MUMBAI: New Line Cinema’s musical comedy Hairspray gained additional awards season accolades this week, receiving two Critics Choice Awards and a People’s Choice Award. The film won for best acting ensemble and newcomer Nikki Blonsky was named Best Young Actress for her role as Tracy Turnblad at the 13th Annual Critics Choice Awards presented on 7 January. The song You Can’t Stop the Beat from the Hairspray soundtrack won the People’s Choice Award for Best Soundtrack Song on 8 January.
The Critics Choice Awards are selected by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, which is comprised more than 200 television, radio and online critics. Hairspray has grossed more than $200 million worldwide, making it the third highest grossing musical of all time.
Hairspray also recently received 3 Golden Globe nominations; a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a cast in a motion picture; 2 wins from the Palm Springs Film Festival; 3 wins at the Hollywood Film Festival; a win from the Online Film Critics Society; and an NAACP Image Award nomination for Queen Latifah for Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. The film’s platinum-selling soundtrack from New Line Records is nominated for Best Soundtrack Recording at the 2008 Grammys and was ranked as the #1 Independent Label Album on the 2007 Billboard Year-End Charts.
Featuring new and original material based on John Waters’ 1988 cult classic about star-struck teenagers on a local Baltimore dance show, Hairspray features a remarkable collection of talent including John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, director and choreographer Adam Shankman ( Bringing Down The House), and producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago). The new screenplay for Hairspray was written by Leslie Dixon (Freaky Friday, Outrageous Fortune).
