Elijah Kelley Cast as Hairspray Film's Seaweed

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that Elijah Kelley has been cast as Seaweed in the upcoming film version of Hairspray.

Kelley, who is a 19 year-old native of Georgia, will play the feisty young performer who longs for equality-and finds interracial romance with Penny Pingleton (who will be played by Amanda Bynes in the film).  Kelley is already a TV and film veteran, having played roles in "Numb3rs," "Everybody Hates Chris," "The Shield,"  28 Days, the recent Antonio Banderas film Take the Lead, and more. 

Kelley will join the previously announced John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, Bynes as Penny and newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, who helps to integrate a Baltimore dance show-and wins the heart of Link (Zac Efron) in the process.

The film version of Hairspray will be directed by Adam Shankman (Bringing Down the House) produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, for their Zadan/Meron Productions, which previously executive produced the Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning Best Picture Chicago. Production on Hairspray is scheduled to begin this fall for a potential summer 2007 release.

Hairspray is originally based on the 1988 John Waters comedy. The new version of the film will be based on New Line's hit Broadway adaptation of the film, which debuted in 2002, and went on to win eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Director.

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will contribute new songs to their existing Tony Award-winning score. Shaiman will also serve as the film's music supervisor and will compose the music score for the film as well as produce its songs. Wittman and Shaiman will also serve as executive producers on the film. The new screenplay for Hairspray will be written by Leslie Dixon (Freaky Friday, Outrageous Fortune).

Toby Emmerich, New Line's president of production, is overseeing the project along with New Line's Executive VP of Production Mark Kaufman, and Creative Executives Michael Disco and Daryl Freimark.

A condensed production of Hairspray opened at the Luxor Las Vegas on February 15th. Originally starring Fierstein and Dick Latessa, the show closed on June 11th with Paul Vogt and Eddie Mekka as Edna and Wilbur, respectively.  On Broadway, it currently stars Shannon Durig, John Pinette, Stephen DeRosa, Darlene Love, Isabel Keating and more.

Visit www.hairsprayonbroadway.com for more information on Hairspray.