It's great to hear Michelle Pfeiffer sing in a movie again. I remain a fan of Grease 2, but Fabulous Baker Boys was the last time we got to hear that melodic voice. Doing a musical like Hairspray 17 years later reminded her how hard it is, particularly lip syncing to her own pre-recorded songs..
Michelle Pfeiffer Talks Hairspray
"This is harder and I think I know why," said Pfeiffer. "I think because I was playing a lounge singer who sang, when I sang those songs it was my rhythm, my interpretation, I fell into sort of a natural performance and interpretation of those lyrics. Whereas with this, I was sort of confined to a certain melody, a certain tempo, it was unchangeable. The character was way different. Susie Diamond was probably closer to me and so it was harder because I think probably I sang in a less instinctual way. When I went back to sort of perform it, I had to really think more about the lip synching."
Her Hairspray character, Velma von Tussle, is also a complete racist in a story about integration in the 1960s. The producer of the Corny Collins show, Velma only grudgingly holds "Negro Day" and does not want to see African-American dancers join her stable of blonde haired, blue eyed regulars.
"That was the hardest thing. I’ve played some evil characters before. I’ve played some killers and I signed on to do this and then I sort of inched my way towards this character which was hard. Then one day, of course I knew it, but it registered, oh my God I’m playing a racist. That was really hard. I started to second guess doing it."
Pfeiffer was even concerned about her children seeing her in the finished product. "I talked to the family because certainly I understood that the message of the piece was really important and certainly the message of the movie is anti-racism and anti-bigotry. I wanted to make sure they understood that look, this is what the movie’s about, it’s a really important movie and in order to do a movie about racism, somebody has got to be the racist and it’s me. They were okay, they got it and I’m so glad I did it because I had a lot of fun playing the part even though there were some lines I honestly could not remember because they were so hateful. Literally I’d be doing the scene and I’d come up blank. I’d be looking at Dana [Owens, Queen Latifah] and it was interesting what my brain did."
Hairspray
Hairspray also says that big is beautiful, and being a glamorous Hollywood beauty for several decades, Pfeiffer also appreciated that positive message. "Young women have such a big challenge ahead of them now and the trend doesn’t seem to be going away nor does it seem to be getting better. And I know the fashion industry is sort of trying to make efforts but it sort of feels half-hearted. And the truth is, it’s women doing to each other. I don’t think men really want women to be doing all of this stuff to themselves and to be undernourished and bony and sort of grotesque plastic surgery. So it’s like why are we doing this to each other and for each other?"
Dressing up in '60s clothes, however, reminded Pfeiffer that it was never totally comfortable. "You know, honestly, that era is not my favorite for women. I do think that the clothes are beautiful but when I look at women from that era, all I can think of is how uncomfortable they look. It’s just like everything is so fitted, so pressed, and the makeup is so heavy and the hair is all sprayed and the clip-on earrings, the shoes. It just looks like it hurts and it did. Your feet were killing you and your ears were on fire. Fashion is so confused today. I don’t even know what to say about it. You can see it’s just like leftovers or something. I’m not loving it right now."
Hairspray opens to theatres on July 20th.
For the trailers, posters, stills and more movie info, go to the Hairspray
Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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