A few minutes ago, I used imdb.com to look at the castings for the movie Hairspray, set to be in theatres in July of this year.
I've never heard of the girl playing Tracy, and since Hairspray is the only thing listed on her profile on IMDB, I'm assuming this is her breakout movie. Let's just hope she can do it.
An interesting casting is John Travolta playing the part of Tracy's mother, the over weight, gruff voiced woman who forgot about her dreams and has spend the last several years of her life washing other people's clothes. I was looking at stills from the movie, and it's obvious they beefed him up with computers. It looks a little TOO fake for me, but we'll see when the movie actually comes out.
Michelle Pfeiffer is set to play Mrs. Vantussel. I don't have much to comment on that, except that I hope she can sing.
Zac Efron is set to play Link, the teenage heart throb for Tracy, and they fall in love, blah blah blah. Apparently, this kid was in High School Musical, which I saw, and failed to see its appeal. So we'll have to wait and see on that one.
One person I am excited about is Queen Latifa playing the part of Seaweed's mom. Queen Latifa is a powerful singer and she's just amazing... my reference being her performance in the movie version of Chicago.
And so I am brought to the final comment I have about the casting for this movie.
Amanda Bynes, set to play the part of Penny. When I was younger, much younger, I used to enjoy her show on Nickelodeon. As I grew up, she seemed to be more annoying, joining the leagues of teenage actresses like Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. I've read that she isn't a part girl, so she's a "role model," but that doesn't mean she's a good actress. She seems to play the same character in all of her movies, and her "personality" (whether its her real personality or her on screen personality) always comes through the character, and is always the same. I guess I could see her playing the part of Penny, but that brings me to my final question...
Can Amanda Bynes sing? And well?
Penny is a great character in the story of Hairspray, and her singing should be powerful, and show her personality.
I'll have to wait until July to find out how these faces play together in this movie. I haven't seen the 1988 version of the movie, but I have seen the stage production, which was amazing by the way. I really hope they can pull it off and make a great movie. Then maybe Amanda Bynes can redeem herself in my mind.
