Chace Crawford cuts loose from “Footloose” remake; Craig Brewer takes director’s seat
Chace Crawford (Associated Press file photos)
Craig Brewer
Paramount Pictures is getting its remake of the 1984 film “Footloose” back on its dancing feet, hiring director Craig Brewer (music-oriented indie films “Hustle & Flow,” “Black Snake Moan”) to helm the project from his rewritten script
According to Variety, Brewer’s first order of business will be casting yet another new lead for the film, now that heartthrob Chace Crawford has cut loose from “Footloose” because of scheduling conflicts with his CW series “Gossip Girl.”
Paramount intends for Brewer to start filming this summer for a 2011 release date. The trade publication reported earlier this week that casting for the new “Footloose” would begin immediately.
The “Footloose” remake has been dancing on shaky ground for more than a year. In March 2009, “High School Musical” star Zac Efron pulled out of the lead role after being attached to the project for a year and a half. In an effort to avoid getting pigeonholed, Efron reportedly wanted to abstain from any more musical projects until he established himself in other genres.
Last fall, the film’s fate was thrown into question when “HSM” director Kenny Ortega left the film just five months before production was set to start. His departure reportedly came about because of creative differences and budget issues.
According to Variety, the studio wanted an edgier tone than was originally planned for the remake under Ortega. Paramount and Brewer plan to stick much closer to the feel of the original film, making it into a small-town drama instead of a big musical with elaborate song-and-dance numbers.
Released in 1984, “Footloose” starred Kevin Bacon as a Chicago teen who moves to a rural community that has a law prohibiting dancing.
The film was loosely based on actual events in Elmore City, where students in 1980 convinced the school board to let them organize the school’s first prom, despite an 80-year-old city ordinance banning public dancing.
The Oklahoma farming community is marking the 30th anniversary of the first prom Saturday with a daylong celebration that will culminate at 7 p.m. with a re-creation of that 1980 dance. The celebration is open to the public.
Click here to read more stories about Elmore City’s “Footloose” celebration.
- BAM
“Footloose” leaves a lasting impression on Elmore City alumni, pop culture
Above: The 1984 hit movie “Footloose” is loosely based on the story of Elmore City’s first prom. Below left: In 1980, Mary Ann Temple-Lee was one of the junior class officers who lobbied to organize the school’s first prom, while her father, Raymond Temple, was president of the school board who cast the deciding vote. (Photo by Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman) Below right: Mary Ann Temple-Lee, center, and her parents Raymond and Mary Temple pose at the 1981 Elmore City High School prom. (Provided photo)
Back in the spring of 1980, the Elmore City school board made history when it voted 3-2 to allow the junior class to organize a prom. The decision essentially brought an end to a more than 80-year-old town ordinance banning public dancing in the small Garvin County farming community.
The 1980 junior-senior prom, with its “Stairway to Heaven” theme, not only got the students cutting loose on the dance floor, it also attracted media outlets from across the country, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Forth Worth Star-Telegram and People magazine.
The news reached Hollywood and Dean Pitchford, lyricist for the movie “Fame.” He traveled to Elmore City, interviewed residents and penned the screenplay for “Footloose” based on the story.
In the film, Kevin Bacon plays Ren McCormack, a Chicago teen who goes through culture shock when he moves to a small rural town where his favorite pastime, dancing, is outlawed. As he campaigns to plan a school dance, he locks horns with a stern preacher (John Lithgow) while falling in love with the minister’s rebellious daughter, Ariel (Lori Singer). The film also stars Dianne Wiest as the preacher’s wife, Sarah Jessica Parker as Ariel’s best friend Rusty and Chris Penn as Ren’s new sidekick Williard.
Leonard Coffee and Rex Kennedy, two Elmore City junior class officers who lobbied for the 1980 prom, served as inspiration for Bacon’s lead role. Fellow junior class officer Mary Ann Temple-Lee, who also was Coffee’s high school sweetheart, inspired the female lead.
“In the movie … instead of Rex and Leonard, it’s Ren and Williard,” Coffee said.
Coffee and Temple-Lee said they were disappointed when they first saw the film, since it depicted the teens as rowdy renegades who played tractor chicken, got into fights and engaged in other wild antics.
