HAIRSPRAY Director Will Shoot PLAYING FOR PIZZA

By Norm Schrager at August 6, 2008 | 12:31 pm | Print

You may have seen director Adam Shankman as a judge on the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance?” but don’t hold it against him. Shankman’s vision for the latest film version of Hairspray was both a critical and box-office hit last summer (nearly $119 million in North America). Phoenix Pictures is hoping for more of the same — today, they announced Shankman will direct the adaptation of Playing for Pizza, John Grisham’s novel about about an NFL has-been playing out his days in Italy. (Remember when Grisham adaptations were hard-boiled legal thrillers?)

What do you think? A Good Year meets The Replacements? Here’s what Shankman told Variety:

“… a cross between North Dallas Forty and Jerry Maguire, about a character who fails in the public eye, goes into survival mode as a result.”

Man, that’s aiming high. Regardless, Shankman first returns to his tried-and-true family formula this Christmas, having just directed Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories. Shankman has directed the weak Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (see review) and the odd Vin Diesel vehicle, The Pacifier.

Production may begin this spring on location in Italy.

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