'Footloose': 5 Things To Know About The Reboot

On Tuesday, the first trailer of the upcoming Paramount remake of the classic Kevin Bacon film of the 1980s, Footloose, was released.

Starring Dancing With the Stars alum Julianne Hough and newcomer Kenny Wormald as the young leads, Footloose is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 14. Like the 1984 original and the stage musical, the modern reboot has everything that you’d expect: dancing, dancing and more dancing.

Here are five things you may not have known about the forthcoming feature film, also starring Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell and Miles Teller:

1. There were two different male leads attached to play Ren: Fresh off the success of High School Musical, Zac Efron was set to play the title character Ren McCormack in Footloose, then with director Kenny Ortega in July 2007. Efron dropped out of the project less than two years later, reportedly because he didn’t want to be typecast as “the musicals guy.” Months later, Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford replaced Efron, but left the project due to scheduling issues. It wasn’t until late June 2010 when Wormald landed the role. “I’m obviously glad that it’s me,” Wormald said of the role. “And I come from a dance background so I think I’ll do it justice … I’ve been dancing since I was 6, so the dance part was definitely natural for me. They didn’t have to use a double or anything.”

2. Kenny Ortega was originally tapped to direct: The director left Paramount’s remake over differences in the film’s tone and the overall production budget, according to reports. Ortega, who had directed all three films in the High School Musical franchise and Michael Jackson’s This is It film, was eyeing a higher budget and bigger musical numbers (a la Hairspray). Craig Brewer, who penned the script with Dean Pitchford, would eventually replace Ortega.

3. Kenny Wormald appeared in Jennifer Lopez’s MTV series Dancelife and the Center Stage sequel: Back in 2007, Jennifer Lopez launched a new dance series on MTV called Dancelife, which centered on the lives of aspiring Los Angeles-based dancers who are following in Lopez’s footsteps. Though the series lasted only one season, Wormald is best known from his appearances on the docu-series. Additionally, Wormald was the male lead in the Center Stage sequel Turn it Up, which premiered on Oxygen in 2008, alongside Rachele Brooke Smith. (It was a small-screen follow-up to the 2000 big-screen ballet film starring Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Sascha Radetsky and Peter Gallagher.)

4. Kevin Bacon declined to appear in the remake: Bacon, who is starring in the Fox reboot of X-Men: First Class, told Howard Stern in a recent interview that he was asked if he would appear in the new film. His explanation for rejecting the part? The part was “dopey,” Bacon said. “I’m old enough that a movie I did is being remade. That is pathetic,” the industry vet said at one point during the interview. Interestingly enough, Bacon said the producers on the original film, which arguably put him on the map, almost prevented him from getting the role. “The quote was literally, ‘He’s not f—able,’” Bacon recalled.

5. Footloose continues the Southern tradition: Even though the upcoming film is set in Beaumont, Tennessee (the original was set in Texas), filming took place in Georgia, Brewer said in April 2010 in an interview. Originally, Tennessee was being considered as a potential filming location, but Georgia’s incentive package was far more appealing.

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'Footloose' Trailer: Dennis Quaid, Julianne Hough Star in the Paramount Remake (Video)