15 Things You Didn't Know About 'Dirty Dancing'

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey inDirty Dancing(1987).Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection

Years ago,Dirty Dancingfoxtrotted onto the silver screen and cha-cha-cha’d straight into our hearts.

Regardless, we hope you have the time of your life reading through these fun facts aboutDirty Dancing.

It’s (loosely) based on screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein’s real life.

The film is well known not only for its story, but for its amazing soundtrack.

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey inDirty Dancing(1987).Courtesy Everett Collection

The song’s final song, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” was chosen literally the night before the cast and crew shot the finale.

The song would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song — and the unofficial award for “best way to end a wedding reception.”

Globe Photos

Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage

Benicio Del Toro, Val Kilmer and Billy Zane were up for the role of Johnny Castle.

Everett

Bergstein picked out Swayze for the role of Johnny Castle from a Rolodex of photos of eyes.

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Grey and Swayze had plenty of on-screen chemistry, but off-screen were not friendly. In fact, he had to convince her to take the role.

And you can see them clash on-screen.

Swayze had been a dancer for his entire life, much like his onscreen character, while Grey had very little experience. That meant that all of their pent-up frustrations were channeled into their roles, and we can see them really working together (and arguing) on-screen. They do say that art imitates life, right?

But you can also see them having a great time together.

The famous “Love Is Strange” scene was really just footage of the pair rehearsing and fooling around before filming the real thing.

During filming, they called it “Dancing Film Productions” so that the Mountain Lakes Resort where they filmed didn’t think they were making a movie about adifferentkind of dirty dancing.

PS: You canstay in the hotelwhere they shot the film, though it’s not in the Catskills!

Swayze hurt himself while filming one of the film’s many iconic scenes.

Swayze refused to use a body double during the scene when the pair dance on a log over a ravine. His injury ended up holding up production for the film, which already had a minuscule budget. It also aggravated a knee injury he sustained while playing football in high school, making that final dance all the more difficult for him.

Pacific Title and Art Studio.

Though it took place in the summer, the movie was filmed during October, and the water was so cold that the actors' mouths were blue.

Patrick Swayze hated the film’s most iconic line.

That big lift at the end? It was never rehearsed.

“I only did it on the day I shot it,” the actress revealed in an interview withThe Guardian. “Never rehearsed it, never done it since.”

“I would never practice the lift — I was too scared. The day you see me do it in the movie is the first time I do it,” Grey toldSELFof the iconic lift. She also toldThe Guardian,“I don’t know how all these people who re-enact it have the guts to throw themselves into the arms of anyone other than Patrick Swayze.”

source: people.com