: Hairspray Director Adam Shankman And Star Nikki Blonsky

On Monday June 25th I had the chance to sit down with Hairspray director / choreogrpher / executive producer Adam Shankman and star / newcomer Nikki Blonsky, who plays Tracy Turnblad in the film. Nikki is a 17 year old from Long Island who won a nationwide search to win the coveted role of Tracy.

Our roundtable interview was the last one on their San Francisco press day, but Adam was as energetic as ever. I'm still amazed at how self deprecating Adam is about his previous movies/jobs (Pacifier, Cheaper by the Dozen...etc). Listen to the interview using the player below, or check out the chapter points after the jump.

00:40 Shankman talks about The Pacifier and his previous films

01:35 Returning to the musical genre

03:00 Fighting for the Job

03:40 Why Hairspray: Feeling like an outsider

04:40 The relevance of this story of Prejudice in today's society

05:50 Finding Tracey

07:30 The Actors Become Their Characters

08:45 The Casting of Allison Janney

09:40 Casting John Travolta

10:20 Bashing Dreamgirls, Making an effective Musical

11:20 Improving/ADR

12:10 Not Trying to Compete with John Water's original Hairpray

12:30 Baltimore hasn't changed

13:30 The Length of a Comedy

14:15 Nikki talks about the photo frame duet

15:20 Not Breaking Tracey Out of Jail

17:00 Zac Efron Making Out with the Photo Frame

18:00 Nikki's exhausting production schedule, Coming Up From Working Minimum Wage

19:00 Cold Stone Creamery Jingles

19:30 Casting/Finding Nikki

21:45 Fans of Musical Theatre

22:15 Nikki's Future in Film

23:15 Adam talks about his next project: Bedtime Stories starring Adam Sandler

24:35 No Interest in Remaking Pink Flamingos: "Why would you remake a John Waters movie just to remake a John Waters movie?"