Footloose
Short description
Footloose is about a teenager, Ren McCormack, who moves with his mother from Chicago to a small western town where dancing and rock music have been banned by local law. The ban is championed by the town's minister, whose congregation follows his lead. Ren falls for the minister's daughter, Ariel, and, with help from his friend Willard and other local teenagers, sets out to persuade the town to allow a public dance for the young people. The adult residents are reluctant to ease the restrictions, so Ren's push for a dance becomes a broader argument about the strict rules the community lives under.
Herbert Ross directed the film, the eighth of thirteen features in his career in chronological order, following California Suite and preceding The Secret of My Success. Dean Pitchford wrote the screenplay; Lewis J. Rachmil and Craig Zadan produced. Kevin Bacon plays Ren, with Lori Singer as Ariel, John Lithgow as the Reverend Shaw Moore, Dianne Wiest as Vi Moore, Chris Penn as Willard and Sarah Jessica Parker as Rusty. The film runs 107 minutes.
Released in February 1984, the film cost about 8 million dollars and took roughly 80 million dollars worldwide, a strong return. It holds a 6.6 rating on IMDb from over 88,000 votes and a 6.7 on TMDB from a much smaller sample, while critics' reviews average 5.9, slightly below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the scene where Reverend Shaw Moore shows the main character a photograph of his deceased son Bobby, actor John Lithgow was actually taking out a picture of his own son, Ian.
- With the cooperation of the school principal, 24-year-old Kevin Bacon, in order to better get into his role, attended classes at Payson Utah High School as Ren McCormack, an exchange student from Philadelphia. Due to his provocative hairstyle and appearance, the attitude of other students towards him wasn't much different from what was shown in the film, and the actor successfully chose to discreetly disappear on his first day there. Later, several scenes from the film were shot at the same school.
- Daryl Hannah turned down the role of Ariel, preferring the science fiction romance "Splash." Elizabeth McGovern, in a similar situation, chose Sergio Leone's drama "Once Upon a Time in America." Other well-known actresses at the time and in the future who declined the role included Melanie Griffith, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosanna Arquette, Meg Tilly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Heather Locklear, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jodie Foster, Phoebe Cates, Tatum O'Neal, Bridget Fonda, Lori Loughlin, Diane Lane, and Brooke Shields.
- The film's plot is partly based on events that took place in 1978 in the small town of Elmore City, Oklahoma. Dancing had been banned there for almost 90 years until a group of young people challenged the established order.
- Kevin Bacon was offered the lead role in the Stephen King adaptation "Christine" (1983) around the same time, and the producers had to work hard to convince the actor to give up a firm contract in favor of a non-guaranteed audition. According to them, getting this role would have made him a true star, and the actor gave in to their persuasion, landing the part after only 30 seconds of auditioning.
- Scenes in which Chris Penn's character learns to dance were added to the script because the actor himself couldn't do it at all.
- During breaks in filming, John Lithgow managed to star in "Terms of Endearment" (1983).
- Actress Dianne West, who plays Ariel's mother, is only nine years older than Lori Singer, who played her daughter.
- A Broadway musical based on the film's plot was created, debuting on stage on October 22, 1998, and enjoying great success for many years.
- The role of Ren McCormack was originally offered to Christopher Atkins, who even managed to sign a contract for it. John Travolta could also have landed the lead role, but he declined the offer. Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were also considered for the part. The former was busy filming the sports drama 'All the Right Moves' (1983) at the time, while the latter suffered a knee injury that prevented him from getting the role.
- Michael Cimino was originally supposed to direct the film, but he was fired after four months of work, having requested a $250,000 advance for what he considered necessary script revisions.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
