Hey folks, Harry here with the answer to the question we all have had... What would the actor cast as Ren in the remake of FOOTLOOSE's Bacon Number be. Well, Kenny Wormald danced in CLERKS II with Ethan Suplee (who played me btw), who was in ROAD TRIP with Rachel Blanchard who was in WHERE THE TRUTH LIES (2005) with Kevin Bacon... So Kevin's replacement has a Bacon number of 3!!! Those of you that had picked "3" can now kick off your Sunday shoes. Also joining the cast is Dennis Quaid, who'll be all kinds of tense with his dancing intolerance. Also the wonderful Miles Teller is joining this merry band. Ya know... This only came down on the craziest day ever for me. I'm at 33 hours of consciousness, trying to have an intelligent conversation with Craig Brewer while my brain is on fumes and literally, I'm typing this in bed, trying to stay awake. ALL OF WHICH IS UNHEALTHY. BUT - I'm excited about Craig Brewer's FOOTLOOSE. I shouldn't be. I should loathe the notion, but I really don't - and theirs a simple reason. Music changes, hairstyles change, dance styles change and yet often times - especially with Teenage stories, the stories don't change a helluvalot. Same assignments, same cheers, same location for the Proms, same Senior trips, same lunch dishes served on the same days of the week. So as much as things change, they stay the same. To a degree, talking to Craig Brewer... it struck me that he's not out to reinvent the wheel here - he's just making this HIS FOOTLOOSE. He has a demon in him that he wants to capture in HIS version of the ANGRY DANCE. He wasn't positive on young Kenny Wormald until he got him opposite Miles Teller as Willard - running scenes and realized that he had that same excitement he had seeing Chris Penn and Kevin Bacon... except, he said there was an extra layer to the scene that was more overtly SOUTHERN in the particular flavor of Southern that he's going for. We talked about the troubles that are still going on with kids and their dances... Like the segregated PROMs that took place recently, or like that Lesbian couple where one wanted to wear a Tux, and her school freaked out, got in trouble, threw a fake PROM and invited all the normal kids to the Secret Better Prom. SO shit still sucks for kids. But Craig was telling me how one of his favorite scenes in this FOOTLOOSE involves Dennis Quaid as Reverend Moore talking to his daughter Ariel, as played by Julianne Hough. And she tries to call him out as a bit of a hypocrite because she knows that he and her mother used to dance together when they were young. And the Reverend looks at her at tells her yeah, and we always looked into each others eyes as we danced, now days, guys come up behind girls rubbing their crotch all in a girl's butt as she's grinding not even aware of who she's rubbing on... and he intimated to me... That's kinda how I'd feel about my girl today - and Craig Brewer is definitely the cool Dad. I know this, because I ran into Craig at DISNEYLAND with his wife and awesome boy. Craig is so excited about this. I asked him what else he had to cast and he said he needed to cast the Sarah Jessica Parker RUSTY character, the Dianne Wiest role as the Reverend's wife Vi. But that the thing he was really getting into right now was all the music he was getting as different killer cool bands are trying to either do covers of - or create new songs that fit those old songs' scenes - and as wave after wave of demos pour in he's realizing just how much this movie reached out to people. That it wasn't just him seeing this when he was 12 and wanting to make movies... but that the film made others go into the world of music - and he's excited about showing some of that inspiration off. Lastly, we talked about what is going to be different about this Ren. I mean, I look at the kid in the below pic and I just don't know what he'll be like. At Disneyland, when I talked to Craig - I told him that I felt whoever played Ren had to have that caged animal edge to him, and today on the phone he repeated that back to me. Insisting that this young kid has that in spades. But as a character, he feels that Ren will be even more isolated and alone in this film than he was before. I know he's gonna have some twists for us, because he keeps almost saying things, then says, "They'd kill me if I said that." Whatever the case... this FOOTLOOSE has a fiercely talented and passionate filmmaker who is literally giddy to be doing this. I'm serious. He can not wait to not only shoot this, but show this. He has an image that he's fired up to share and frankly, that's all I needed to hear... to stay up a bit longer and get this fuller version of the story out to y'all. Here's your romantic duo for FOOTLOOSE and Paramount's press release regarding the casting. Craig is so gonna nail this I bet ya!
BREWER’S CAST COMES TOGETHER FOR “FOOTLOOSE” Paramount Pictures Will Release On April 1, 2011 HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 22, 2010) – Adam Goodman, President of Paramount Pictures Film Group, announced today the completion of principle casting on writer / director Craig Brewer’s “Footloose”. Following an extensive worldwide search, newcomer Kenny Wormald will play the highly coveted role of ‘Ren’, opposite previously announced star Julianne Hough as ‘Ariel’. Dennis Quaid also joins the cast in the role of ‘Reverend Moore’, along with Miles Teller as ‘Willard’. Craig Zadan, who also served as a producer on the original film, joins his longtime creative partner Neil Meron (“Chicago”) and producers Brad Weston and Dylan Sellers (“Agent Cody Banks”) on the remake. Oscar winning songwriter Dean Pitchford, who wrote the screenplay and songs for the original movie, will executive produce. Brewer (“Hustle And Flow,” “Black Snake Moan”) will shoot from a script he adapted from Pitchford’s original. Julianne Hough will make her feature film debut in “Burlesque” in November, opposite Christina Aguilera and Cher, which will also coincide with the release of the two-time “Dancing With the Stars” champion’s second country album. She will co-star alongside newcomer Wormald, who appeared in the MTV series “Dancelife”, and most recently toured with Justin Timberlake. The film will mark the first major U.S. feature film role for the Boston native. Actor Dennis Quaid, known for his starring roles in countless hit movies including “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Traffic,” and most notably for his Golden Globe and SAG nominated role in the acclaimed movie “Far From Heaven”, also joins the cast. The actor most recently starred in the critically praised HBO movie “The Special Relationship”. Miles Teller, who will next appear in John Cameron Mitchell’s “The Rabbit Hole” starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, will also appear in the film. The movie will feature choreography from Jamal Sims, who recently worked with Madonna on her Sticky & Sweet Tour. Sims has choreographed countless movies and videos, and will next choreograph the Neil Patrick Harris' production of the award-winning musical Rent starring Nicole Scherzinger and Vanessa Hudgens, from August 6-8 at the Hollywood Bowl. “I saw ‘Footloose’ in my hometown theater when I was 13-years-old and it rocked my world. It was a teenage rebellion movie that explored the struggles of faith and family in a small town, and it had a killer soundtrack. I can promise ‘Footloose’ fans that I will be true to the spirit of the original film. But I still gotta put my own Southern grit into it and kick it into 2011,” said Brewer. "It's going to be a blast!" "When we discovered Kevin Bacon in 1984, we were both excited and gratified – and also knew the chances of ever duplicating that effort was a million to one shot. Decades later Kenny Wormald proved history could repeat itself,” said Zadan. “We've wanted to work with Brewer ever since we saw ‘Hustle & Flow.’ His fresh and contemporary vision will bring ‘Footloose’ to a whole new generation of moviegoers when the movie opens in 2011."
