Whip’em Good, Michelle!

It was reported today that Michelle Pfeiffer is in final negotiations to join the cast of the movie adaptation of the Broadway hit Hairspray. That’s what I like to call really good news – that and having the Discovery return to Earth safely.

The Tony-winning musical comedy was itself based on the 1988 John Waters cult comedy feature about star-struck teenagers on a local Baltimore dance show.

The erstwhile Catwoman, absent from movie screens since 2002’s White Oleander, would play Velma von Tussel, a former beauty queen who can't move on and is the producer of the dance show. (Pfeiffer will be seen next in this fall’s I Could Never Be Your Woman and next year’s Stardust).

Already cast in Hairspray are John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, and newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad. Adam Shankman (The Wedding Planner, Bringing Down the House) is directing; production is set to begin in the fall for a December 2007 release date.

Let’s just hope that Hollywood doesn’t have another Producers in its hands or else it's going to be hell on wheels!

Photo: Warner Bros. (Batman Returns).