As a young man, I was a huge fan of hair bands. There was a moment in my life when I actually thought I was a member of Poison. Nonetheless, I loved the Rock of Ages musical — but when I heard that they were making it into a movie, I about peed my pants. The director who had the responsibility of converting this ’80s opus of rockstar anthems was Adam Shankman — who is no stranger to big screen adaptations of Broadway musicals. He was the dude who was responsible for making a movie version of the Hairspray musical…and it was magical.
The movie is busting at the seams with star wattage including The movie musical stars Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige, Alec Baldwin, and a silver codpieced Tom Cruise. We also get introduced to newcomer Diego Boneta as the movie’s main rock hero.
I had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Shankman about working with the iconic music (which is probably the biggest star of the movie), acting methods of primates, the fabulous hairstyles of Mary J., and the classic rockstar cameos:
Rock of Ages opens in theaters today.
Official synopsis:
“Rock of Ages” tells the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, and more.
