Which 2007 musical film stars John Travolta as Edna Turnblad?

The 2007 musical film starring John Travolta as Edna Turnblad is Hairspray.

Hairspray is set in Baltimore in 1962 and follows Tracy Turnblad, a teenager who dreams of dancing on the local television program The Corny Collins Show. After joining the show, Tracy challenges its racial segregation and becomes involved in a broader fight for integration and social change.

John Travolta plays Edna, Tracy’s mother, who runs a laundry business and is initially reluctant to appear in public because of her agoraphobia and insecurity about her weight. Travolta’s casting continued a long-running tradition of having a man portray Edna: Divine played the role in John Waters’s 1988 film, and Harvey Fierstein played Edna in the Broadway musical.

The 2007 movie is therefore both a remake and a musical adaptation of a stage production. It was directed and choreographed by Adam Shankman, with songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. It is sometimes confused with Grease because Travolta starred in both films, but his Grease role was Danny Zuko.