nikki blonsky Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last year, John Sayles wonderfully took on the world of blues, guitars, and rock 'n' roll with Honeydripper. Now it looks like that was a warm-up for something even better. In a discussion with Collider, Charles S. Dutton revealed that he's working on an HBO miniseries about Louis Armstrong with Quincy Jones, and Sayles is writing the script. Dutton might play the older Louis, and might direct the first few hours of the 6-hour-long miniseries. "Quincy and I were trying to do it 15 years ago. The mistake we were making was that we were trying to do it as a 2 hour film. And Louie's life is just so huge you just can't..." Move over John Adams. I'm betting this wonder team can kick the founding father's butt.

Meanwhile, the cast continues to grow for James Keach's Waiting for Forever. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the film will star Tom Sturridge, with Jaime King, Nikki Blonsky, Scott Mechlowicz, Riley Smith, Blythe Danner, and Richard Jenkins also grabbing parts. While it initially seemed to be a stranger/stalker story, it's now being described as a film about "a wanderer who tries to reconnect with his childhood love, an actress in Hollywood." Sturridge will play the guy, and King will play his sister-in-law who helps him after he's spurned by his brother. The rest of the roles haven't been shared.

The Hollywood Reporter also posts that a Slate magazine article by David Plotz and Hanna Rosin is getting turned into a film. The pair "attempted to emulate a real-life pair of Buddhist teachers who vowed to never be more than 15 feet from each other" by tying themselves together with string for 24 hours. Ron Burch and David Kidd are penning the script. I wonder if they'll get into the groove by tying themselves together as well ... which begs the question: Which actor and actress would you like to see tied together for 24 hours?

While sites like ours struggle to decide how, in fact, we're going to cover the Golden Globes, Deadline Hollywood tells us that a number of key decisions were made late today. Firstly (and probably the most important), SAG has officially announced that none of the actors or actresses will cross the picket line and attend the awards ceremony on January 13. That was an expected decision, but still one that kind of shocks you. However, DH claims NBC is still moving forward with preparations to air the make-shift ceremony on their network. With who in attendance? Got me.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association issued the following statement: "The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike. We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate. We hope to announce a resolution to this unfortunate predicament on Monday." Personally, I'm not sure what the hell they're going to resolve by Monday, but I would expect NBC to fold and not televise the ceremony. How could they with no one showing up? And how ridiculous would it look if some fat studio exec was standing on stage, handing out award after award to folks who aren't there to accept them? This is what NBC wants the entire country watching? I don't think so.

Here's SAG's statement: "After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the past several weeks, there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross WGA picket lines to appear on the Golden Globe Awards as acceptors or presenters. We applaud our members for this remarkable show of solidarity for striking Writers Guild of America writers."

And here's the WGA's statement: "We are grateful to our brothers and sisters in SAG for their continued solidarity and support. The entire awards show season is being put in jeopardy by the intransigence of a few big media corporations. We urge the conglomerates to return to the bargaining table they abandoned and negotiate a fair and reasonable deal with writers to put this town back to work."

And here's Nikki Blonsky's statement: "Motherfu**ker son of a b*tch! This was my chance! You fu**kers!"

And here's Cinematical's statement: "We made up Nikki Blonsky's statement, but you have to imagine the poor girl is pretty pissed. Plucked from obscurity to star in Hairspray, nominated for an award, and she can't even show up. We feel you Nikki ... we feel you. Hug?"

I'm trying to decide whether this Harold pic is getting pretty interesting, or teetering over the edge into cliche. Earlier this month, Erik Davis brought word that Abigail Breslin's big brother, Spencer Breslin, was going to star in the upcoming film as Harold -- a prematurely-balding kid who has trouble adapting to his new school. So far, so normal. There was also Cuba Gooding Jr., who is also one of the movie's producers, signed on as a janitor who helps the kid. Now we've got three more starring names -- two of which bring back lots of 80's memories -- Ally Sheedy, Colin Quinn and Nikki Blonsky.

