Random Horror Stories From Behind Scenes Of Greas (12 items)

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  (#1) John Travolta Tried To Heal The Director's Foot Infection With Scientology

  Though Travolta is widely known as a devout Scientologist, the church wasn't as infamous when he was a young actor. He was just starting to delve into the controversial religion while filming Grease in the late '70s. He even learned enough to practice some of the church's bizarre healing methods.

  Travolta started using his Scientology healing practices on set when the dirty water in the drag race scene gave director Randal Kleiser a foot infection. The foot infection was severe enough to cause a halt in production, but Travolta came to the rescue with Scientology's "touch assist" method.

  “I was lying there with this fever and he’s poking me and poking me and poking me and I’m like, ‘Yes, I feel it.’ ‘Thank you.’ Then he left," Kleiser told Vanity Fair. "The next day I was better, and of course he claimed it was because of the touch assist.”
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  (#2) Annette Charles (Cha Cha) Went From Set To Surgery After An Ectopic Pregnancy Made Filming Unbearably Painful

  Annette Charles, the actress who played Cha Cha, was truly an artist who gave it her all. During the filming of Grease she suffered through a painful ectopic pregnancy but pushed off getting medical attention to see the scene through. Though Charles's doctor cleared her for filming the drag race scene between Danny and Craterface, Charles can still be seen throughout the film leaning against cars in pain.

  As soon as the scene wrapped, she went directly to the hospital for surgery.
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  (#3) Olivia Newton-John's Pants Were So Tight She Had To Be Sewn Into Them Every Day Before Filming

  Olivia Newton-John's skin-tight pants were arguably part of one of the most iconic outfits in the history of film. The extra tight, black leather pants and off-the-shoulder top are still given nods in pop culture today – in fact, they inspired a signature pant design at American Apparel.

  The actress even admitted that the "pants changed my life" – but no one said it was easy looking beautiful. Newton-John's black leather pants were so tight that she had to be sewn into them every day before filming - especially after a zipper malfunction. At the end of the day, she had to rip them off only to start the whole process again the following morning.
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  (#4) Rizzo's Hickeys From Kenickie Were The Real Deal

  Rizzo was at the cutting edge of '50s fashion. She set herself apart with blue jeans instead of frothy poodle skirts, but she was more than just sartorially risqué. Stockard Channing, the actress behind the character, admitted that all of the hickeys she complained about in the film were real. Apparently, Jeff Conway, the actor behind Kenickie, insisted on giving her the genuine love bites himself.

  Thanks to the real-life hickeys, Channing definitely got well-acquainted with some good concealer on set!
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  (#5) The Grease Cast Tormented Jack Nicholson And Warren Beatty

  Grease is a musical, so it's definitely not short on singing and dancing. This proved to be quite a problem for Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, whose offices were across from Stage 24 where the cast would frequently play dancing and singing games.

  "They were yelling at us to shut up, because they were trying to write, and we were making so much noise down here," Randal Kleiser, Grease's director, told Bustle.

  If you were forced to listen to "Greased Lightning" a hundred times a day while you were trying to work, you'd probably be a bit cranky, too.
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  (#6) Kleiser Had A 101-Degree Temperature While Filming The Frosty Palace Scene

  The Frosty Palace was Grease's iconic '50s-style diner, but filming Sandy's legendary date scene wasn't so easy. During filming, the director was running a temperature of 101 degrees and could barely function. The fever was a result of a massive foot infection. The day prior, the director got a cut after filming the drag race scene while he was barefoot. That's when things got really bad.

  "When I was shooting [at the Los Angeles river], it was very hot, so I was barefooted," he told Bustle. "I cut my foot, and I walked through this river, and the next day I had a fever. We were shooting the Frosty Palace scene, and I was completely out of it. I had a 101-degree temperature because of cutting my foot here."
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  (#7) Those Blurred-Out Pictures In The Frosty Palace Almost Caused A Major Reshoot

  In the scene where Sandy is on a date with a jock at the Frosty Palace, you may notice a blurred picture behind her. This turned out to be a major oops that almost cost the production a good chunk of change.

