I:ThickMisses:I

The ladies of "Hairspray" are a rarity in fat-phobic Hollywood, whose obsession with willowy women is so strong the idea of a corpulent heroine is almost unheard of.
The new big-screen musical, with lyrics that include a line about women's "extra large largesse" shining through, debuts Friday. The filmmakers hope it will help open moviegoers' minds to the notion that people of ample proportions deserve their Hollywood close-ups.
Curvier women such as Mae West, Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell were far more common in old Hollywood, but the outright portly like "Hairspray" lead character Tracy Turnblad have hardly ever gotten their day as lead characters.
"Growing up, all I saw were the really thin actors and pop singers of the world. Everybody was so thin and tall and blond and everything I was not," said Nikki Blonsky, the hefty 4-foot-10 newcomer who plays Tracy. "Do I have to be like them to make it into the business? I thought, `No, I'm going to find a way to make it in just as somebody different.'