Hairspray Director to Develop Bye Bye Birdie Remake

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:38:33 -0800

Now that his projects Hairspray and Bedtime Stories have proven successful, director Adam Shankman is moving on to the next big thing: A remake of Bye Bye Birdie. So far Shankman is signed on to develop and produce the "long-gestating remake." Here's more:

A stage favorite for the past half-century, Birdie centers on Conrad Birdie, a popular singer whose character is based loosely on Elvis Presley. He's about to be shipped off to the army, but as part of a publicity stunt, he agrees to one last encounter with a fan before he goes to war.

The 1958 musical has had several screen adaptations, including an Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke version in 1963 and a television movie starring Jason Alexander in 1995.

Columbia has been developing an updated version for a number of years, with the logline at one point re-imagining the title character as a hip-hop star.

Hmm. . . a hip-hop star? I find it interesting that this has been so long in the making and it makes me wonder why. Is there something about Bye Bye Birdie that makes this difficult? And who will they get to play the lead characters?

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