When will people in Hollywood learn that when you have a successful movie, you should just leave it alone and not make sequels? Only in rare circumstances are sequels as good or better than the first. I mean, did we really need Ocean’s 12 or Dumb and Dumberer? After the enormous success of Hairspray, which starred Zac Efron, Queen Latifah, and John Travolta, there was talk of a sequel being made. This week, MTV announced that a second film was underway and when I read the synopsis, I thought it was a joke. Especially after reading what Efron’s Link Larkin will be up to, I’m still hoping that it is!

Hairspray director Adam Shankman confirmed that John Waters, who wrote the original film in 1988, will be writing an outline for the new film, which will take place in the late 1960s. The film will also see the return of composing/producing team Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. “Scott and I are certainly on board,” Shaiman told MTV. “John Waters wrote a treatment that is so hysterical!” Shaiman currently has an internet hit on his hands with the hilarious Prop 8: The Musical, which stars several high-profile celebs, and can be seen on FunnyOrDie.com.

Shaiman went to explain the ideas behind the new Hairpsray film and lets us know what our favorite characters will be up to now. Be warned, though. It gets weird. “People hate Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) because she doesn’t lose weight,” Shaiman explained. “They ask ‘Now that you’re famous, why won’t you lose weight?’. And Link (Efron) experiments with drugs. Throughout half the movie, he has an ongoing dialogue with three pimples on his forehead.”

As for Tracy’s parents, Edna (Travolta) will lose weight, only to realize that her husband (Christopher Walken) is still lusting over fat women. She’ll finally break down and stuff her face with snacks, which will bring her back to her big, beautiful self. The music for the Hairspray sequel will sound more like the Beatles and the Kinks than what fans of the Broadway show are accustomed to. This music will directly affect Efron’s Link Larkin, who is desperately trying to remain cool during the time of the British invasion. “Part of John Waters’ idea is that he gets caught up trying to masquerade himself as a member of the British Invasion,” Shaiman tells MTV. “And it’s wearing that mop-top Beatles hairdo that causes those pimples on his forehead!”


- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: MTV
(Image courtesy of Time)