WTF: Three Hour DIRTY DANCING Remake Starring Abigail Breslin Coming To ABC
Looks like somebody forgot to put Baby in a corner, because she's coming back to have the time of her life once again. The Wrap reports that ABC is going to broadcast a three hour remake of Dirty Dancing with Abigail Breslin in the role of Baby, the character originated by Jennifer Grey in the 1987 film.
Jessica Sharzer wrote the script for the remake, Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) will direct. Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the first movie, will executive produce alongside Allison Shearmur, while the music will be from Adam Anders and Peer Astrom. The original movie centered on the young Francis "Baby" Houseman falling in love with her summer camp's sexy dance instructor. A sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, was released in 2004, but apparently was itself a loose remake of the original, just set in a different location.
Breslin memorably danced her way across a stage in 2006's Little Miss Sunshine, but I believe this will be the first time we see her strut her stuff in her adult career. No word yet on who they'll get to play the absurdly-named Johnny Castle, the role originated by the late Patrick Swayze. The original movie was only an hour and forty minutes long, so I really hope the commercials are factored into this one's reported three hour run time — otherwise it's gonna be a loonnnnng dance.
No air date has been released yet, and there's also no word on whether or not Baby's dad will deliver the line "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong" to Castle, without actually ever actually saying he's wrong (click play below). That always bugged me about the original.