How the film "Dirty Dancing" was filmed: footage from filming and 23 interesting facts about the film (20 photos + 1 video)

It's hard to believe, but almost 37 years have passed since the release of the cult romantic film Dirty Dancing. Few people believed in the success of this film, but nevertheless it became a real hit, which collected a huge box office.





1. As often happens, the origin of the film began with the scriptwriter. Screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein tried to introduce elements of dirty dancing back in 1980 for the film Now It's My Turn, starring Michael Douglas.



Eleanor Bergstein

One of the scenes was supposed to contain elements of dirty (seductive) dancing, but the director decided that this scene would be unnecessary, so he simply abandoned it.

Then Eleanor decided to write a script for a film in which dirty dancing would not be in the first place, and the film would be dedicated to them. Then no one would be able to cut out these elements, no matter how much he wanted to.

She approached producer Linda Gottlieb with her idea for a film, but Linda instead asked her to tell her more about herself. And when Eleanor said that she was fond of dirty dancing, Linda stopped her and said that this was just a brilliant name for a future film.





Linda Gottlieb

2. But be that as it may, the idea for the film was not taken out of thin air. Eleanor Bergstein took much of what is described in the film from her own life. In her youth, she actually vacationed in the Catskills, her father was a doctor, and she herself was a fan of dirty dancing and was quite successful in this matter, spending all her time in the dance studio. She was even given the nickname "Baby".

3. The main character of the film, Eleanor, decided to name Frances in honor of the first woman in the US Cabinet, Frances Perkins.

4. In 1985, the script was completed, but most studios refused to film Eleanor's script, as studio bosses focused more on action films, which were at the peak of popularity at that time. But a film where the main theme would be some kind of dancing, as well as underground abortions, on the contrary, scared off the studio bosses.



And it would seem that there is no hope that a film will be made based on Eleanor’s script. But one day Linda Gottlieb received a call from the producer of the Vestron Video studio and invited Linda to make the film “Dirty Dancing.”

The only problem was that the Vestron Video company was only involved in filming low-budget films, which were mostly not shown in cinemas, but were released directly on video cassettes.



Directed by Emil Ardolino

The film Dirty Dancing ended up costing $5 million, which was a fairly small amount. But in the absence of other offers, I had to agree to this amount. And in the end, with such a small budget, we managed to make a real hit, which paid for itself several dozen times.



But during filming we had to save on literally everything. The studio couldn't even afford full meals for the extras. Screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein even said that she fed the hungry actors peanut butter cookies.

Also, due to the limited budget, the director tried to shoot all scenes in one take. Of course, this did not always work out, but nevertheless, many scenes were actually filmed in the first take.

5. A little-known choreographer, Kenny Ortego, was hired to film the film. But after the success of the film "Dirty Dancing" he became so famous that he was noticed by Michael Jackson himself, who offered him a job as his personal choreographer.



6. When Jennifer Gray came to audition for the main role of Baby, she impressed Eleanor and Linda so much that after her no one else auditioned, and she was immediately approved for the role.

By the way, at the time of filming the actress was 27 years old, although according to the plot she was supposed to play a 17-year-old girl. But this didn’t bother anyone.

7. Due to the small budget, the studio could not afford to hire famous film actors. And taking into account the fact that these same actors, for the most part, do not know how to dance, they will have to bear additional costs in order to hire understudies.



Then the creators decided to cast Broadway actors in the main roles, who would charge less money and most likely know how to move well.

8. Many now famous actors auditioned for the role of Johnny, such as Benicio Del Toro, Val Kilmer, Billy Zane, etc. But none of them could dance properly.

And only when it was the turn of the young actor Patrick Swayze (the future star of the film “Ghost”), he was able to show his class. And this is not surprising, since he actually danced. Moreover, he even helped Jennifer Gray master certain movements that she couldn’t do. True, according to the actor, he was terribly infuriated when his partner made mistakes during filming of dances.



True, there was one problem. According to the script, Johnny was Spanish, while Patrick Swayze never looked like a representative of this nationality. But this did not bother the producers. They simply ordered to change the nationality of the main character. Now don’t lose such a dancing actor because of some little thing.

