First Cito Gaston, Now This

What can you even say?:

Charm City won't even have a cameo role in the movie-musical version of Hairspray, John Waters' fable about racial desegregation and dance-floor equality set in early-1960s Baltimore. Instead, the film will be shot entirely in Toronto, one of the film's producers confirmed yesterday.

No offense to Baltimore is intended, insisted producer Craig Zadan. Though financial incentives also swayed the filmmakers, the key factor in the Canadian city's selection was that the Baltimore area lacks large soundstages - buildings with spaces wide and tall enough to meet the demands of shooting a big-budget musical.

And it just gets worse:

Hairspray's producers initially planned to film in Baltimore what's called "second-unit photography," or background shots that add local flavor. But doing so would have added "a couple million dollars" to the film's budget, Zadan said. Instead, parts of the city will be re-created on Canadian soundstages, and still photographs taken here will be inserted into the film via computer. The result will look like Baltimore, Zadan promised, thanks to "the magic of the movies." But it won't be Baltimore.

Maybe BACVA should try to get a soundstage built instead of doing goofy things with snowball trucks...