(Left to right) Lori Singer as Ariel and Kevin Bacon as Ren in 'Footloose,' directed by Herbert ... [+]
"The set was magic," actress Lori Singer enthused, looking back at the making of Footloose. "We were all living our parts so honestly."
February 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the 80s classic and sees the teen drama released on 4K for the first time in a two-disc set or a collectible SteelBook. Singer was the female lead in the iconic rebel story about a city boy, Kevin Bacon's Ren McCormack, whose family leaves Chicago to set up home in a conservative and religious small town where dancing and rock music are banned. Singer played Ariel Moore, the daughter of local preacher John Lithgow's Reverend Shaw Moore, drawn to McCormack like a moth to a flame.
"Ariel was rebelling it every second and challenging everyone and everything from her boyfriend to her father to religion to books and even setting off the chicken race, which is also evocative of Rebel Without a Cause," she explained.
Life imitated art at one point when elements of Footloose became real-world experiences on location in Utah.
"We got shut down by the town we were filming in," Singer explained. "The locals had been fed misinformation that the boys were going to be naked in a shower scene. They went crazy. The guys weren't naked; they had towels on, but the town that was close enough shut us down. We all banded together even more after that. It was a very tight-knit, serious group of actors."
"I believed in what I was doing, whether standing between a train, jumping between a car and a truck, or getting into a fight with a boyfriend played by the stunning Jim Youngs. The atmosphere on the set felt real. The fact that would transcend to an audience who would feel what we felt was astounding to me."
However, that's precisely what happened. Made for $7.5 million, Footloose grossed $80 million domestically and became the seventh highest-grossing film of the year. Singer credits Ric Waite, the cinematographer, and Herbert Ross, Footloose's director, for "capturing the intensity" and "all of this spirit in the town."
Although audiences loved it, some critics were lukewarm on the movie, while others got behind it and Singer.
"Pauline Kael was the big reviewer at that time, and she gave me a great review, which was new for me. I never thought about reviews or any of that," she mused. "I got the ShoWest Newcomer Of The Year Award, too. I was so thrilled that audiences liked it. I remember the opening screening and saw Nastassja Kinski coming in. I'd seen her movie Tess and met her. My mom saw the film and was scared about some of the scenes. People in the street were wild and crazy about the film. It had a huge impact. I never expected that."
(left to right) John Lithgow as Reverend Shaw Moore and Lori Singer as Ariel Moore in 'Footloose.'
Footloose also received two Oscar nominations for Best Original Song. One was for the titular track by Kenny Loggins, and the other was the equally iconic Let's Hear It for the Boy. The soundtrack, released before the movie, became its own thing and helped bring people into theaters.
"The music was very important," Singer said. "They were so well married that when you hear the music, you think of the characters; when you see the characters, you hear the music almost in your head. It's masterfully done and Kenny Loggins is amazing."
Similarly to how the audience connected with the film and the soundtrack, Singer understood and associated with her character in a very personal way.
"I knew the part because I had lived it," she said. "I spent time in Texas, and I'd been, in my opinion, subjected to some kind of oppression in certain ways. I have always been something of a daredevil, way more than my friends. I have always been the one going out literally on the ledge, further and further, and sometimes secretly thinking, 'I don't think I can come back from here. I think they're going to have to call my parents.' I was always taking amazing risks."
Even the Footloose audition process was different for the actress. Singer was in the middle of performing in London with Fame when she was trying to seal the deal.
"I flew back to LA and went straight from the plane to the final audition at Paramount
(Left to right) Kevin Bacon as Ren and Chris Penn as Willard in 'Footloose.'
Singer was also incredibly grateful for the bond she shared with Bacon and Chris Penn, who played Willard Hewitt, with whom she felt a unique connection. Singer and Penn went on to make three movies together.
"I think it's really about love. When you just have this feeling, you're not judging it; you're just living it, and I absolutely loved Chris," she said. "I remember watching him rehearse on the huge soundstage at Paramount Pictures before we filmed anything and it was the most interesting thing. He really couldn't dance but it was in such a unique way. It was fascinating."
"I don't know how to describe it, but through the entire film, he felt what Willard was going through, and I felt for him. I wasn't watching him secretly, but like Ariel, I like to watch a lot and see what is going on. Kevin was the role that he stepped into. He wanted to be from the city, to act that way, and we had an immediate connection. The three of us were always laughing and respectful. There was also a real sense of trust. By the end of the film, everyone wanted Chris to be there at every party in Hollywood. He would go into that whole dance thing, all of it. He was a huge sensation and loved to dance that famous dance."
The dance sequence at the end of Footloose remains a classic Hollywood moment and Singer knew it was special.
"It was the wildness of finally being able to do anything you wanted, essentially, within a structure," she explained. "You had to do certain steps but you could go further. It was absolutely exhilarating, and then they dropped these little shiny things on us, which made it surreal. It was a Daliesque situation. It felt like we were in this other world, dancing, and the music was spectacular. Even though we filmed it months after everything else, it was another incredible moment, but its own thing. We were very fortunate."