The director of the popular musical movie Hairspray has recently recalled watching the John Travolta and Christopher Walken dance scene for the first time. Adam Shankman recently did an exclusive interview with PEOPLE in commemoration of the film’s 15th anniversary, where he says he’ll “never forget the first time that I got John Travolta and Chris Walken in to rehearse” their duet “(You’re) Timeless to Me.”
Shankman continues, “I was sitting there in the rehearsal stage and the two of them were waltzing … and I was going, ‘Oh, my God, what am I looking at?’ ‘Cause it was John Travolta and Chris Walken doing a love song.”
Adam Shankman couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw John Travolta, Christopher Walken duet
Travolta and Walken played the roles of Tracy Turnblad’s parents, Edna and Wilbur, respectively, in the 2007 film. Nikki Blonsky, who played the role of Tracy, looks back on working with Travolta on the movie, regarding him as a “pro” dancer and being in complete awe of it. She remembers how Travolta made dancing “look effortless” and he was “so incredibly light on his feet.”
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Blonsky continues, “He was so nice to every single cast member, every extra, every person on set… That is what set the tone for basically the amazing experience we all had because everybody was just so excited every day to show up, to work, put on our costume and work with John.”
Both Walken and Travolta are no strangers to musical projects. Aside from Travolta’s work in 1977’s Saturday Night Fever and 1978’s Grease, Walken appeared as Captain Hook in 2014’s Peter Pan Live!, and also appeared in Fatboy Slim’s 2001 music video for their song “Weapon of Choice.”
Shankman was also asked if he would be down for a cast reunion, despite the cast members being extremely busy nowadays (though they all make time to catch up virtually). “If they get a screening at the Hollywood Bowl or at the [Hollywood Forever] Cemetery or something like that, I would try to get out as many people there as I could, but people are all over the place working. Everybody’s booked and blessed. I’m super happy for everybody.”