Flash Dance : a cult film rejected by Brian de Palma
Just listen to the first notes of What a feeling rethink Jennifer Beal who wanders Pittsburgh and dreams of becoming an opera dancer, when she’s not welding in a factory or dancing in a cabaret. Flash Dance (1983) is one of those cult films of the 80s where every element remains anchored in memories. The face of Jennifer Beals, the music of Giorgio Moroder, the dance scenes… Everything is memorable. However, the film could have been very different and its success did not seem certain to Paramount Pictures.
let’s remember it Brian DePalma could have made the film. At that time, the director had developed a script called Act of revenge, based on Trevor Armbrister’s book about a murder case. Paramount studio seemed interested and Brian De Palma was pretty confident. Except that producer Don Simpson then went back to the director to talk to him Flash Dance okay. This change has so much annoyed the director who managed to get paid a lot of money before leaving the project to direct instead Scarface (for which Giorgio Moroder also wrote the soundtrack). So it is finally Adrian Lyne, the latest choice of the producers, who took over the project. A profitable choice since it was his first success, before the commercial failure 9 and a half weeks (1986), which nevertheless became a cult.
Jennifer Beals jokes
Flash Dance it was also helpful for Jennifer Beals, who was just starting her acting career. At just 20 years old, she reportedly got the role because she was in tears at the audition after having her luggage stolen at the airport. In any case, it was certainly not for her dancing skills that she was hired, as she was an actress. I just didn’t know how to dance. The production then called several people to dub him.
Thereby, the true dancer of Flash Danceit’s first and foremost Marino Jahan, a French woman born in 1959 in Versailles. It is she who appears in most of the dance scenes. However, her name was not added to the credits. The producers, fearing that the use of a stunt double could harm the success of the film and the growing popularity of Jennifer Beals, preferred to remove Marine Jahan’s name. Except the truth came out shortly after the release of Flash Dancewhich was poorly received at the time, but did not stop the feature film from being a box office success.
Finally, in addition to Marine Jahan, two other people were used to voice Jennifer Beals. in the first place, gymnast Sharon Shapiro, present to perform the heroine’s jumps during her final audition. And on the other hand, Crazy Legs, a male member of the rock group Steady Crew who performs breakdancing moves in the same sequence. The guy’s musculature is actually quite evident when you look closely at this latest Flashdance sequence.
Source: Cine Serie
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