Footloose

Footloose (1984)

Timing: 1:47 (107 min)

6.687/10
2185

7.058/10
2984

6.6/10
88657

All about film

Video 5

Photo 67

Actors and characters

Release date

1984-02-17

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, IndieProd Company Productions, Phoenix Pictures

Genre

Drama, Romance

Budget

$8 200 000

Revenue

$80 035 402

Website

Director

Herbert Ross

Actors

Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Chris Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Laughlin, Elizabeth Gorcey, Frances Lee McCain, Jim Youngs
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Lewis J. Rachmil, Craig Zadan, Daniel Melnick

Operator

Ric Waite

Composer

Artist

Audition

Jane Feinberg, Mike Fenton, Marci Liroff

Editing

Paul Hirsch
All team (64)

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Actress Dianne West, who plays Ariel's mother, is only nine years older than Lori Singer, who played her daughter.
• During breaks in filming, John Lithgow managed to star in "Terms of Endearment" (1983).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.