Trivia for
Flashdance (1983) More at IMDbPro »

• The soundtrack to the movie sold 700,000 copies in its first two weeks of release.
  
  
• The film was inspired by a trip to a Toronto strip club.
  
  
• Paramount Pictures gave production rights to the original script for this movie to Don Simpson after Simpson was fired from his executive job with the studio, and many observers felt Paramount deliberately gave Simpson a terrible property in hopes he would fail and his career would be ruined. In addition, Paramount had so little faith in the box office potential of the film that they sold off 25% of the project days before it opened.
  
  
• Director Adrian Lyne turned down the project twice.
  
  
• According to his autobiography "Is That It?" Bob Geldof was offered a role in this film, after director Adrian Lyne was impressed by his performance in Pink Floyd The Wall (1982). Geldof turned it down.
  
  
• David Cronenberg was offered the chance to direct but turned it down.
  
  
• The role of Alex Owens was originally offered to Melanie Griffith, who turned it down. Executives at Paramount Pictures wanted an unknown for the part of Alex. A nationwide search for a young actress to play the part of Alex was narrowed down to three finalists: Leslie Wing, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Beals.
  
  
• Paramount held dancer auditions for a proposed sequel to this film. That film was never made.
  
  
• Marine Jahan was Beals' body double for the dancing scenes. Jahan was kept hidden from the press because the filmmakers did not want to ruin the illusion. Alex's leap through the air in the audition scene was done by gymnast Sharon Shapiro and the break-dancing was done by Crazy Legs. Jahan appeared in the music video for "Maniac".
  
  
• Brian De Palma was set to direct, and was a few weeks into preproduction before dropping this film to do Scarface (1983).
  
  
• Based on the life of construction worker/welder-turned-dancer Maureen Marder.
  
  
• Irene Cara wrote the lyrics to the film's Oscar-winning theme song while riding in a car to the recording studio the day she recorded the song.
  
  
• In the early years of home video, Paramount tried an experiment in which this film was given a heavily promoted home video release while the film was still playing in some cinemas. The box office was expected to drop off to nothing as soon as the tape became available for rental. Instead, the heavy promotion caused an increase in box office receipts.
  
  
• The hit song "Maniac" was originally intended for the film Maniac (1980), but was cut out. Soon after the lyrics were toned down and used for this movie.
  
  
• Jennifer Beals' trend-setting collarless sweatshirt came about by accident. The sweatshirt, which Beals brought from home, had shrunk in the wash and she had to cut the collar off in order to get it over her head.
  
  
• Then-struggling actor Kevin Costner auditioned for the part of Nick Hurley but lost out to Michael Nouri. He was the runner-up for the part.
  
  
• Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS was offered the lead male role as Nick Hurley but turned it down in fear of hurting his "demon" image.
  
  
• Earlier drafts of the screenplay included Alex having a gay man for a best friend. Director Adrian Lyne liked this story because it was rare at that time for films to show straight women having close friendships with gay men. But the storyline was cut from the final script.
  
  
• Director Adrian Lyne decided that Alex's back story included her having been molested when she was a child. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas was horrified, saying it would "sink the entire story", and fought furiously with Lyne. The producers later sided with Eszterhas and Lyne gave up on the idea.
  
  

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