Out of the Corner, by Jennifer Grey
Continued from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8
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Chapter 12, titled "Reasons to Be Cheerful" tells Grey's life from the beginning of her acting career in 1980 until 1986, when she auditioned for Dirty Dancing. I am summarizing this one chapter in a series of four blog articles. This is the third.
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Just before The Cotton Club opened in the movie theaters in 1984, Grey and her father, Joel Grey, attended a special screening for the cast and crew. There she was delighted when she was complimented by Richard Gere, who had played a starring role.
Standing toward the back of the small, packed screening room, Richard Gere told me that he thought I was talented, and he hoped for me to have enough opportunity to explore and experiment as an actress before becoming a star. I was stunned and encouraged that he thought I might possibly go on to have a career. Not lost on me was also a wistfulness, perhaps his own feelings of being creatively thwarted on the other side of stardom. This bona fide movie star seemed to see something in me, even if he was just making polite conversation.
However, Jennifer was dismayed that much of her part had been removed from the finished movie.
The lights dimmed, and I sat down next to my dad, feeling anticipation and immense pride about being a part of this movie, in such spectacular company. No one had any idea what to expect, because Francis [Ford Coppola, the director,] had shot enough footage to make four films.
As I watched the movie, my high hopes, held at bay for a year, began to deflate one scene at a time. Sequences that had taken a whole week to shoot now passed through the frame in a flash. Whole storylines were gone, as if they had never happened....
Was I cut out because I wasn't any good? I felt embarrassed, like I had lied to my loved ones about the extent of my involvement. Even I couldn't understand how I could have been on a movie for that many months, most every day, and not have much to show for it.
Joel Grey did not like the movie much, and he could not say much about Jennifer's acting.
His overall assessment was, "Well, it's all over the place. And verrrry long. Ultimately, not really satisfying. ... They really didn't give you much to do."
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In 1985, Grey was selected to play a big role in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which was released in 1986. She played the role of Jeannie Bueller, the bratty sister of Ferris Bueller, who was played by the actor Matthew Broderick. I described Grey's role in that movie in a previous article, titled The 1986 Movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".
The movie was directed by John Hughes. Grey adored him, and he praised her acting.
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| John Hughes, Director of the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off |
When it was my turn to go in to read [for my audition] ... John Hughes was there. He stood up when we were introduced, and he was over six feet tall. He dressed like a big overgrown kid, but a well-outfitted one in Air Jordans, jeans, and fancy leather jacket. He wore glasses, frosted round plastic frames, his thick blond mane styled in a mullet, and he chain-smoked Carltons. ....
I was cool as a cucumber. My default mode has always been pretty sunny, ebullient, trending perhaps toward annoyingly friendly, but because Ferris's sour sister called for a more prickly vibe, my poor attitude on this occasion worked in my favor. I gave off the kind of shitty energy that would befit a Jeanie Bueller. I got the part.
What I wasn't prepared for was that I would become creatively besotted with John. And while he was nowhere near being my type, I couldn't deny being "a little in love" with him. Was it his brain, or was it that I felt seen by him, appreciated?
The more hilarious he thought I was, the freer I became. The freer I became, the more I was this new version of myself. John praised me for inhabiting everything that had been strictly verboten in my family — exploring and playing in the more shadowy side of my psyche. It was a relief to be given utter permission to let my darker freak flag fly. It was sheer bliss.
The majority of Jeanie's scenes were of her alone — ruminating, burning up with frustration, and seething with jealous rage, so John, from behind the camera, was in essence my scene partner. When I was shooting my scenes, he was right there, either calling out impromptu lines for me to parrot back as they occurred to him, or enthusiastically yelling out "pieces of business" for me to do. I never knew what was going to happen, nor did he. There was no room or time to be self-conscious or insecure because it was all happening so fast and in the moment. Afterward I'd have no clue what had just happened, it was like being in an improv blackout.
Grey and Broderick began a real-life romantic relationship during the filming.
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| Matthew Broderick (left) and Jennifer Grey acting in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off |
Matthew and I hardly had any scenes' together until the very end of the shooting schedule, and I don't remember how or when we first got to know each other. But I was as surprised as anyone when our relationship morphed from on-screen sibling rivalry to off-screen illicit romance.
She soon suspected that he had another girlfriend, and so she decided to break up with him soon after the filing ended.
... It was Thanksgiving, and I went home to my West Village apartment ... I realized I was in love with Matthew and told him I couldn't see him anymore. He promptly broke up with his "close family friend" and we were together.
Matthew just felt like my guy. We were both Jewish, New Yorkers, actors, with actor parents. We loved the same theater, Chinese food on Sunday nights, and he made me laugh. I loved his humor, his brains, his talent. Being with a crowned prince of Broadway also felt familiar. He felt like home.
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Another reason why "Matthew just felt like my guy" was that he was playing homosexual roles in various movies. Since Jennifer Grey knew that her father was homosexual, she might have appreciated that Matthew apparently felt comfortable being around homosexuals and even acting like one. However, her autobiography does not discuss that aspect of her relationship with Matthew.
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The book's Chapter 12 ends with her audition for the movie Dirty Dancing. I will not discuss that audition here in this blog article, except to remark about Broderick's discouraging behavior at that time. He predicted to her that she would not be selected for the Baby Houseman role.
There's no way you're gonna get it. I'm sure they're seeing everybody for this part.
She wanted him to go out dancing with her on the night before her audition. She thought the dancing might get in a good mood for the audition. Matthew did not want to go. She had to beg him until he agreed, reluctantly. She writes: He could easily slip into the persona of a cranky old guy.
Trouble ahead.
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Continued in Part 10
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