“As country students … we were respectful. We were raised never to bring shame to our parents. That was No. 1. We were good kids. We knew how to have fun, (but) we knew how far to go,” Temple-Lee said. “As for the character in the movie, you know, quite honestly, when your dad is president of the school board, you can’t get by with a whole bunch.”
“It was good, clean fun,” Leonard said. ““We weren’t as wild as the kids in the movie. No, we never played chicken on tractors.”
Both said they enjoy the memorable music and appreciate the message of standing up for one’s beliefs.
“I enjoy the soundtrack much more than the movie, I’ll be honest,” Coffee said.
“I like the movie, it just didn’t portray us really, really well. We weren’t that wild,” Temple-Lee added.
“Footloose” became an $80 million box-office hit and inspired a stage musical, which made its Broadway debut in October 1998 and ran for a little less than two years. The musical has been staged by many regional, community and school theater companies over the years.
A few years ago, Paramount Pictures announced intentions to remake the dance film, with “High School Musical” star Zac Efron in the lead and director Kenny Ortega in the director’s chair. Both eventually left the project. Chace Crawford (TV’s “Gossip Girl”) then was cast as Ren but recently dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. “Hustle & Flow” director Craig Brewer now has signed on to helm the remake, which is set for 2011 release.
The lingering influence of “Footloose” has kept life interesting for Coffee, Temple-Lee and their families.
“Every time something comes up like the 30th anniversary that we’re doing, that just rekindles memories. Folks (will say) ‘Oh yeah, I forgot that you were a part of that.’ It starts up all over again. So it’s a lot of fun. Sometimes it can be tedious, but times like this … I enjoy spreading the story, spreading a little joy,” Coffee said.
Elmore City will mark the 30th anniversary of the first prom, which inspired the film “Footloose,” with a 
public celebration starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. The event will include lawn mower races, an arts and crafts festival, dance contests, school reunions and a 3 p.m. parade.
The dance will start with promenade at 5:30 p.m., then the recreated 1980 high school prom will begin at 7 p.m. at the Elmore City Community Center, 104 S Main Street. South Main Street will be closed to allow the dancing to spill into the street.
Temple-Lee and Coffee will be the special guests and parade marshals at Saturday’s anniversary event. They plan to bring their entire families to the event, including their children and spouses. Temple-Lee also plans to bring her parents, Raymond and Mary Temple; her father was the 1980 school board president who cast the deciding vote to allow the students to organize the first prom.
“One of my fondest memories is when I drug my daddy out on the dance floor and he actually danced with me … and that was so special,” Temple-Lee said.
Both Coffee and Temple-Lee still reside in Garvin County. Coffee lives in Lindsay and works as member services representative/safety coordinator for Lindsay Rural Electric Co-operative. Temple-Lee lives in Maysville, works as a counselor at Noble Public Schools and operates with her parents and children the family’s cattle ranch in Elmore City.
-BAM
Elmore City’s first prom, the inspiration for “Footloose,” leaves a legacy 30 years later
Above: In this 1980 file photo, Elmore City High School students dance at the school’s first prom. (Photo by J. Don Cook/The Oklahoman Archives) Below left: This poster advertised Elmore City High School’s first prom in 1980.
A version of this story appears in Friday’s The Oklahoman. It is by BAM and and my fine colleague Sheila Stogsdill.
Community dance to honor pair
Stories about Elmore City High School’s first prom and the struggle the students went through to have the dance have been handed down throughout the years.
“We realize it was a big deal to have a prom,” Julie Harrel said. “Some students look at (the 1980 prom) and know it was a huge accomplishment.”
In 1980, the Elmore City school board narrowly voted to allow the junior class to organize a prom, despite an 80-year-old city ordinance banning public dancing. The story became the inspiration for the 1984 hit film “Footloose.”
On April 9, Elmore City’s 31-member senior class had its prom in the school gymnasium, complete with dinner, dancing and an after-prom party.
“I’ve seen ‘Footloose’ three times,” said Harrel, 18, who serves as the senior class president and student council president. “DJs use to play the songs from the movie (at school dances), but they don’t do that anymore.”
Leonard Coffee, one of the junior class officers who campaigned for the 1980 prom, said the legacy left behind at his alma mater makes him proud.
“Thirty years ago (when) we started out, the prom was approved for one year, and they said, ‘Don’t mess up.’ So we had everything to lose. To this day, 30 years later, they’re still having a prom. I am so proud of that fact. … The students for the past 30 years, they have respected the fact that we have a prom. Hopefully, they won’t take it for granted,” Coffee said.
