Grease
It ’s evident that the cast ofGreaseisn’t the same years as the characters they ’re play , so how old wereOliva Newton - John and John Travoltawhen they played Sandy Olsson and Danny Zuko ? In 1978,Greaseimmediately uprise to renown and became the highest - grossing musical moving-picture show up to that detail . Its powerful combination of gumptious medicine , impressive stage dancing , and 1950s nostalgia made it an instantaneous addition to the pop finish hall of fame , where it has stayed for more than four tenner . Curiously , the alchemy between the main characters - Sandy and Danny - helped the audience overlook one major item : the actors were far older than their handwriting - jiving teen twin .
The age of the part inGreaseplays an significant part in the movie , with the two inner circle of student at Rydell High School experience the highs and depression of their elderly year . The daughter - only Pink Ladies gang loves pajama party and goes wild over Sandy ’s new lover , while the boys - only T - Birds greaser bunch iscrazy about cars , leather jacket , and young woman ( perhaps a little bit too much ) . This immaturity is whyGreasesometimes gives terrible life adviceand also why event like the school dancing affair so much to the character . Sometimes it ’s hard to calculate past how the 18 - year - previous Sonny was played by a 31 - yr old Michael Tucci , and how Rizzo , who was also supposed to be 18 in the moving picture , was played by a 33 - year - previous Stockard Channing .
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arenaceous and Danny appear nigher to their suppose age , but still , one of thethings most citizenry do n’t know aboutGreaseis that Olivia Newton - John turn 29 while fiddle the 17 - year - old Sandy Olsson . Meanwhile , the greaser boy she identify to the Pink Ladies as"he was sweet-flavored , just turned 18"actually was 23 when shooting the movie , with John Travolta no less than six yr younger than his Colorado - star while playing Danny Zuko . All the acrobatic dancing and the sheer fun these characters bring to the film make anyone forget those kids are really in their twenties and thirties , however , and the film scarcely suffers from it .
It ’s not likeGreasewas the first or the last pic to have have a cast far older than the characters they ’re playing . It ’s just that general audiences are becoming more and more more aware of this motive , which is still as pop nowadays with show like13 Reasons Whycasting old actors as teenagers . This is more of a convenient practice to every yield rather than a recurring oversight , given that working with grownup relieve the theatre director and producer from more complicated tyke labor laws and problems like the role player growing too fast . ForGrease , it meant having an incredibly gifted cast that turned the moving picture into a classic .
Greasehas become such a dear piece of cinema that the older - sounding mould is ordinarily find as a distinctive feature alternatively of a flaw . The 1982 sequel went completely under the radar , but the original ’s legacy is still as hard as ever . In 2019,Paramount was looking to make aGreaseprequel calledSummer Loving , anda spinoff calledRydell Highis coming to HBO Max . Whether age - accurate or older - looking , hopes are high for the new cast to be the one the buff desire .
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