This is a scene that has become cult, the last act of a film that is just as cult.
This moment when Johnny, played by Patrick Swayze, picks up his sweetheart Baby, played by Jennifer Grey, and declares his love for her via a passionate duo dance, ending with an iconic lift.
However, behind the scenes, the reality of
Dirty Dancing,
released in 1987, is quite different.
“The set was known for its problems.
Extremely chaotic.
You could almost say cursed,” wrote the lead actress in her memoir
Out of The Corner
, published in early May.
To discover
To listen > our Scandals podcast "Tom Cruise: the mysteries of a life between Hollywood and Scientology"
Among the difficulties reported, namely filming in extreme weather conditions, health problems or even abandonment of team members, Jennifer Gray also recounts the disagreements around certain dialogues in the script.
In particular, a sentence, now cult and repeated by all the fans like a mantra, "We don't leave Baby in a corner", addressed in the film by Johnny as a spade towards the family of the young woman.
Read also“I was no longer myself”: Jennifer Grey, the actress of
Dirty Dancing
, confides in regretting her rhinoplasties
“So corny”
"Patrick had problems with his dialogues and fiercely resisted the idea of saying (this) sentence," recalls the 62-year-old American actress.
A posture that had already been confirmed before by the main interested party, who died in 2009 at the age of 57 from pancreatic cancer.
"I could barely bring myself to say, 'We don't leave Baby in a corner.
I thought it was so old-fashioned,” confided Patrick Swayze in his autobiography
The Time of My Life
.
Jennifer Gray shared his opinion at the time.
According to her, other replicas "did not really flow from source."
Together, the two actors worked with director Emile Ardolino to review the script, "trying to make it a little more natural," she said.
Thanks to this valuable collaboration, the duo was thus able to receive new scripts each evening, edited from their retouching.
On video,
Dirty Dancing
, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray in rehearsal
However, not all complaints have been taken into account.
Thus, despite the criticisms, the emblematic replica of Patrick Swayze will remain unchanged in the final scenario and the latter will not take umbrage at all.
"Seeing the finished film, I had to face the facts: it was working," he admitted in his memoirs.
35 years later, a sequel to the film is in the pipeline, without Patrick Swayze but with Jennifer Grey.
"All I can say is that no one will be able to replace someone with that much aura.
You never manage to repeat something so magical,” concludes the actress.