Coffee, who now lives in Lindsay, and his high school sweetheart Mary Ann Temple-Lee, who lives in Maysville but operates her family’s ranch in Elmore City, will be guests of honor at the 30th anniversary celebration the community is planning Saturday at the Elmore City Community Center. Music from “Footloose” will be played as the town revisits the 1980 prom, with the catchy theme song opening up the dance floor.
Elmore City will mark the 30th anniversary with a public celebration starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. The event will include lawn mower races, dance contests, class reunions and a 3 p.m. parade. The dance will begin with promenade at 5:30 p.m., then the re-created 1980 high school prom will start at 7 p.m. at the Elmore City Community Center, 104 S Main Street. South Main Street will be closed to let dancing to spill into the street.
The anniversary event will be the second prom of the season for both special guests: Temple-Lee’s 16-year-old daughter Mary D. recently attended her prom in Maysville, while Coffee’s 18-year-old daughter Cheyenne is going to her prom tonight in Lindsay.
Both the guests of honor plan to bring their entire families to the anniversary celebration, though they plan to leave their 30-year-old prom attire at home.
“I don’t think it’s gonna fit anymore,” Coffee said of his tuxedo. “No, that’s put away.”
- BAM
Elmore City re-creating the first prom, the inspiration for the movie “Footloose,” 30 years later
Above: Mary Ann Temple-Lee and Leonard Coffee were high school sweethearts and junior class officers who campaigned for Elmore City High School’s first prom in 1980. They inspired the principal characters of teh 1984 hit movie “Footloose.” They will the guests of honor and parade marshals Saturday at an event celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first prom. (Photo by Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman) Below left: Mary Ann Temple-Lee and Leonard Coffee are shown in a photo from the 1981 Elmore City High School yearbook. Below right: Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer starred in the 1984 movie “Footloose.”
A version of this story appears on the front page of Friday’s The Oklahoman. It is by BAM and my fine colleague Sheila Stogsdill.
Elmore City re-creates prom that inspired “Footloose” film
Okies say they weren’t as fancy free as “Footloose” characters
In the spring of 1980, many Elmore City juniors and seniors felt like they were actually on a “Stairway to Heaven” as they swayed to the Led Zeppelin anthem at the high school’s first prom.
On Saturday, the small Garvin County community is cutting “Footloose,” with a public celebration of the 30th anniversary of that landmark dance. The prom, which inspired the 1984 hit film starring Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow, marked the last waltz for a more than 80-year-old ordinance banning public dancing in Elmore City.
“We had all grown up watching ‘American Bandstand,’ ‘Happy Days,’ even the ‘Andy Griffith Show,’ they would talk about the community dance. It was just what I thought was normal for a community to do,” said Leonard Coffee, the 1981 Elmore City graduate that proposed the prom as a junior class officer.
“We wanted to dance.”
Historic vote
On March 3, 1980, the Elmore City school board made history when it voted 3-2 to allow the junior class to organize a prom. Although the decision sparked considerable controversy, it’s doubtful residents of this tiny farming community 70 miles south of Oklahoma City realized at the time just how much attention the vote would bring.
The town was founded by James Elmore in the 1860s and incorporated in 1898, said Elmore City clerk Lisa Rollings.
“There was no dancing from 1898 to 1980,” Rollings said.
When students gathered in 1980 to prepare for the junior-senior banquet, Coffee didn’t know the city had a law prohibiting public dancing. He was just appalled that the plans for the banquet were limited to a meal and then a class activity, usually renting the bowling alley in nearby Lindsay.
“I asked, ‘Well, why can’t we have a prom like other schools do?’ And it went like wildfire. Right after I asked that question, the rest of the class was, like, ‘Yeah, we want to do that,’” he said. “I didn’t know it until afterward, but I guess other classes had tried to have a prom.”
The 1980 junior class was actually the 10th to bring the dancing issue before the school board, according to The Oklahoman Archives. Some local churches and residents were staunchly opposed on religious grounds, believing dancing was immoral. Some worried a dance would lead to alcohol, fights and “dancing in the sheets,” Coffee said.
“We had to remain respectful no matter what was said to us,” he said. “We had everything to lose and nothing to gain by getting into an argument or a fight. But there were several townsfolk that it did become an issue. And it was almost neighbor against neighbor for a few folks.”
