Editing Grease 2 (section)

==Production==

===Development===
''Grease'' co-producer [[Allan Carr]] had a deal with [[Paramount Pictures]] to be paid $5 million to produce a sequel, with production beginning within three years of the original film. Carr decided to hire [[Patricia Birch]] as director for the sequel, as she had previously served as the choreographer for the stage and film versions of ''Grease''. Birch was initially hesitant to accept after learning that neither composers [[Jim Jacobs]] and [[Warren Casey]] nor [[John Travolta]] and [[Olivia Newton-John]] would be involved in the film.{{sfn|Hofler|2010|p=136}} [[Bronte Woodard]], the writer who adapted the original stage material for the original film, had died in 1980, and Canadian comic [[Ken Finkleman]] (who was also writing and directing ''[[Airplane II: The Sequel|Airplane II]]'' at the same time) was tasked with penning a new script mostly from scratch.  The total budget for the production was $11.2 million, almost double the budget of the original.{{sfn|Hofler|2010|p=144}} Birch's approach to the material was to hew closer to the original, grittier stage productions from which ''Grease'' came; she had resisted changes made to the original film (largely made at Newton-John's behest) but was overruled.<ref name=vanity>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/01/grease-movie-musical-john-travolta-olivia-newton-john|title=How ''Grease'' Beat the Odds and Became the Biggest Movie Musical of the 20th Century|magazine=Vanity Fair|author=Callahan, Michael|date=26 January 2016|access-date=4 June 2021|archive-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420073138/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/01/grease-movie-musical-john-travolta-olivia-newton-john|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Grease 2'' was intended to be the second film (and first sequel) in a proposed ''Grease'' franchise of four films and a television series. (The third and fourth films were to take place in the 1960s and during the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] era.) However, the projects were scrapped due to the underwhelming box office performance of ''Grease 2''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=''Grease 2'' (1982) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56788 |access-date=August 6, 2023 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]] |archive-date=July 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730071713/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56788 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Maxwell Caulfield]] was unhappy with the film's "drab" title, and unsuccessfully lobbied to change it to ''Son of Grease''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Next Overnight Sensation|first=Cynthia|last=Heimel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OcCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA45|date=March 22, 1983|access-date=August 19, 2013|page=45|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]}}</ref>

===Casting===
Birch proposed an idea to feature Travolta and Newton-John reprising their characters as a now married couple running a gas station near the end of the film, with Travolta to sing a new number "Gas Pump Jockey;"<ref name="greasefacts">{{Cite web |last=Messer |first=Lesley |date=January 28, 2016 |title=7 'Grease' Facts You May Not Have Known |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/grease-facts/story?id=36550893 |website=ABC News |access-date=January 29, 2023 |archive-date=March 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301173043/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/grease-facts/story?id=36550893 |url-status=live }}</ref> this did not come to fruition.{{sfn|Hofler|2010|p=136}} Newton John rejected the offer to return, as she was more interested in doing ''[[Xanadu (film)|Xanadu]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vogue.com/article/olivia-newton-john-obituary | title=Olivia Newton-John, Singer and 'Grease' Star, Dies at 73 | date=8 August 2022 }}</ref> Paramount tried to get [[Jeff Conaway]] and [[Stockard Channing]] from the first film to do cameos but this did not happen (Channing, by then 37 years old, had left Hollywood for a time in the early 1980s to focus on her stage career).<ref>{{Cite news |author=Beck |first=Marilyn |date=Sep 8, 1981 |title=''Taxi'' brings back Jeff Conaway |page=a5 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Early plans for ''Grease 2'' had Conaway and Channing's characters, Kenickie and Rizzo, as main characters while they attended [[summer school]],<ref name=greasefacts/> which would have culminated in the two getting married.<ref name=vanity/>

[[Andy Gibb]] was screen tested to play the male lead but this proved unsatisfactory.<ref>Holfer p 136</ref> At one stage [[Timothy Hutton]] was announced as the male lead,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Hollywood 'drug war' is mostly talk|author=Beck, Marilyn|work=Chicago Tribune|date=Mar 16, 1982|page=c12}}</ref> and Carr later claimed after ''Grease 2'' was released "Hutton came, sang, and danced in my living room. He had done Guys and Dolls in college, and that’s who I wanted and preferred. But they didn’t consider him sexy enough.”<ref>Holfer p 147</ref>

[[Maxwell Caulfield]] was cast after impressing producers off-Broadway in ''[[Entertaining Mr. Sloane]]''. Having seen his performances, [[Allan Carr]] offered Caulfield the role of Michael over thousands of applicants.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Maxwell Caulfield Picture Pages |url=http://www.superiorpics.com/maxwell_caulfield/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120918010749/http://www.superiorpics.com/maxwell_caulfield/ |archive-date=2012-09-18 |website=www.superiorpics.com}}</ref>

“They were all in love with Maxwell,” said Patricia Birch. “Robert and Allan saw him onstage without his clothes."<ref>Holfer p 137</ref>

