Jennifer Grey recalls challenges with Patrick Swayze before their iconic ‘Dirty Dancing’

Jennifer Grey has opened up about her experience working with Patrick Swayze on the 1984 film Red Dawn.

During her conversation on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Grey recalled filming their first love scene.

She said, “We were in this, you know, sleeping bag and he, I guess, was nervous or whatever. And he came into the sleeping bag drunk, and he didn’t know his lines. And then it got cut. And they said, ‘We’ll come back and reshoot it.’ But of course they didn’t.”

At the time, Grey was also dealing with her own anxiety, fueled by sleeplessness and paranoia from smoking marijuana. “I was so angry because I was all self-righteous. I was like, ‘How dare you be so unprofessional?'” she said.

Speaking about Swayze’s onset attitude, Grey recalled, “I was like, ‘You know what? You’re killing me.’ …And he was also super bossy because he took it on. Like, [director] John Milius said to him, ‘You know, you’re the leader and you have to be alpha.'”

Additionally, Grey was hesitant to work with Swayze again, saying, “when they started talking about him for Dirty Dancing, I was like, ‘Oh, oh no, anybody but him.'”

However, they were paired in the 1987 classic Dirty Dancing, where their undeniable chemistry captivated everyone.

Now, speaking about a potential Dirty Dancing sequel, Grey said, “They have been adamant about making it, and I have been adamant about respecting the original, out of respect to Patrick… and the generations of fans.”

“There is no way that I’m going to be part of it unless it feels true. And what I mean by true is, it has to feel like it is about the original intent with the same clarity of vision about important things,” she added further.