Mary Ann Temple-Lee, Coffee’s high school sweetheart and fellow junior class officer, said the students not only wanted to dance, they wanted to make safe and happy memories with their schoolmates.
“It was a boring prom because they would raise so much money for a dinner. … And when the meal was over, they would read the prophecies and the wills and it was over. All the kids would basically just jump in their trucks, head across the Table Top Mountains and get drunk,” she said.
Raymond Temple, her father and then school board president, said the safety issue ultimately swayed him to cast the deciding vote in favor of dancing at the prom.
“They rented the bowling alley at Lindsay, and most of them never got to the bowling alley. And if they did get to the bowling alley, they were back on that dang mountain after. And that’s the thing we wanted to stop,” he said. “This was to have something for our juniors and seniors where they were well-supervised, and if they didn’t want to dance, it didn’t matter to me.”
Not only did the students decorate the cafeteria with silver foil-covered stars and a sequined cardboard spiral staircase to go with the then-popular prom theme of “Stairway to Heaven,” they also organized the gym into a game room as an alternative for teens who didn’t want to dance.
“The ones that were against it, the parents and all that, we just put them in charge of the game room. But it didn’t last very long,” Temple said.
Media frenzy
The first dance started a little slowly, but once a few couples took the floor, others quickly joined in the fun, recalled Rollings, who attended as a sophomore server.
“None of us were just really great (dancers), you know, but we all had fun. Everybody got out there,” Coffee said. “I think probably everyone danced with everybody else.”
“I even danced with my dad, and that is one of my favorite memories,” Temple-Lee added.
Lack of skill or experience wasn’t the only obstacle the students had to overcome as they danced: The room was crowded with TV cameras, photographers and journalist from across the country chronicling the first prom. Not only did People magazine cover the event, the dance even made the front page in a Chinese newspaper.
“The whole outside area of the dance floor was just packed with newspaper people and television people and there were cords all over the floor. Really that’s just what I remember is just trying not to trip over the cords,” Rollings said with a laugh.
“Footloose” inspiration
The news reached Hollywood and Dean Pitchford, lyricist for the movie “Fame.” He was so intrigued, he traveled to Elmore City, interviewed residents, including the Temple family, and penned the screenplay for “Footloose” based on the story.
Coffee, along with junior class president Rex Kennedy, served as inspiration for Bacon’s lead role, Ren, while 
Temple-Lee inspired the female lead, played by Lori Singer. But they were disappointed by the rowdy antics of the movie characters.
“It’s an incredible movie. It just didn’t portray us the way we were. I’ll put it that way,” Temple-Lee said. “We were extremely ornery, but no, we were not wild.”
“It’s an awesome soundtrack,” Coffee added of the film. “And it is a good message.”
Milestone celebration
Instead of “Stairway to Heaven,” the catchy “Footloose” theme will be the first song played at Saturday’s 30th anniversary dance. Along with re-creating the “Stairway to Heaven” theme of first prom inside the Elmore City Community Center, the daylong celebration will include a parade, dance contests, school reunions and a prom tradition not instituted at the 1980 dance — promenade, where attendees of all ages can show off their finery.
Coffee and Temple-Lee will be the parade marshals and guests of honor at the dance, which will spill out onto Main Street.
As the town celebrates one milestone, it actually is marking another.
“Since 1980, they’ve had a prom but we’ve never had a public dance. So this actually will be our first public dance that anybody can come to, and we’re just wanting everyone to come,” Rollings said.
Though the ordinance against dancing quietly disappeared from the books after the 1980 prom, Rollings said it still remained taboo to some. When the city took over the senior citizen center and made it the community center last summer, workers took down a ‘no dancing allowed’ sign.
Considering the town’s history, Rollings said she kept the paper notice. Just in case.
Going on
Elmore City will mark the 30th anniversary of the first prom, which inspired the film “Footloose,” with a public celebration starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. The event will include lawn mower races, an arts and crafts festival, dance contests, school reunions and a 3 p.m. parade.
The dance will start with promenade at 5:30 p.m., then the recreated 1980 high school prom will begin at 7 p.m. at the Elmore City Community Center, 104 S Main Street. South Main Street will be closed to allow the dancing to spill into the street.
For more information, call (580) 788-2345.
-BAM
