Nikki Blonsky Hairspray Interview

DREAMS COME TRUE FOR HAIRSPRAY STAR

by Paul Fischer.
They say that in Hollywood it's tough to live out your dreams, but occasionally they come true in more ways than one. Just ask Nikki Blonsky, the delightfully effervescent and incandescent star of the film version of Hairspray, whose central portrayal of perennioal optimist Tracy Turnblad has audiences raving. In this 1960s, Baltimore-set musical, she has John Travolta as her mom and Michelle Pfeiffer as her nemesis. What more can a girl want? Blonsky talked to Paul Fischer.

Paul Fischer: You seem to be identical to this character in so many ways. You continuously have this smile on your face, happy all the time. Do you see an affinity between you and Tracy?

Nikki Blonsky: Absolutely. I think Tracy and I are very similar in the fact that she was just a seventeen year old girl with a big dream and I was just a seventeen year old girl with a big dream and my dream was to play here, you know. So I think it kind of just went. We got along. If there were two of us we probably would have been really good friends.


Paul Fischer: How exhaustive was the audition process? Were the many, many call-backs and that kind of thing?

Nikki Blonsky: Oh yeah. Many, many, many, many call-backs. It was about a five and a half month period in between initially auditioning and then getting the part. So it was a long process. But boy was it worth it.


Paul Fischer: What was the final audition? Was it the classic table of executives?

Nikki Blonsky: No, it was a big screen test. Big screen test and a big sound stage, hair, makeup, costume, put me right in there and said 'Do it'. And I said 'OK'. And that was the last step of the process.


Paul Fischer: So during this time you were working at a Cold Stone Ice Cream parlour.

Nikki Blonsky: I'm working at a Cold Stone part time and doing an internship for my high school and getting ready to go to senior prom and all that good stuff. And yeah, there's just a lot of cool stuff going on but nothing as cool as this. And the funny part was that I told nobody in my life other than my family that I had auditioned for Hairspray. So it was very interesting when I got the part. I was like 'OK, well how do I break the news to everybody' and it was like 'Well I have to do it before prom because I have to explain to everybody why we have to wait to go to prom because we have to watch ET! before we go', because that's when they were breaking the news so I was like 'Guys, we can't go to pre-prom. We have to stay home and watch ET!' And I came from a big group of theatre kids so, you know, Hairspray is our god. So being able to be in it, they were just dying that I got this opportunity.


Paul Fischer: How has your life changed - what kind of doors have opened up for you?

Nikki Blonsky: Life has definitely changed. I think it's changed in the sense that I travel a lot more and that I'm just - I mean I was always a happy person. I'm a firm believer in life is what you make it. So my parents always made life fun for me and amazing and I had a great childhood. But this is what I always wanted to do and now that I'm doing it, I'm just I think the happiest kid in the world.


Paul Fischer: Is Tracy going to be a hard act to follow?

Nikki Blonsky: Like I said, I take it one day at a time and I'm waiting to see what roles come up and I've been reading some great stuff. It's interesting. I want to play more great characters but I know a lot of them probably aren't going to be like Tracy. I don't think there are a lot of characters like Tracy, which is why it's so unique. And that's why I'm so thankful I got to play her. So who knows what the future will bring or might bring. But I think right now I'm just really content that I got to play Tracy.


Paul Fischer: What about John Waters? Have you spent any time with him? Did he have a sentence of advice perhaps?

Nikki Blonsky: Yes we did have time together before we shot and we had a great time. We were just chatting, laughing and he just gave me the advice and said 'All the advice I have for you is Listen to Adam'. And I said 'OK'. And I listened to Adam. And I think that's why everything kind of worked. It was because Adam really, he oversaw everything. And to see somebody with that much passion for each character, you know, we were all playing our own characters so we didn't get that much into each other's characters but Adam knew everybody's character just as well as they did. So he's incredible.


Paul Fischer: How long did it take getting used to - I mean getting into Travolta's makeup and that kind of stuff?

Nikki Blonsky: Well I don't think there was really, for , any getting used to it. I think when Edna walked out on set, initial reaction was 'Tracy's mom'. There's my mom. You know, like it just kind of worked and it made sense when I saw him dressed as Edna. So there was really, you know, we were ready to dance in the street in matching dresses.


Paul Fischer: Did John give you dance lessons?

Nikki Blonsky: John shared so much with me. He taught me, of course, well one of my favourite things that he did for me was, being a big Grease fan, one night we were filming and it was very cold and I got a chill and he said 'Are you OK?' and I said 'Oh I've got a chill' and he started singing 'I got chills'. And I was just like 'Oh! No way, Danny Zuko!'. I was very excited. He's amazing and he has had such an incredible career and he's just an inspiration and to work with him is an honour and he shared a lot of good advice with me.