By the way, Patrick Swayze was 34 years old at the time of filming, while his character was 25 years old.

9. Another problem was that Jennifer Gray didn't want to work with Patrick Swayze. Even during the filming of the film “Red Dawn” (1984), where both actors starred, a conflict arose between them.



In order not to lose the main actress, Patrick Swayze himself volunteered to resolve the situation. He locked himself in a room with Jennifer Gray to... no, not what you thought. He locked himself in with her to have a heart-to-heart talk. An hour later, both actors left the room in tears, and Jennifer eventually agreed to film with Patrick.



10. Initially, Patrick Swayze wanted to cast his wife, who was also an actress and dancer, for the role of Penny. And she even showed herself very well at the auditions. But she was still not accepted into the film, since Cynthia Rhodes was immediately cast for this role without any tests.



11. Famous actor Jerry Orbach starred as Baby's father. But it was not possible to reach an agreement with him right away, since he asked for $4 million for filming dirty dancing, with a total budget of $5 million.

Naturally, the creators could not afford such expenses, so they agreed with Orbach that he would receive part of the fee immediately, and after the film’s release he would receive a percentage of the proceeds. Jerry agreed to these conditions, and rightly so, since the fees were enormous.



12. Well, since we started about training camps, let’s touch on this topic. With a budget of $5 million, the film grossed $214 million worldwide, and this does not include profits from the sale of the film on video media. But “Dirty Dancing” became the first film whose sales exceeded 1 million copies on video media.



13. As I wrote above, Patrick Swayze was infuriated when Jennifer made mistakes during the filming of the film. One of these moments even made it into the final version of the film. When Patrick ran his hand over Jennifer's arm, she literally "exploded" with laughter. Quite a few takes were screwed up. And in the end, one of these unsuccessful takes ended up in the film. So Gray's laughter and Swayze's facial expressions are the most real.



14. The water scene was filmed in October and the water itself was cold to the point that the main actors' lips turned blue. That is why it was decided not to show this scene in close-up.



15. Another problem for filming was the yellow autumn leaves. Therefore, in order for the audience to think that the action takes place in the summer, the yellowed leaves had to be painted with green paint using a spray can.

16. In total, the film was shot in two locations, which were in completely different places. And in order to show in the film that both of these locations are a single whole, the decorators came up with the idea of ​​placing small white lanterns in both places.



17. Patrick Swayze really didn’t like some of the dialogue written in the script, so Eleanor Bergstein allowed him to make edits for some of the dialogue.

And despite the fact that the screenwriter accepted some of the edits, she completely killed Patrick’s idea that his hero should stay with Penny in the finale.



18. In 2020, it became known about the planned official sequel to the film “Dirty Dancing”. The film was planned for release in early 2024. But due to the screenwriters' strike in 2023, the film's shooting and release had to be postponed. One of the main roles in the sequel will again be played by the elderly Jennifer Gray.

19. A rather frank scene was cut from the film, where the charms of Jennifer Gray were visible, and Patrick Swayze’s naked butt “sparkled”. Both actors were glad that this moment was cut out, however, it was not done for their sake. The fact is that if the creators had left this scene, they would not have been able to get a PG-13 rating (viewing from 13 years old), which would reduce the number of views and income.



And in principle, the film was promoted as a teenage film. But despite this, it became popular among adult audiences.

20. One of the producers very much doubted the success of the film. He was so afraid that the tape would bring nothing and would be mixed with dirt that he even suggested that director Emil Ardolino burn all the footage to collect insurance money. Well, we know the result. The director abandoned this crazy idea, and the film earned $214 million.



21. The producers insisted on removing the scene with Penny's abortion from the film, but Eleanor Bergstein flatly refused to do so. As a result, they decided to leave the stage.

22. One of the most striking scenes, where the characters crawled on the floor, was filmed almost by accident. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray were just fooling around. But when the director saw the whole thing, he decided that this scene simply had to be present in the film.

23. The film "Dirty Dancing" won an Oscar in the category "Best Original Score" for the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life."