Hairspray (2007 film) the 1988 John Waters film upon which the stage musical is based, became interested in adapting the stage show as a musical film. Development work began in late 2004, while a similarly film-to-Broadway-to-film project, Mel Brooks' "The Producers", was in production. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the executive producers of the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Chicago", were hired as the producers for "Hairspray", and began discussing possibly casting John Travolta and Billy Crystal (or Jim Broadbent) as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, respectively. Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell, authors of the book for the stage musical, wrote
Swan Turnblad his wife, and their daughter. Built on a combination of six city lots, the home cost $1.5 million ($ million in ) and took four years to complete. The family moved into their new home in 1908. While it was their official residence, they spent most of their time living in an apartment across the street after 1915. After Turnblad's wife died in 1929, he and his daughter moved into the apartment full-time and turned their former home into a museum. Turnblad created the American Institute for Swedish Art, Literature and Science (later renamed to the American Swedish Institute), which