Dirty Dancing Remake To Hit Theaters In 2013: Why Are They Doing This To Us?

Poster of Dirty Dancing (1987)

When they remade Footloose in 2011, I knew the worst had come. The original cult movie starring Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer was an absolute hit among youngsters (and some part of the older generation too). 

One of the major factors that played a role in the success of this uber-cool film (you could quote me on this one) is the music that was absolutely in keeping with the times. Although the original movie came out in 1984, tracks like Footloose, and Dancing in the Sheets still remain favorites among teeny-boppers (and the older ones too, I confess). 

While I thought the worst had come when they remade Footloose in 2011 (reference to line one of this blog post); I guess I was sadly mistaken. The worst is yet to come; and ‘yet’ seems to be coming in the summer of 2013. I just read reports about how they’re planning to ‘REMAKE’ yet another cult movie. This time around the movie chosen breaks my heart, because the original was one of my all-time favorites. They’ve apparently chosen to rip apart ‘Dirty Dancing’. 

Dirty Dancing (1987) is a movie that brought with it a certain amount of freshness, innocence and spunk. Although the movie is as old as I am, I never tire of watching it. Patrick Swayze, who played the role of Johnny Castle, was an absolute delight to watch. Some of the scenes (like their first love making scene) will leave you wanting more of him. Jennifer Gray did a fabulous job of being ‘Baby’, the naive rich girl who is unlike most other patrons at the holiday camp. It is at this very holiday camp that Baby meets Castle, the dance instructor; and as movies will have it, they fall in love. 

With Patrick Swayze no longer among us and Jennifer Gray happy with her Dancing with the Star stints, who will play the iconic Johnny and Baby couple this time around?

Although there are no official reports about who’ll be joining the cast of the Dirty Dancing Remake, if insiders are to be believed; Derek Hough should step into the shoes of Patrick Swayze to play Johnny Castle. His female lead might go to Lea Michele. 

Lea Michele & Derek Hough

 Personally, I can’t imagine Lea Michele doing justice to the role. I would have to loved to see Julianne Hough play the role of Baby (and so would many others, as per blog posts that I have read so far).

Jennifer Gray (l) as Baby in Dirty Dancing and Julianna Hough (r)

The only reason (make that one of the reasons) why I am skeptical about the remake is because we’ve seen some rather crappy iconic-movie-remakes. They somehow manage to ruin all of them. 

Whether or not they’ll do a good job of making Dirty Dancing 2013 is something that only time will tell. (If other Hollywood movies are to be believed, the world might end in 2012. That way we’d never have to endure the tortures of this movie, just like we’ve had to sit through previous remakes.)

For now, I’ll leave with you the best dance sequence of the movie (and a classic song as well) – I’ve Had The Time of my Life (OST – Dirty Dancing 1987).