Sheedy, who is probably best known for her too-cool klepto girl Allison in The Breakfast Club, is going to play Harold's mom, who tries to help her son cope with all the baldy teasing. So far - so normal. Now here is where I raise a brow: Quinn, who was the announcer years ago on MTV's Remote Control, will play "Reedy, a drunken barfly who's a regular at a strip club Harold frequents." So, the teased kid spends a majority of his time at a strip club -- I guess he gets in easily because of the baldness? Hopefully this won't fall in a cliche where the older, sexy women accompany him to the prom or something, showing his classmates that he's so cool, and assuring Harold that he'll find a special girl soon -- and then, well, then he finally notices his best friend, who loved him all along.

Nikki Blonsky, whose first role was in the recent Hairspray remake as Tracy Turnblad, will play Harold's nerdy best friend. Coincidentally, Harold has just began shooting in Blonsky's hometown of Great Neck, N.Y., at her old middle school to boot. She says of her role: "I'm playing an outcast again, but not necessarily because of the whole 'plus-size' thing. It's because my character marches to the beat of her own drummer." There's definitely a beat to this film, but hopefully one that won't fall prey to all the cliches spinning around in my head.

Over at Hollywood Elsewhere (a frequent site of heated debates on issues like homosexuality and fatness versus thin-ness) Jeff Wells really pushed some buttons with a post about this New York Times piece on Hairspray star Nikki Blonsky by Monica Corcoran (note: login with a free account required to read it) in which Ms. Corcoran makes observations like, "To see Ms. Blonsky caper through "Hairspray," the musical adaptation of the John Waters camp classic, is to watch a Botero come to life as she wiggles her broad backside and flaps her ample arms." and "When plates of ribs and roast chicken arrived, she dug in with gusto." Golly gee, with those ample arms flapping in the breeze, however did she manage to even hold onto that plate of ribs, much less sign autographs for fans?

Wells doesn't actually weigh in (yeah, pun intended) with an opinion on Blonsky's proportions, but boy, oh, boy do his commenters get into it. This isn't the first time Wells and his readers have gotten into it on the issue of weight, but I find it interesting nonetheless that people are going after Blonsky for her weight (and I love all the concern about the poor girl's health) -- after all, the role of Tracy Turnblad calls for a "fat girl" -- that's kind of the whole point of the story, right? I mean, seriously ... imagine, if you will, if Adam Shankman had cast uber-skinny Keira Knightley as Tracy, and stuck her in a fat suit like they did with John Travolta in the film. Plenty of people are peeved also at the casting of Travolta in a fat suit instead of a real woman of larger proportions playing that role, by the by, even if the casting is a sort of homage to Harvey Fierstein and Divine.

I've not seen Hairspray yet, but by all the accounts I've read of the film, Blonsky's performance is pretty darn good -- how about discussing how she compares to Ricki Lake, or to any of the actresses who played Tracy on stage? Here's what I predict: Within a couple years, Blonsky's agent and PR people are going to convince her that she has to lose weight in order to continue having a career (after all, there are only so many roles for fat girls out there, right?) and we'll see a miraculous transformation ala Ricki Lake -- I can see the tabloid headlines now: "Former Fatty Nikki Blonsky: How I Stopped Eating Ribs With Gusto and Shed 50 Pounds!" Then she can start hanging out with Paris Hilton, get drunk at nightclubs, flash her crotch getting out of limos, and end up in rehab. Maybe then people will talk about her talent, and not her weight.

Not long ago, I posted a Monday Morning Poll asking which summer films you think will surprise us the most. For awhile now I've been in the minority in predicting that New Line's Hairspray will wind up shocking a lot of people when it turns out to be one of the more entertaining films this summer has to offer. I'm not sure why I felt that way; sometimes you just get this vibe and you either run with it or keep it to yourself for fear you could be completely wrong. I've always liked Hairspray (saw the original movie a bunch, as well as the Broadway musical); it's colorful, campy and fun -- and if director Adam Shankman can find a way to update the film so that it appeals to a wider audience, while still managing to retain Hairspray's awesome quirkiness, then pic should have no problem pleasing just about everyone when it arrives in theaters on July 20.