  The picture behind Sandy is a Coca-Cola advertisement, but Pepsi had already made a product-placement deal with Grease producer Allan Carr. When Carr saw the Frosty Palace scene, he insisted that Randal Kleiser reshoot it with Pepsi products. This proved to be pretty costly and time-consuming, so they settled on blurring out the Coca-Cola trademarks instead and crossed their fingers that Pepsi didn't complain. Despite their efforts, they missed a red cooler which bore the competitor's logo.

  "We just had to hope that Pepsi wouldn't complain. They didn't," Kleiser said.
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  (#8) It Was 116 Degrees During The High School Auditorium Dance Scene And Several Extras Got Really Sick

  The only thing hotter than Olivia Newton-John's black leather pants might have been the auditorium in Rydell High. It was upwards of 116 inside Huntington Park High School when the auditorium dance scene was filmed.

  According to Eddie Deezen, who played the minor role of Eugene, it was absolutely unbearable and the extras couldn't physically handle it.

  We filmed the big dance scene in a school auditorium (at Huntington Park High School) during a very hot summer," he wrote in a guest post on Neatorama. "The school was closed up, there was no air conditioning, and all the doors and windows had to stay closed because of light and sound control. It was reputedly 116 degrees in there while we filmed the dance scene over and over. Several extras had to be taken out because of heat-related illness.
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  (#9) John Travolta Was Mad He Didn't Get His Close Up During The Drive-In Scene

  After Saturday Night Fever, Grease made John Travolta legendary. The two back-to-back hits helped him sustain a life-long career, but that doesn't mean it was enough to quell his rising ego. Apparently, the young actor was pretty miffed that he didn't get his close-up at the end of the drive-in scene.

  According to Randal Kleiser, Travolta was asked to sit on a swing for a wider shot while the hot dog animation played on the screen behind him. He wasn't having it at all.

  "John says, 'Well, aren't we gonna do a close-up?' And I said, 'No, no, that was great.' He was a little pissed off, because at the end of the number, he wanted to have a close-up. But because the bun worked so well ... I said no," Kleiser admitted to Bustle. Luckily for Travolta, there were plenty of other close ups to be had.
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  (#10) Jeff Conaway Became Addicted To Pain Killers After Falling During The "Grease Lightning" Scene

  Jeff Conaway rose to fame in 1978 after playing Kenickie in Grease. Though he was known for his talent, he was also known for his drug and alcohol addiction. Apparently, this addiction actually started on set.

  Conaway is rumored to have injured his back after being dropped by another cast member during the "Greased Lightning" scene. He was prescribed painkillers to help him get through the production, but developed a lifelong addiction. Conaway eventually succumbed to his addiction in 2011 when he was 60 years old.
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  (#11) Randal Kleiser Butted Heads With A Bee Gee Over The Theme Song

  Randal Kleiser was set with the Grease theme song. The original opening credits had a '50s song set to an animation filled with '50s references. It all made sense... but it was scrapped. Instead, Bee Gees co-founder Barry Gibb was brought in to make the new theme, but butted heads with Kleiser in the process.

  "I listened to the lyrics and they didn't seem right for the movie," he told Bustle of Gibb's theme song. "They seemed a little dark. So I asked if Barry wouldn't mind changing the lyrics to make them a little lighter ... his solution was, 'Why don't you shoot a serious scene?' Well, we didn't shoot a serious scene and slapped the song on anyhow, and no one ever noticed that the lyrics were totally wrong for the movie. They were distracted by the animation. It's good that I lost that creative choice, because it was a giant hit. I would flip on the radio and hear the song at every station."

  Even though Kleiser hated the song, it's hard to deny it works despite the darker lyrical content.
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  (#12) John Travolta Stole Jeff Conaway's Moment In "Greased Lightning"

  It was bad enough that Jeff Conaway fell during "Greased Lightning" which caused him lifelong back pain and a deadly painkiller addiction. That ill-fated moment might have never happened if John Travolta's ego didn't get in the way.

  "Greased Lightning" was supposed to be Conaway's moment. It was originally meant to be sung by Kenickie, but John Travolta convinced the producers to make it his song instead. The director gave Travolta the okay, but only if Conaway agreed. Of course, the actor was bitter and refused, but eventually he relented. His life was never the same.

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