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Jennifer Grey says Matthew Broderick told her there was ‘no way’ she would land role in Dirty Dancing

‘I don’t know what I’m worried about. There’s no way you’re gonna get it,’ Broderick said, according to Grey

Tom Murray
Tuesday 17 May 2022 05:46 EDT
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Firefighters spoof Dirty Dancing in safety video

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Jennifer Grey recalled Matthew Broderick’s odd reaction to her Dirty Dancing audition in her new memoir, Out of the Corner.

Grey and Broderick began a “clandestine set romance”, Grey wrote, while the pair were filming Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1985.

The night before her Dirty Dancing audition the following year, Grey said she begged Broderick to come out with her to a nightclub that played music from the Fifties and Sixties.

She wrote that Broderick, who “could easily slip into the persona of a cranky old guy” refused at first but was eventually convinced, at which point he made a remark about her upcoming audition.

“He said this odd thing, as if to reassure himself, like he wasn’t aware he was using his ‘out loud voice’,” Grey wrote.

According to her, he said, “I don’t know what I’m worried about. There’s no way you’re gonna get it. I’m sure they’re seeing everybody for this part.”

The Independent has contacted representatives for Broderick for comment. Broderick and Grey went on to get engaged in 1988 but broke up soon after.

Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey were briefly engaged
Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey were briefly engaged (Diane Freed/Getty Images/Vestron Pictures)

Grey then described her audition, during which she danced to “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5. “I pretty much knew without even looking at anyone that I had the part,” she said.

The actor, of course, went on to star in the 1987 dance classic as Frances “Baby” Houseman opposite Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle. Grey has recently spoken about her lack of chemistry with Swayze, who died in 2009, and said that they were “forced to be together”.

She since told The View on 4 May that Swayze apologised for his behaviour on the 1984 film Red Dawn, which Grey described as “macho”, ahead of their screen test for Dirty Dancing.

Out of the Corner is out now.

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