Jennifer Grey Says Patrick Swayze Was "Drunk" and "Unprofessional" When They Filmed a Sex Scene Together
"When they started talking about him for 'Dirty Dancing,' I was like, 'Oh, oh no, anybody but him.'"
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze's chemistry in 1987's Dirty Dancing was off the charts. However, their experience working together on Red Dawn, a movie released three years prior to their big romantic hit film, was a totally different story.
While speaking on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast (via Entertainment Weekly), Grey reflected on filming a sex scene with the heartthrob for 1984's Red Dawn. "We were in this, you know, sleeping bag and he, I guess, was nervous or whatever," she explained. "And he came into the sleeping bag drunk, and he didn't know his lines. And then it got cut. And they said, 'We'll come back and reshoot it.' But of course they didn't."
But it wasn't just Swayze who was off his game while filming the intimate scene. "I was smoking a lot of weed in those days, too, and so I was super paranoid, and I was scared," Grey told the podcast hosts. "I didn't sleep the whole night. So when I went in to shoot my big love scene, my big death-scene love scene, romantic scene with him, I was so angry because I was all self-righteous. I was like, 'How dare you be so unprofessional?'"
"When they started talking about him for Dirty Dancing, I was like, 'Oh, oh no, anybody but him.'"
According to Grey, the entire experience of filming Red Dawn was fraught, and she didn't seem to enjoy working on the movie, at all. "I didn't get to sleep, and I was anxious and felt like it was a problem," she explained. Grey continued, "By the time that movie was over, I was like, 'This guy is not professional. He is killing me.'"
As a result of her negative experience working with Swayze on the 1984 flick, she was apprehensive about co-starring opposite him in Dirty Dancing. Grey explained, "And then when they started talking about him for Dirty Dancing, I was like, 'Oh, oh no, anybody but him.'" Luckily, their second collaboration appeared to be a lot smoother than the first.
"I was so angry because I was all self-righteous. I was like, 'How dare you be so unprofessional?'"
Grey was also asked to discuss the rumored Dirty Dancing sequel, which has allegedly been in the works for quite some time.
"They have been adamant about making it, and I have been adamant about respecting the original, out of respect to Patrick," Grey explained on the podcast.
She continued, "There is no way that I'm going to be part of it unless it feels true. And what I mean by true is, it has to feel like it is about the original intent with the same clarity of vision about important things. And giving someone a great experience and that feel-good feeling—that feel-good vibe that people watch it because it makes them feel seen and alive."
