25 fun facts you didn’t know about your favorite teen movies
Grease – Urban legends, scary coincidences, and one angry TV icon
Grease is the word! After 40 years, Grease remains one of the highest-grossing movie musicals in history. That’s because of the huge cultural impact it had upon its release.
The film, based on the stage musical, was about good girl Sandy and greaser Danny who had a steamy summer romance. When Sandy’s family decides to stay in California and she ends up at the same high school as Danny, she realizes he might not be the guy she fell in love with at the beach.
Upon its move from the stage to the big screen, some changes had to be made. In the original lyrics for “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” it referenced Sal Mineo, who was murdered in 1976. They decided to change the reference to Elvis Presley in the movie (“Elvis! Elvis! Let me be! Keep that pelvis far from me!”). In a strange turn of events, Presley died the same day that scene was filmed.
There were also some controversies in the casting process. In the early stages of production, Marie Osmond was approached to play the role of Sandy Olsson. The star turned down the role because she disagreed with how the character turned bad in order to land the bad boy. She thought it would be a bad message to send to young girls, and since she wanted to be a mother, she didn’t want to be a part of it.
Another star considered for a role was Lucie Arnaz, daughter of TV stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. According to Hollywood urban legend, Arnaz was lined up to play the role of bad girl Rizzo, but when she was told she had to perform a screen test her mother freaked out.
Lucille reportedly called up the studio in a rage and told them that she used to own that studio, so that means her daughter shouldn’t have to do a screen test. This apparently changed the crew’s mind and they cast Stockard Channing as Rizzo instead.
Lucie Arnaz has never confirmed the rumor but has acknowledged the fact that she was up for the role of Rizzo but lost out to Channing.
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Which of these would you watch again and again? Let us know in the comments!