That said, I discovered an early review of the film over at Fox News that leads me to believe my initial instincts were right on the money. Not only does it refer to John Travolta's performance, in drag, as Edna Turnblad, as "remarkable," but it also calls the film "a big colorful carnival, with loads of cotton candy." The review goes on to rave about the various cast members -- with Queen Latifah (who they say could wind up with a few more awards and nominations) being their favorite -- and Travolta, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer and newcomer Nikki Blonsky all turning in "excellent" performances in their respective roles. But don't expect Hairspray to break any box office records right out of the gate. Since it will face some pretty heavy competition from the Adam Sandler comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, as well as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (which will be in its second week), it might take a little while for Hairspray to build buzz. Nevertheless, come this fall, I wouldn't be surprised if Hairspray is one of only a handful of summer flicks people are still talking about.

John Waters 1988 hit movie-turned-Broadway-musical is heading back to the big screen on July 20 -- this time as a musical -- with Adam Shankman (The Wedding Planner) at the helm and a bevy of A-list stars in the cast. We have an exclusive first look at 10 Hairspray character posters below, from an in-drag John Travolta to a still-smokin' Michelle Pfeiffer. Click on the images for larger versions.

Newcomer Nikki Blonsky stars as Tracy Turnblad, a chubby teen who wins a spot on the American Bandstand-esque Corny Collins Show in 1962 Baltimore. Amanda Bynes plays Tracy's saucy best pal Penny Pingleton.

John Travolta plays the plump Edna Turnblad, mother of the aforementioned aspiring dancer. Yes, that's correct: A virtually unrecognizable Travolta plays a woman. And he's married to Christopher Walken. Great stuff.

New Line has provided Cinematical with a first look at the brand spanking new Hairspray website, which goes live today at 6PM EST/3PM PST. The picture you see above will be the new home page intro; as you can see, it features the entire cast in character -- with newcomer Nikki Blonsky (Tracy Turnblad) leading the pack. 16 years after the classic John Waters film, Hairspray is about to receive a big-screen revival -- thanks, in part, to the success of the hot Broadway show. Have you ever wondered what John Travolta would look like overweight and dressed as a woman? And what if he was married to Christopher Walken? As creepy as it sounds, that's where they're going with this thing -- and if director Adam Shankman can find a way to tap into the campy spirit of the first film, then fans old and new should have a blast with this star-studded spectacular.

After the jump, we've provided you with two more screenshots from the website, as well as further details on what you can expect to find later this afternoon when the Hairspray gang officially attack the web ... in all their sticky, colorful glory. The film also stars Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron and Elijah Kelle. Featuring old and new material, Hairspray hits theaters on July 20

Imagine being a 17-year-old high school senior from Long Island who works part-time scooping ice cream and learning that, after a nationwide search, you're going to play Tracy Turnblad in the updated big-screen version of Hairspray. That's exactly what happened to Nikki Blonsky from Great Neck, NY after director Adam Shankman brought her the good news himself via a laptop computer while she was still at work.

The whole what-to-do went down on Entertainment Tonight as cameras were there to catch her reaction. Not for nothing, but you're surrounded by a crowd of people and a crew from Entertainment Tonight -- what did you expect to happen? Perhaps Shankman could have popped up on the screen and said something like, "Your audition was great, however, your boss at the ice cream shop claimed summer was his busiest season. Therefore, he couldn't let you go. Sorry." Now, if her reaction to that sentence was caught on camera and broadcast live across the country, then maybe I'd watch Entertainment Tonight more often.

While Blonsky may be an unknown actress, she joins a cast full of familiar talent. Just the other day, it was revealed that Amanda Bynes will be playing the role of Penny Pingleton, Turnblad's best friend. Also attached are John Travolta and Queen Latifah, with Rowan Atkinson and Michelle Pheiffer rumored to have snatched up a part as well.