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Meet the Cast of Hairspray
Hairspray features John Travolta in a way you've never seen him before. He plays Tracy's mom, Edna, in a dress and a fat suit!
John says he is just the guy to play Edna. "I grew up with some fantastic women—my mother, my sisters—and they were all performers. So I saw them on Broadway, I saw them in summer theater, and I have mental image pictures of women in these kinds of performances. I probably have the best library of memories for this kind of thing."
One aspect of Edna that John was particularly excited about was her voice. Hairspray gave him a chance to use the distinctive Baltimore accent he learned while shooting 2004's Ladder 49 in Charm City.
"At first … I think that everyone was frightened of the accent, because maybe it wouldn't be understandable or perhaps it would be too eccentric or something," John says. "And I said, 'But it helps me because it's slightly feminine.'"
John says he is just the guy to play Edna. "I grew up with some fantastic women—my mother, my sisters—and they were all performers. So I saw them on Broadway, I saw them in summer theater, and I have mental image pictures of women in these kinds of performances. I probably have the best library of memories for this kind of thing."
One aspect of Edna that John was particularly excited about was her voice. Hairspray gave him a chance to use the distinctive Baltimore accent he learned while shooting 2004's Ladder 49 in Charm City.
"At first … I think that everyone was frightened of the accent, because maybe it wouldn't be understandable or perhaps it would be too eccentric or something," John says. "And I said, 'But it helps me because it's slightly feminine.'"
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From The Oprah Winfrey Show John Travolta and the Cast of Hairspray
