Oh, oh, oh honey.
The director of the iconic movie musical “Grease” revealed Tuesday that the production team almost cast a very different Coach Calhoun.
Randal Kleiser — who directed the film at the urging of the film’s co-star John Travolta — said that they nearly hired “Deep Throat” actor Harry Reems as Rydell High’s athletics teacher, according to the Hollywood Reporter’s podcast “It happened in Hollywood.”
“[Allan Carr] actually hired him,” said Kleiser referring to the film’s screenwriter.
“And the studio said, ‘No no no. You can’t do that.’ And so they had to fire him.”
Executives at Paramount Studios were allegedly concerned that the casting of a porn star would hinder box-office numbers. This decision led to Kleiser hiring comedic legend and TV pioneer Sid Caesar to fill the role of Coach Calhoun.
In the film, Calhoun helps Danny (Travolta) in his quest to impress cheerleader Sandy (played by the late Olivia Newton-John) by attempting to put him on a sports team that ends with Danny attempting to fight members of the basketball, baseball and wrestling teams.
“Allan felt so bad that he gave Harry $5,000 out of his own pocket, but the poor guy was very devastated. Because it was his moment to move from porn to the real upscale world,” said Kleiser.
Reems — who died in 2013 due to pancreatic cancer and other ailments — said in a 2005 interview with New York magazine that due to his career in porn films, he would never be allowed in mainstream movies.
“Acting was my true love, and I buried that possibility by going into adult films,” said Reems.
“The writing was on the wall. There was no place for me in conventional entertainment.”
