Released on August 17, 1987 in the United States, it is on December 23 that French fans will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of Dirty Dancing.
It is to mark this anniversary that I was inspired by a scene from the film to create this limited edition poster that you can find on my online store.
If you have escaped the film, despite everything you are not without knowing its cult line and the very soundtrack aaahumtimofmyliiife… Yes, I suspected that this chorus had remained stuck in a corner of your head...
Come on, let's go nostalgic with the evocation of these few anecdotes on Dirty Dancing.
It doesn’t have to be that way
Apart from the dance steps that you know by heart and this desire to throw yourself into the void, because it must be admitted how many of you had a Johnny Castle on hand to catch up with you Apart from these dance steps that I do not will not insult you to remember, do you know these anecdotes about the film?
Jennifer Gray was 10 years older than the role of Frances "Baby" Houseman while Patrick Swayze was 34.
Eleanor Bergstein wanted a unique look for the character of Johnny Castle. Looking through a series of photos of pairs of eyes on the rolodex, she ended up stopping on those of Patrick Swayze and would have exclaimed: “Ah! These are the eyes I want. “Sometimes a role is just a look.
The two actors did not get along at all during the filming of the film Red Dawn by John Milius released in 1984. Alternate war film which will offer his first real role in the cinema for Charlie Sheen and which will inspire the basic scenario of the video game Freedom Fighters released in 2003.
Jennifer Gray begged the producers to have someone other than Patrick Swayze as a partner. When Eleanor Bergstein explained that Jennifer didn't want to do the movie with him, Patrick then offered to talk to her. “He walked in alone and he sat with Jennifer for about half an hour and they walked out with red eyes,” which would have cemented the Johnny and Baby duo…well, up to a point…
When Jennifer Gray arrives for the audition, Casting directors are not at all convinced by the actress who find her too old for the role of 17-year-old Frances "Baby" Houseman.
The film's producer, Linda Gottlieb, says that "Jennifer Gray was pushed into the audition room by her father". Eleanor Bergstein adds: "As she walked in, Jennifer said to her dad: Wish me luck, dad" and she continues "I saw Baby's face then, and from there she was the only person I wanted for this role. »
Patrick Swayze was not considered for Dirty Dancing at all. Initially, the choice of production was based on Val Kilmer to play Johnny. The latter declines the offer, and the production then turns to Billy Zane who will play Caledon Hockley in Titanic. But the actor does not know how to dance, and it is Patrick Swayze who will be chosen in the end.
Patrick Swayze was a dancer. His requirement and his impatience is somewhat confronted with the inexperienced and clumsy Jennifer Grey. In the final cut we will find several scenes of the film which were not originally planned.
Patrick Swayze's reaction to stroking Jennifer Grey's arm during practice was not in the script. Irritated and disillusioned that the actress laughs during the take, he will leave the set. The actor will tell on several occasions that he found his partner “immature and capricious”.
The director Emile Ardolino will also find interesting and keep in the editing the sequence where the two actors crawl on the ground towards each other which was also a preparation scene.
It is screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein's own teenage memories that will inspire this story. She grew up in Brooklyn with a doctor father. She spent her summers in a station balnéaire des Catskills and we called him "Baby". Of course, she knew all the Dirty dancing moves.
For financial reasons, the film's scenes were shot at a North Carolina resort town, which has since remained a place of pilgrimage for fans.
To avoid misunderstandings on the subject of the film, the film crew decided to temporarily call the film "Dancing Film Productions" so that the Mountain Lakes Resort would not imagine that it could tarnish its image by a rogue production for his establishment.
Jennifer Gray too nervous, refused to rehearse and train for the lift scene. So his hesitations in the final scene are quite sincere. This one and only first take was the right one.
Although the film takes place during the summer holidays, filming took place between autumn and winter. The decorating team had to paint the leaves of the trees green to give the illusion of sunny days.
Scene from the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing" by Emile Ardolino. [Vestron Pictures - AFP]
For the same reason, you won't see any close-ups of the lake scene shot in mid-October. The water was so cold that both actors' lips turned blue.
He confided in an interview that he hated the line "No one puts baby in a corner" which he considered silly. Eleanor Bergstein, the screenwriter finally managed to convince him to play it for a single take by assuring him that it would not be retained in the final cut. He will finally admit that the replica worked rather well.
While Patrick Swayze made an appearance in the 2004 prequel "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," he turned down the $6 million offer to reprise his role as Johnny for the sequel. CBS will also decide to adapt the film into an 11-episode series, released in 1988. There is also a TV movie released in 2017 for those who can't get enough of it.
The soundtrack has sold over 30 million copies. There are the titles of the Ronettes, The Contours and Otis Redding, but I can already hear you telling me where the song aaahumtimofmyliiife is (that's the yogurt version). This song "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" was chosen the day before before the cast and crew shot the final scene and won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
The title She's Like The Wind sung by Patrick Swayze, was written in 1984 for Grandview, USA. But the production of the film did not want to use it.
Nobody puts this illustration in a corner
To conclude and see beyond the romantic comedy of a tight-knit dance... Let's not forget that the film takes place in 1963 and that American society is witnessing a profound change. On the one hand you have the American dream to pursue, the rise of consumption, television, the car, the telephone and on the other, voices are rising for more equality and justice.
And basically, this dance is not only the expression of a new freedom, of the emancipation of a teenager, but it is also the symbolic illustration of the social conflict that is coming.
OK ! Now we've had the time to review this cult film.
Podcast and documentary
Dirty Dancing, 50 shades of Swayze and Grey (in french) The show that immerses you in pop culture looks back at the most well-known dance movie of all the teeth
Cinérameuf : Dirty Dancing, the time of her life (in french)
A podcast whose episode is dedicated to Dirty Dancing and written and directed by Alice Creusot
The documentary series on Netflix that immerses you in the sometimes chaotic production of American films that have become legendary