Similar to 18-year-old Alex Owens — who worked each a steel mill and a stripper pole in Pittsburgh, Penn. before finally getting the prospect to live out all her ballerina dreams — “Flashdance” was the underdog that had the entire world believing in 1983.
Starring newcomer Jennifer Beals and directed by Adrian Lyne (“Fatal Attraction,” “Indecent Proposal”) in just his second film, it went on to gross over $200 million worldwide.
Not bad — especially considering it was blasted by critics and the budget was just $7 million.
And the movie — which twirled into theaters 40 years ago on April 15, 1983 — introduced a lot of the planet to breakdancing, leg warmers and a smash soundtrack, including the Oscar-winning title tune “Flashdance … What a Feeling” performed by the late Irene Cara.
“People would come out of that movie and be leaping and dancing and laughing and, , their cares would have been taken away for a few hours,” said Durga McBroom, who played Heels, considered one of Alex’s stripper besties on the fictional Mawby’s Bar.
“It’s just an actual feel-good movie [that] is mindless,” she continued. “Let’s face it — the story is silly. A welder by day and a stripper at night?? Come on now!”
Although “Flashdance” (which can return to theaters for fortieth anniversary screenings on April 26 and 30) can have been far-fetched — and dating your much older boss as an 18-year-old definitely wouldn’t fly in today’s post-MeToo era — it was the proper ’80s film fantasy.
Here, solid and crew remember some behind-the-scenes moments.
There have been some fateful casting calls
Leading man Michael Nouri beat out the likes of Kevin Costner and Mickey Rourke for the a part of Nick Hurley, Alex’s boss. He was solid without even doing a chemistry test with Beals.
“Adrian really fought for us,” he said.
And McBroom originally auditioned for the starring role of Alex that turned Beals into an overnight sensation.
“I saw an ad for an open casting call for a dance audition for the lead a part of Alex, and I knew I wasn’t gonna get it, but I used to be really studying dance on the time, so I went,” said McBroom, who ended up getting the supporting role of Heels.
For Kyle T. Heffner, getting solid as aspiring slapstick comedian Richie Blazek was a case of art imitating life.
“I had done stand-up in Chicago, began after I was 18, so it was fit,” said Heffner, who’s now on HBO’s “Perry Mason.”
“Jennifer and I had that bond of each being from the South Side of Chicago, so I believe we felt a kinship robotically.”
Nouri bet on ‘Flashdance’ over Peckinpah
Nouri had been offered a significant role in director Sam Peckinpah’s thriller “The Osterman Weekend” right before he got the “Flashdance” script.
“And I liked [the Flashdance screenplay] a lot better than I liked the Peckinpah script,” he said. “I went in to fulfill with Adrian Lyne the following day, and we had an exquisite meeting. And he said, ‘We start shooting next week.’ So I had to choose from two major productions … But I just had this sense about ‘Flashdance.’ ”
The enduring bra moment was all Beals
During her audition, Beals inspired probably the most memorable moments from “Flashdance,” when Alex, seemingly innocently, takes off her bra under her sweatshirt in front of Nick.
“When Jennifer got here in to fulfill Adrian to audition, she was coming from the gym,” said Nouri, who’s currently on Netflix’s “The Watcher.”
“And he or she did that as she was talking to Adrian through the interview. And he said, ‘That has got to go within the movie!’ ”
There was more laughter than lust in that lobster scene
While “Flashdance” had loads of fancy footwork scorching up the massive screen, there have been a wholly different form of sexy moves happening when Beals played footsie with Nouri’s nether regions under that restaurant table.
It was a moment of lobster-eating lasciviousness that went down in crustacean cinema history.
“After I saw it on paper [in the script], I used to be laughing. I assumed that, ‘That is gonna be fun,’ ” said Nouri concerning the steamy scene. “There was numerous laughter leading as much as it, along with her toe going between my legs. And, uhhh … yeah, there was numerous laughter.”
Cecil was silenced
The silent-film throwback of “Flashdance” is Malcolm Danare, who played Cecil, the hapless henchman of Johnny C. (Lee Ving), owner of Mawby’s Bar’s topless rival club. All of his dialogue was cut from the script.
“There have been lines for Cecil within the movie, but I actually have such a high voice, so if you happen to were to listen to Cecil … it could have ruined every part,” said Danare, who can be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of his role in “The Lords of Discipline” this yr.
“Here’s this big guy beating up people, after which swiftly you’ve a voice like mine … it could have sounded silly.”
Even then, the celebrities thought the fashions were ‘insane’
“Flashdance” was ultimately more concerning the empowering female bonding between Alex and her tribe of dancers than the dudes who got here across their spike-heeled path.
And the actresses commiserated in sartorial sisterhood over the ’80s looks they became famous for.
“We used to laugh concerning the fashions,” said McBroom. “We thought they were insane, , with the cutting off of the T-shirts and the loose shoulders. We thought it was ridiculous … Next thing , everybody’s wearing leg warmers and cutting off their T-shirts, and it defined portion of the look of the ’80s.”
The wig was the massive tell
In the long run, the key weapon of “Flashdance” was Marine Jahan, Beals’ French stunt dancer who kept Alex in “Maniac”-trained motion.
But although moviegoers were fooled at first, pondering it was Beals busting all those moves, McBroom and crew weren’t.
“A girl can tell when a girl is wearing a wig and when she’s not,” said McBroom, who went on to be featured in music videos for superstars akin to Janet Jackson and have become a background singer for Pink Floyd. “I can tell the difference between Jennifer’s hair and Marine’s wig.”
Legs needed to spin crazy fast — and do double duty
Filling in on those backspins during Alex’s audition for the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory was then-16-year-old Bronx b-boy Crazy Legs, a part of the revolutionary Rock Regular Crew, who the producers hired on the spot after seeing them perform on the Roxy club in Manhattan. “They might attempt to get me to do the backspin fast enough in order that it wasn’t so obvious that it was a dude,” said Legs, whose real name is Richard Colón.
“Legs got more royalties because he also doubled for Jennifer Beals — he was within the leotard and the wig,” noted one other Rock Regular Crew member, Mr. Freeze (real name: Marc Lemberger), who turned an umbrella into the last word prop during the breakdancing sequence that was shot on the streets of Pittsburgh.
“They wanted her to have all these experiences throughout the film where it culminated in her audition, where she uses various things from her life, and breaking was considered one of those things she saw on the street,” said Legs.
