Chace Crawford is ready to follow the fancy footwork of Kevin Bacon when he begins shooting Paramount’s reboot of the 1984 dance classic Footloose next March. The 23-year-old Gossip Girl star landed the lead after Zac Efron dropped out. “I know Zac and we’re actually friends,” says Crawford. “He’s gotta make the best choice for his career at this point and I have to make the best for mine and luckily it worked out for both of us.” Still, Crawford wasn’t even born when the original premiered in theaters. So is this just an elaborate ruse to win at Six Degrees? Jokes Crawford, “I want my number to be up — my Bacon number.” Crawford won the part after a brutal audition, including dancing and singing, for producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Hairspray) and director Kenny Ortega (High School Musical). “It was, like, five hours of the most rigorous tests ever,” says Crawford. “I walked out very confident.” He had a right to be, according to Zadan: “At the end of it, we all sort of looked at each other and said, ‘He’s the guy!’” Crawford may soon have his onscreen dance partner. A Paramount spokesperson confirmed to EW that Dancing With the Stars’ Julianne Hough will screen-test this week. Hough’s recent success as a country music star could give her an advantage. Says Meron, “It’s a much more singing-intensive movie for the female lead.”
The new Footloose, which recently got a rewrite from Erin Brockovich’s Susannah Grant, will pay homage to the first film — the setting will still be a dance-free town, and the original cast could pop up in cameos. Also expect to hear familiar tunes like the title track. “The classic hit songs from the movie will be sung,” says Zadan, who was also a producer on the 1984 version. “There will be new songs that will be written by new artists, and those will be soundtrack songs.” Explains Meron, “It’s not really a burst-into-song musical. Any songs that are sung are coming out of an organic place.” One thing that may not reappear is some of the more elaborate choreography. “I don’t know if the gymnastics [high bar] scene is going to make it,” says Crawford, who’s about to embark on an Ortega-plotted training regimen. “I’ve got some movement in me, but I’m not a dancer,” he admits. “I need to start stretching now.” (Additional reporting by Nicole Sperling)
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I don’t know why they even bother. It can’t be as good as the original. Chace C. is too pretty anyway.
I would see it if Julianne Hough wasn’t in it…
So it sounds like they are not turning the Broadway musical into a movie like they did with Hairspray. I love Footloose and would be interested in a new interpretation.
Oh boy, yet another vapid talent-free pretty boy starring in yet another disasterous remake that nobody asked for. Hollywood really must be running out of ideas. What’s next, Zac Efron as Marty McFly? Nick Jonas as Robocop? Rob Pattinson as John McClane?
Oh boy, yet another vapid talent-free pretty boy starring in yet another disasterous remake that nobody asked for. Hollywood really must be running out of ideas. What’s next, Zac Efron as Marty McFly? Nick Jonas as Robocop? Rob Pattinson as John McClane?
I will not see this movie if Julianne Hough is in it. She is a vapid, self centered, excruciatingly annoying famewhore. She cannot act and comes off so fake, and her singing voice is twangy and always off key. I can think of a million other real actors who would be much better than Julianne.
I really hope that by “Gymnastics High Bar Scene” he isn’t talking about the Warehouse Dance Scene. That scene is the heart of the movie because what happens is that Ren has so much emotion going on at that moment that the only want he knows to express it is through dance.That is why he fights so hard for the prom because dancing is what that town needs to express itself and heal. One of the major faults with the Broadway version of this musical is that they cut out that scene so they took away a lot of the heart and soul of the story
Julianne would be perfect for the part. She can sing, dance n act n pretty to look at. Some people r so jealous of her, they’ll say hateful things which r not true. She’s a very sweet person. She would match w/Chace too. Not Miley, too young n not sexy.
Oh, I hope Julianne gets the part of Ariel! She’ll be just perfect. Chace, Juliane, and maybe a Derek cameo and I’m all set.
I’m sorry, but I think he’s kind of hot. Yes, he needs relationship advice from Tiffany at http://shackinguplife.com, but still hot.
I’m sorry, but I think he’s kind of hot. Yes, he needs relationship advice from Tiffany at http://shackinguplife.com but still hot.
As much as I love Footloose, and believe me, I do, I do not understand why people are so up in arms. Yes, I watch it about once a year, but it’s no Citizen Kane. No one is desecrating great art here. It’s beloved because it’s fun and inane. Just like Chace Crawford.
My wish list regarding Gossip Girl stars and a remake of an 80’s musical of questionable fashion sense:
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Leighton Meester as Ellen Aim (and Taylor Kitsch as Tom Cody) in a remake of the so-strange-it’s-inadvertently-good Streets of Fire directed by Baz Luhrmann. Minka Kelly plays Tom’s sister, Reva. Catherine Martin does the art direction so that Ellen doesn’t look like she’s wearing a pink tarp. And we’re saved from a repeat of Diane Lane’s hilariously obvious lip-synching when Meester sings her own part
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– Rob