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 was housed in his former residence, as a place to preserve Swedish customs and culture. Turnblad died in 1933. He was buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. Swan Turnblad Swan J. Turnblad (October 7, 1860 – May 17, 1933) was an American newspaper publisher. Turnblad was the manager of the "Svenska Amerikanska Posten", a Swedish language newspaper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Later in his life he donated property and money to help create the American Swedish Institute. Turnblad was born Sven Johan Olofsson in Tubbemåla, Vislanda, Kronoberg County, Småland, Sweden in 1860. His family were farmers but, following a series of