Amanda Bynes' character, Penny, is seen constantly eating lollipops. Bynes' father, who is a dentist, became very worried for her dental health, as it was estimated she ate about 40 lollipops a day. She told him that she wasn't really eating all of them, when in reality she ate them all.
Most of the cast jokingly called "You Can't Stop the Beat" "you can't stop to breathe" because of its pace and fast-moving lyrics. Queen Latifah said she had no trouble singing a lot of words very quickly because of her background as a rapper.
It took John Travolta four hours to put on the 30-pound fat suit and 5 gel-filled silicone face prosthetics to become Edna Turnblad.
This film brings together John Travolta who starred in Grease (1978), and Michelle Pfeiffer who starred in Grease 2 (1982). One day, while the cast was waiting between takes, Travolta began singing "Summer Nights". Co-stars Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron were so excited that they immediately began sending text messages to their friends about what was happening.
Ricki Lake, Adam Shankman, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman: William Morris talent agents in the finale - note Shaiman's very out-of-period beard.