hairspray
Blonsky vs. Golden: Let’s Go to the Videotape!
3:40AM STV | While the early eyewitness accounts of last week’s Blonsky Family Reunion and Airport Rumble yielded enough specifics to suss young star Nikki Blonsky’s injuries, it wasn’t until today that we’ve finally seen the video that we knew would surface in the bloody aftermath. And what a scene it is, featuring Blonsky’s Long Island nemesis and America’s Next Top Model contestant Bianca Golden standing firm as the Hairspray actress is dragged away, yelping for charges to be pressed. But what really makes the sparring special is the camerawoman’s inspired commentary: “She done decked the girl out, Tracy Turnblad… She won’t be dancing around here today.” No kidding: Both Blonsky and Golden were later charged with actual bodily harm (which, according to People Magazine, carries a maximum sentence of two years), while Blonsky’s father Carl faces even sterner judgment — a five-year maximum on charges of grievous bodily harm. And at the end of it all stands the steely-eyed Golden, prompting us to wonder exactly how such a lithe beauty could ever outmaneuver the infamous Blonsky Sandwich. So many questions! For now, though, follow the jump and bask in the play-by-play joy, live from Turks and Caicos. [TMZ] More »
BREAKING: Nikki Blonsky Injured, Arrested in Brutal Luggage-Defense Melee
7:10AM STV | Word just over the Defamer transom reveals that Hairspray star Nikki Blonsky and her father were arrested after an airport brawl that left the Golden Globe-nominated actress in a neck brace. Reportedly, on a stopover in Turks and Caicos during her long flight from Long Island sweets-slinger to pugilist diva, both Nikki and Pa Blonsky went to war rather than move their luggage for an unnamed woman. More details — including a cameo by an America’s Next Top Model contestant(!) — after the jump. More »
Will John Waters and ‘Hairspray 2′ Break Musicals’ Sequel Curse?
7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | In the tradition of classic musical sequels like Goodbye, Dolly and Seven Divorces for Seven Brothers, the creative team behind Hairspray is set to return for a follow-up slated for 2010. New Line has reportedly brought aboard John Waters — whose original 1988 hit was adapted to a Broadway tuner that grossed $200 million when re-adapted for the screen last year — to scribble a new treatment “[picking] up the Baltimore saga of the Turnblad family after the resolution of the first film, which was set in 1962.” More »
Suri Cruise’s Favourite Things: Toxic Bottles, Boys Named Brooklyn And High-Kicking Has-Beens
2:46AM Molly Friedman | We hate to rain on Tom Cruise’s purity parade, but it seems his bundle of Hubbard Formula-chugging joy, Suri Cruise, has gone seriously gaga for two older men. And she’s got the giggles to show it. While babysitting for all three Beckham boys as David bent it like…well, lost to the visiting team, Tom and Katie brought finger-nibbling Suri along to watch. But the blanketed Cruiselette only had eyes for one guy: and he goes by Brooklyn Beckham. Tom did seem more interested in setting up Suri with the littlest Beckham (Cruz Beckham! Just picturing future Scientology couple Suri Cruise and Cruz Beckham likely made Tom’s removable head spin with possibilities), Suri couldn’t keep her eyes off 9-year old Brooklyn. But earlier last week while still in NY, TomKat attended Suri’s favourite musical, and we have a feeling fellow Scientologist John Travolta’s role in the movie version had nothing to do with her ear-to-ear grin while leaving: a certain song-and-dancing Efronabbe got her all shook up… More »
Nikki Blonsky Flips Out, Quite Literally
8:28AM Defamer Hollywood | During an evening lacking any sort of true (or even manufactured) sense of excitement, we found ourselves giddily mesmerized by the grainy home video that Nikki Blonsky shot of her family’s reaction to the news that she had been nominated for a Globe for her work in Hairspray. After all, it’s one thing to trash a hotel room, but it’s another thing entirely to trash your parents’ living room. In a viral video era where capturing a “real” reaction becomes harder and harder, it’s impossible to argue that Nikki’s spontaneous flip of the Blonsky family coffee table was anything other than a pure moment born from a rush of adrenaline and emotion. More simply put, we just paid witness to one of the most ecstatic moments of this young woman’s life to date. We love everything about it, unironically and unapologetically. Now if only John Travolta were able to show this kind of range… WATCH VIDEO More »
Trade Roundup: Casting Shocker! Known Liberal Garofalo Joins Conservative-Run Hit Show!
5:40AM Defamer Hollywood | · Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are in talks to star in a film version of the musical Nine for the Weinstein Co; when reached for comment on his potential cast, Harvey Weinstein said, “I may be jumping the gun, but if Penelope doesn’t get nominated, I’ll willingly blind myself with a rusty salad fork.” [Variety] · Noted liberal Janeane Garofalo (she even had an Air America show!) is joining the cast of 24 this season; oh, to be a fly on the wall overhearing the debates she’ll be having with self-described “right-wing nutjob” co-creator Joel Surnow at the craft services table! Surnow, of course, can always retaliate for any political acrimony by having Jack Bauer torture her government agent character with a belt sander for suspected collusion with terrorists. [THR] · Paramount chooses sides in the scintillating hi-def DVD format war, aligning with HD-DVD over Blu-Ray. [Variety] · Hollywood Out Of Ideas, Your Head Will Explode If You Have An Original Thought After The Age of 30 Edition: Warner Bros. pulls a long-gestating remake of Logan’s Run off the shelf, handing the project over to commercial director Joseph Kosinski for his feature debut. [THR] · Hairspray becomes just the tenth musical to cross the $US100 million mark in domestic box office, proving that there was, in fact, a healthy market for John Travolta in terrifying housefrau drag. [Variety] More »
Highest. Grossing. Episode. Ever.
7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | Take your mind off the bleakness of the prospect of another working week with the weekend box office numbers: 1. The Simpsons Movie – $US71.850 million It seems that Fox’s clever promotional onslaught – the conversion of selected 7-11s into Kwik-E-Marts, the giant Homer rendering in the English countryside poised to assault the genitals of an ancient fertility god with a donut, and the ambitious strategy of teasing the film’s opening by running 18 years of half-hour “mini-films” on their television network to create awareness for their feature – has paid off handsomely, as The Simpsons Movie’s nearly $US72 million opening weekend far surpassed the safe $US40-50 million projections the studio had claimed. More »
John Travolta Insisted Edna Turnblad Meet His Stringent Body-Type Specifications
11:49AM Defamer Hollywood | W magazine profiles John Travolta in their current issue, naively noting how “at 53 [he] still has a good head of hair and wields his famous blue eyes to powerful effect”. When the topic shifts to his upcoming turn as Hairspray’s zaftig hausfrau Edna Turnblad, Travolta explains how he firmly told producers that he would only take on the gender-bending role if they promised to build him the kind of plus-size, womanly curves recently dubbed by the LAT as the “new look” of Hollywood: He tested prospective personae of his feminine self on the set of his recent buddy comedy Wild Hogs because, he says, he wanted to hear “from straight men how they would like to see a man be a woman”. The Edna that eventually took shape might be described as a dancing elephant with a wasp waist. “I said, ‘If you give me a big waist, then I become Grandma,’” recalls Travolta. “‘You can make her ass as big as you want, her tits as big as you want, but if you don’t bring her in’” – here he mashes in his own solid middle with the heels of his hands – “‘I can’t play what I want to play.’” [...] More »
