August 11, 2022 – Grease

It’s Throwback Thursday, and today we’re featuring the year 1978. The highest grossing film that year was Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. It was released June 16, 1978 and was an immediate hit. It wound up being the highest-grossing film of the year, and the highest-grossing musical film ever at the time.
Henry Winkler turned down the role of Danny Zuko, for fear of being typecast as a greaser. John Travolta had already worked with one of the producers on Saturday Night Fever and he had also appeared in a touring production of the musical Grease. He made several casting suggestions, including Olivia Newton-John for the role of Sandy. At the time, she was known almost exclusively for her musical talents, with multiple Grammy Awards. She had only appeared in 2 movies before Grease. She insisted on a screen test with Travolta, which was done with the drive-in movie scene. However, she wasn’t able to pull off a convincing American accent, so the character was rewritten to be Australian. Other actresses considered for the role include Marie Osmond, Susan Dey, and Carrie Fisher.
Newton-John was 28 when she played Sandy, but she wasn’t the oldest cast member. That was Stockard Channing, who played Rizzo – she was 33 at the time! The soundtrack to the movie was also a huge hit, becoming the second best selling album of the year. The song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” was nominated for an Oscar, and the title track sold over 7 million copies world wide.
A sequel, Grease 2,  was released in 1982. And a prequel called Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is currently in the works for Paramount+. Learn more here.