Paul Fischer: What are some of the things, the isms that are facing your generation? What are the most important ones do you think, that kids your age need to get rid off - need to break down these walls or whatever?

Nikki Blonsky: Well, you know, it's sad because it's the same issue that Tracy was dealing with in '62. And it's a big issue of everything is physical. Everything is what you look like on the outside. You have to - there's a stereotype of what is beautiful. That's the most absurd thing because everybody is different and everybody has their own definition of beauty and what is beautiful. So who are we to sit here and say what is beautiful and what is not and, you know, we all have our own opinions but at the end of the day, who are we to press them on other people and make other people try to conform to our individual way of thinking?


Paul Fischer: Can we talk about the film's real issue? Do you like your hair up or down?

Nikki Blonsky: Well I miss my high hair because I'm only 4'10" so that was the first time in my life that I was five feet. But I loved my hair. But you know, it took me right back to the time period. I grew up in a house where, you know, my grandmother was with us and there was pictures of her with her big beehive and her pencil skirts so all that stuff was very familiar to me. So to go back to the sixties and play a character with her big do and her amazing fashion sense was pretty cool.


Paul Fischer: Now what about - for those people who are not familiar with Hairspray, either the play or either version, what do you think are the challenges of getting audiences to see this movie? Because it is an old fashioned Hollywood with a musical which we haven't seen for many, many years.

Nikki Blonsky: What I think is so great about Hairspray: there is somebody for everybody in this movie. Whether it's John's character or Latifa's character or Michelle Pfeiffer. There's somebody I think that reaches to everybody in the audience. And it's a family movie. I mean and I think those aren't made enough almost because it's not often that you can sit down with your whole family, little kids, teenagers, parents, grandparents, and all sit and all laugh at the same things, and then different things, and just share that experience. It's a family movie and it's a musical. Musicals are fun and who doesn't want to have fun? That's why people go the movies and go to the theatre, to be entertained and to step out of their everyday life and boy, I just think Hairspray will take you right back to the sixties and give you the time travel of a lifetime.


Paul Fischer: What's your next dream?

Nikki Blonsky: Next dream. My next dream is to continue living this dream. I want to continue to make more really great movies and play some more really great roles that not just mean something to me and not just impact my life but mean something and impact the lives of the audience and, you know, playing Tracy is something that I think is a blessing, frankly, to be able to spread the word out there to little kids that you can be who you are and follow your dreams and anything can happen. I'm living proof.


Paul Fischer: What other dreams do you have, apart from acting, I mean creatively, is there anything that you ...

Nikki Blonsky: Oh well singing of course and theatre and, you know, there's just so many different avenues that can be taken so I'm just along for the ride. I'm ready for whatever comes.

Hairspray

Starring:Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes, Christopher Walken, James Marsden, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Brittany Snow, Allison Janney, Paul Dooley, Jerry Stiller
Director: Adam Shankman

Originally written and directed by filmmaker John Waters in 1988, and then put on Broadway, the camp musical HAIRSPRAY could easily have run its course with viewers. But thanks to playful direction, flashy costumes, over-the-top performances, and a positive message of peace, this newest spin proves to be yet another enjoyable incarnation. Set in 1960s Baltimore, the story follows a plump young girl named Tracy Turnblad (played by impressive newcomer Blonski) on an amazing journey as her dream of dancing on the popular Corny Collins Show becomes a reality. The local television program is a shiny spectacle spear-headed by Corny Collins (James Marsden), a gang of young dancers, and producer Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), a seductress ice queen whose manipulative ways ensure her daughter Amber (Brittany Snow) gets more than her fair share of screen time as one of the show's stars. When Tracy shows up at an open call, Velma can barely contain her rage, and sets out to rid the show of Tracy and the talented black dancers who make up the show's popular "Negro Day." Thus begins a war of talent and a battle for justice, with those in favor of integration meeting many obstacles along the way.

While less out-there than Waters's original, the film still contains some very quirky humor. John Travolta playing Tracy's overweight mother may seem an odd concept at first, but in this context it works. Scenes that would ordinarily be cheesy are made more interesting due to the odd dynamic between Christopher Walken and John Travolta playing man and wife. As the two dance and woo one another, the strange smile on Travolta's lipsticked lips and the grace of Walken's dancing will be sure to fascinate viewers. Viewers should also watch for cameos by Ricki Lake, and by John Waters as a Baltimore streaker. With all the wacky comedy, it's often easy to forget that the meat of HAIRSPRAY is a battle over racial integration. The film manages to create some touching moments in the midst of sparkling musical numbers.