What irks me is that even in a fat suit, Travolta’s not fat enough. We’ve all seen those shows where Tyra Banks and others can transform into someone who’s 350 lbs and look believable, but with Travolta they didn’t go that far- they made him “fat” but not “FFFFFAAAAAAAATTTTTTT”. Edna’s not plump and she’s not “Kirstie Alley at her biggest” big, she’s huge- she hasn’t even left her house in 15 years in part because of embarassment, and she’s also slobby and sloppy (at least in the beginning of the movie). Travolta’s character- you can go to any grocery store any day and see bigger women and she’s neither slobby nor sloppy. Agree with all the chorus above who say “really bad casting”. I’d have gone with a woman- Kirstie Alley or Tyne Daley or Kathy Bates- long before Travolta, and I don’t think that “saving it for the screen” is why they show relatively little of him in the trailer.
That said, I have twink-lust in my heart for Zac Efron (is he legal? Yeah he is… okay). The lad’s just near perfect- except, his eyes look like he’s crazy. Might be a trainwreck in his future.
I don’t know if this makes him trainwreck material, but I recall JimHillMedia.comsaying that Efron doesn’t want to be known as “that guy from High School Musical” and that his intentionally stubborn behavior on the set of the sequel to stop Disney from making a third one may have cost him the title role in Warner Bros.'s upcoming Speed Racer movie. These kids today- they act like divas so fast.
Really bad idea on his part if that’s true. Studios will forgive a total horse’s-ass megastar because the millions from the movie long outlive the aggravation, but there’s a big difference in “Teenybopper star” and “movie star”, and in the second- he’s an adorable young man, but he doesn’t have the type of “he’ll still be good looking at 40” looks like a young Clooney or Pitt had. Much of it is the fact he’s young and slim and that’s the most ephemeral kind of good looks (with Pitt/Clooney/Depp et al, the shape of the face and the bone structure and cheeks, etc., you could tell were going to last). Get too cocky before you’ve got some really big moneymakers under your belt and HIGH SCHOOL REUNION MUSICAL might start looking really good in a few years.
I saw Travolta talking on an entertainment news show and he said that he insisted that Edna be “voluptuous” and that he play her as a woman, not as a man playing a woman. Um … but isn’t he still a man playing a woman?
Baltimore native here (but without the accent). Getting back to the point of the OP, it’s no surprise to me that Travolta didn’t get the Bawlamer accent, but I challenge Only Mostly Dead to show me any non-Baltimorean, on-screen or IRL, who has mastered it. I’ve lived in Maryland all my life (50+ years!), and I can only do a few key phrases*, but not an extended conversation. I’ve never heard anyone but a native do it right.
It’s a very strange beast, not a Southern accent, and not really much like any other.
If you watch Barry Levinson’s Baltimore films, (Diner, Tin Men, Avalon. Liberty Heights) you’ll see a bunch of Hollywood actors, some apparently trying to do a Baltimore accent, but absolutely none getting it right. (Strange that Levinson, also a B’more native, wouldn’t bother to coach them properly. Too hard or just not a priority, I guess.) Then a real Baltimorean in a minor role, like the waitress in Diner, IIRC, will say a couple words, and put Mickey Rourke, Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, and the rest of them to shame with the Real Thing.
Of course, a lot of people in John Waters’ early films (including Waters himself) had the real accent.
One of the great things about HBO’s The Wire (the greatest television show of all time, BTW), was getting to hear a few real Baltimore accents. The best was Tootsie Duvall (great name!), who played Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly at the elementary school in Season 4.
My favorite: where do Baltimoreans go on there summer vacation? Danny ayshun, hun.
There must be an incredible lack of imagination and creativity in Hollywood if all they can come up with is a remake of a Broadway show that was a remake of a movie. The same with Transformers. Where are the original stories?
*Waitress
Knocked Up
Superbad
Rescue Dawn (sort of)
Sunshine
Rataouille
Surf’s Up
Evening
Paris, Je T’Aime
Sicko
Once
*
Don’t blame Hollywood. Look around the dope. . .all you get here every year is excitement over sequels and comic book adaptations. And some people would have you believe this place is a smarter than average cross-section, so what’s that say?
Quote from Hairspray lyricist Marc Shaiman (whom Oprah never mentioned)–Comparing Travolta with Feinstein is like comparing apples with oranges. Harvey will always be the biggest fruit.
I know Efron from high school debate, so I almost feel as though I need to come in and defend a few of the things people have said about him. Although he may have suddenly changed coming into Hollywood-big time (in high school he was on various TV shows, so he was even a bit of a star then), he was always one of the sweetest, nicest, most genuine guys around. Even though he and his duo (they did duo interp) partner were amazing and considered some of the best, they were always friendly to everyone- even offering help to their competition on various tech aspects and such. Great guys, I mean that. I know the first time I met him he was all smiles and even gave me a hug, asking all about what events I was doing at state that year with genuine interest. He saw me later on at the tournament and came up to me asking how I was doing, asking if I needed any help coming up with some arguments (I was doing debate). A very sweet kid, I can’t stress that enough.
That said, Sampiro, you may be happy to find out that yes, he’s legal. Barely. And further, even back in high school, there were substantial whisperings that he and his duo partner were, ahem, close. (Now all of the gossip sites are swarming with gay rumors though, which really isn’t a surprise to me).
As far as the movie, I definitely want to go, if nothing else because I want to support Zac since he was always so supportive of my friends and such in debate. Even more though, I loved the old movie, so I’m hoping they don’t destroy it. I totally agree though that Travolta is an odd casting at best. I saw a clip of him on the Tonight Show, from the scene where he is on the roof with Chris Walken, singing amongst the laundry. It was. . .awful. Travolta is playing a man in drag, not a man playing a woman.
Metacritic is bringing it in at a very strong 81. That’s in the same range as Hot Fuzz and The Wind that Shakes the Barley (which won at Cannes!). Wow.
Back to what’s important, trashing Travolta, from the microsecond of him in the TV commercials I can tell he’s not one tenth the actress Divine was, and when Divine starts seeming Royal Shakespeare Company next to him it’s time to give up the pretense Travolta could ever act.
I saw the movie last night and Travolta (and the movie in general) were much much better than my expectations (which were, admittedly, low). Overall I’d give it a solid B+, and I’d even up that to an A- if they’d restore Stop-Don’t-No (which, most frustrating of all, has a cameo by Harvey in it- it’s played during the credits [no blip at the end, but the first part of the credits are worth staying for]).
Latifah and Pfeiffer are the two scene thieves even when fat Travolta-in-drag is sharing the screen, with Allison Janney also great in her small role (the “I want to know what you see in this muscular athletic supple-lipped catlike black boy” line from the play is gone, though). A very cute, light, fun-for-the-whole-family (if you’re into that sort of thing) movie and super popular with the audience (which was more mixed than most in terms of age and race and style et al).