With only a few television roles and small film appearances, Michelle Pfeiffer, then aged 23, was a relatively unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role of Stephanie. Other actresses considered for the part included Lisa Hartman, Kristy McNichol, Andrea McArdle, and singer Pat Benatar.
However, the year before, she played the lead role in Grease 2, the commercially and critically unsuccessful sequel to the well-loved musical. In a 2007 interview with Hollywood, Pfeiffer said, “I hated that film [Grease 2] with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was.
How much did Michelle Pfeiffer get paid for Grease 2?
It is not known how much Michelle Pfeiffer was paid for her starring role in Grease 2 in 1982. As she was considered an unknown actress at the time, it is likely her salary was in the tens of thousands, definitely not more than the low hundreds of thousands.
By the time Grease was a hit – and the studio realised a sequel might not be such a bad idea after all – Travolta and Newton-John had moved on to other things. Director Randal Kleiser also gave it a miss. Instead, Patricia Birch, choreographer of the original stage musical and the first film, was put at the helm.
It's 1961, two years after the original GREASE gang graduated, and there's a new crop of seniors — and new members of the coolest cliques on campus, the Pink Ladies and T–Birds.
Michelle Pfeiffer Survived the 'Grease 2' Casting Process
Are Sandy and Frenchy cousins?
The Grease girls, who played memorable best buds and cousins Sandy and Frenchy in the 1978 classic, joined one another on stage at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino during Newton-John's show.
The late Olivia Newton-John, who costarred as Sandy, was 29 at the time Grease was filmed; Stockard Channing, who played Rizzo, was the principal cast's oldest member at 33 during filming, according to a 2016 Vanity Fair article about the production.
The fact that the film was released the same month as 80's classics like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn and Poltergeist definitely didn't help matters at the box office, but for many critics, it was the stale storyline that really doomed the sequel.
Instead, fans were left to wonder precisely why she just disappears: and it seems the answer is simple... the makers of Grease 2 realised halfway through that they just didn't want her. Perhaps she'd get better treatment if she returns (even briefly) in the upcoming Grease prequel movie.
Tom Cruise auditioned for the role of Johnny Nogerelli, but director Patricia Birch wanted someone older and taller. Andy Gibb was initially to play the male lead, but he failed his screen test.
Travolta remembers weighing about 165 pounds when that movie musical was made, and 211 pounds when the cameras rolled for "Primary Colors." "Let's see, that's a differ ence of about 46 pounds," he said, calculating out loud.
One of the few original Grease stars to join the Grease 2 cast, Edith "Didi" Conn reprised her role as Frenchy, charged with taking Michael around school. Along with her Grease costar Olivia Newton-John, the actress appeared on Grease Live! in 2016, playing Frosty Palace's head waitress Vi.
Turns out Olivia Newton-John very nearly didn't play what would become one of her most iconic roles - Sandy in Grease. Casting director Joel Thurm told Fox News that John Travolta “wanted Olivia for the role of Sandy ... We talked about it and I said, 'It's a great idea. ' But my problem was to make Olivia work.
Grease had established a core set of character tropes with its Pink Ladies and T-Birds, but Grease 2 expanded and subverted many of those tropes, beginning with Stephanie Zinone, who is far more worldly and sassy than the innocent Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) in Grease.
Who was supposed to sing Grease Lightning in Grease?
Even if The Beach Boys didn't sing "Greased Lightnin'," in the stage musical, it was originally meant to be Kenickie's song. However, Travolta wanted the song for himself and his character, Danny. "I have to be completely honest with you," Travolta told Vanity Fair in 2016. "I wanted the number.
Casting Sandy would prove trickier. Director Randal Kleiser saw rushes from a new film his old college buddy George Lucas was making, titled Star Wars, to see if its female lead, Carrie Fisher, could be a fit. She wasn't. Marie Osmond (left) and Carrie Fisher (right) were both considered for Olivia Newton-John's Sandy.
The Grease co-stars were still very close up until Olivia's death in August 2022, and even famously reunited in LA in 2002 to sing their classic hit 'You're The One That I Want'. John Travolta was a huge support to Olivia Newton-John as she underwent treatment for breast cancer.
What happened to the actress who played Rizzo in Grease?
She made her London theatre debut at the Royal Court Theatre in the 90s, in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation. She's returned for stints since, in 2017 for Apologia at the Trafalgar Studios and again in 2021 in Night Mother at the Hampstead Theatre. The star has been married and divorced four times.
Grease 2 is often regarded as one of the worst sequels in movie history; it's pointless, a complete copy of the original (minus all the good parts), and the songs are forgettable for the most part.
In addition, the shop teacher aiding the T-Birds sets up the twist, saying that, "if it were in any better condition, it would fly." Still, while the flying car is a departure for Grease, it serves as a symbol that Danny and Sandy are quite literally flying into the sunset for their happy ending.
While it might seem random, Swayze did play Danny Zuko on Broadway and, in the same year that Grease 2 was released, appeared as a dancer in Toto's video for “Rosanna.” Aukerman's query, however, was met with a resounding “no” by the Grease 2 fanbase, which exists because, believe it or not, Grease 2 is cool as hell.
Kelly Ward brought the youngest member of the T-Birds, Putzie, to life in a role specifically created for the film. Grease wasn't his first time working with costar John Travolta, as the two worked together on 1976's made-for-television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
Grease was shot in various locations across the Los Angeles area, from the lively South Bay to the charming Silverlake neighborhood. Much of the production was filmed on-site, including exterior shots of Rydell High, taken at Venice High School, Huntington Park High School, and John Marshall High School.
The film is also notable for having Danny (played by John Travolta, who had already had top-40 hits before Grease) sing lead on the song, while Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) contributed with a few call-and-response lines.