Unlike co-star Pfeiffer, Caulfield's career following ''Grease 2'' was damaged by the film's failure. He has been quoted as saying: "Before ''Grease 2'' came out, I was being hailed as the next [[Richard Gere]] or [[John Travolta]]. However, when ''Grease 2'' flopped, nobody would touch me. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in my face. It took me 10 years to get over ''Grease 2''."<ref name="Maxwell Caulfield trivia">{{cite web |url=http://www.movietome.com/people/6176/maxwell-caulfield/trivia.html |title=Maxwell Caulfield Quotes and Trivia |website=[[MovieTome]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011153913/http://www.movietome.com/people/6176/maxwell-caulfield/trivia.html |archive-date=October 11, 2008}}</ref>

With only a few television roles and small film appearances, [[Michelle Pfeiffer]], then aged 23, was a relatively unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role of Stephanie. Other actresses considered for the part included [[Lisa Hartman]], [[Kristy McNichol]], [[Andrea McArdle]], and singer [[Pat Benatar]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Miss Perfection had begun |url=http://www.pfeiffertheface.com/Bio_014.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725090604/http://www.pfeiffertheface.com/Bio_014.htm |archive-date=July 25, 2008 |website=www.pfeiffertheface.com |page=14}}</ref> Pfeiffer was a wild card choice, but according to Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect."<ref>{{cite web |title=Miss Perfection had begun |url=http://www.pfeiffertheface.com/Bio_013.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100118134913/http://www.pfeiffertheface.com/Bio_013.htm |archive-date=January 18, 2010 |website=www.pfeiffertheface.com |page=13}}</ref> She later commented on being cast:

<blockquote>That was really weird for me. I'd been taking singing lessons and I had taken dance, because I loved to dance, but I had never considered myself a professional at all. I went on this audition as a fluke, and somehow, through the process of going back and dancing, and then going back and singing, I ended up getting the part. I went crazy with that movie. I came to New York and the paparazzi were waiting at the hotel. I know the producers put them up to it. I am basically very private, and I'm really nervous about doing publicity. Every time I set up an interview, I say, "That's it, this is my last one. I'll do this because I committed to doing it, but I'm never doing another one." It was insane.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kelsey |first1=Colleen |last2=Stone |first2=Peter |date=May 9, 2012 |title=New Again: Michelle Pfeiffer |url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-michelle-pfeiffer/ |website=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]] |access-date=December 27, 2015 |archive-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430150412/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-michelle-pfeiffer/ |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

[[Lorna Luft]] was the last star cast.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Rosenfield |first=Paul |date=Mar 7, 1982 |title=Lorna Luft's Road Gets Smoother |page=m25 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> The part played by [[Connie Stevens]] was originally meant for [[Annette Funicello]] but she was unable to appear because her schedule as [[Skippy peanut butter]] spokeswoman<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Skippy |publisher=Unilever |year=2012 |url=http://www.peanutbutter.com/article/detail/115166/skippy-peanut-butter-history |access-date=April 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518112003/http://www.peanutbutter.com/article/detail/115166/skippy-peanut-butter-history |archive-date=May 18, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> did not allow her time to film the scene.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Popson |first=Tom |date=June 20, 1982 |title=MOVIES: 'Hey, What Floor Am I On?!' A Frenetic Day in Chicago for a Producer Born Too Late |page=f20 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref>

[[Adrian Zmed]] had previously played the role of Danny Zuko in the stage version of ''[[Grease (musical)|Grease]]'', a role he would later reprise in the 1990s.<ref name="serious">{{cite journal |last=Adelson |first=Suzanne |date=June 20, 1983 |title=T.j. Hooker's Adrian Zmed Looks to a Serious Future Beyond Beefcake and Bad Boys |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085303,00.html |url-status=dead |journal=[[People (magazine)|People]] |volume=19 |issue=24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109221955/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085303,00.html |archive-date=January 9, 2011 |access-date=August 31, 2016}}</ref>

===Filming===
Scenes at Rydell High School were filmed at [[Excelsior High School (Norwalk, California)|Excelsior High School]], a recently closed high school in [[Norwalk, California]].{{sfn|Hofler|2010|p=144}} Filming took place throughout a 58-day shooting schedule during the autumn of 1981.<ref name=":0" /> According to director Birch, the script was still incomplete when filming commenced.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 11, 2022 |title='Grease 2' turns 40: Why the 'more fun, female-forward' sequel is better than the original |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/06/11/grease-2-40th-anniversary-musical-sequel/7570805001/ |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref> Sequences that were filmed but cut during post-production include scenes in which Frenchy helps Michael become a motorcycle rider, and a sequence at the end of the film showing Michael and Stephanie flying off into the sky on a motorcycle.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-09 |title=Why Frenchy Disappears Halfway Through Grease 2 |url=https://screenrant.com/grease-2-movie-frenchy-disappears-why/ |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=[[Screen Rant]] |language=en |archive-date=2023-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806215852/https://screenrant.com/grease-2-movie-frenchy-disappears-why/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the film, after Stephanie wins the contest, it goes on to show the luau in the final scene. Originally, there were a few minutes dedicated to a scene in which Michael (believed to be dead in his alter ego, by Stephanie) comes out on stage as Stephanie is exiting the stage, unbeknownst to her that he is the cool rider and he is alive. He attempts to ask her what's wrong and she storms past him and runs off crying, then it cuts to the luau. There was a scene within the "Who's that Guy?" number in which Goose accidentally smashes Rhonda's nose at the Bowl-A-Rama door. None of these scenes have been shown since the film's release.