HOLLYWOOD (October 7, 2004) Moviehole.net has published an interview with actor John Travolta dismissing any plans for him to appear in the planned Paramount Pictures “Grease 3” film.
“A Grease 3, I just don’t want to do,” stated Travolta when asked of plans to participate in the movie.
“I didn’t do two why would I do three,” he continued.
Last year the Hollywood Reporter, an industry trade publication, reported that Paramount Pictures has greenlighted the “Grease 3” follow up to the 1978 original musical movie starring Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as two teen lovers from opposite sides of the tracks.
Didi Conn, who also appeared in the original “Grease” film and its sequel “Grease 2” starring Michelle Pfeiffer, is serving as executive producer.
According to the Hollywood Reporter and CNN.com, “Grease 3” will take place in the late 1970s and focus on the original characters and introduce their young adult offspring.
One casting continuity solution for John Travolta’s decision not to participate would have Joey Travolta replacing his brother as the primary character of Danny Zuko.
Henry Winkler is another possible casting replacement for the Danny Zuko role.
Winkler, who achieved fame playing Fonzie on the series “Happy Days” opposite Ron Howard and Tom Bosley, was offered the starring role in the original “Grease” film before it eventually went to Travolta.
A separate scenario has Rikki Lee Travolta joining the cast as the son of the Fonzie-like Zuko.
The younger leading man is the only member of the family aside from John Travolta to have starred as Danny Zuko. The best selling recording artist made headlines around the world in 2003 for appearing in a stage revival to raise money for charity.
He is ranked second in world popularity behind Donny Osmond as the title character in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Australian recording artist Kyle Minogue has also been mentioned as a possible casting choice as one of the young adult offspring of the original greasers played by Travolta, Newton-John, Conn, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway and the next generation sequel greasers played by Pfeiffer, Maxwell Caulfield, and Adrian Zmed.
Zmed is another consideration to play the Zuko character in “Grease 3.” Fifteen years after his appearance in the “Grease 2” film in an unrelated role, Zmed went on to appear as Danny Zuko in the Tommy Tune stage revival of “Grease” in the late 1990s.
Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze, and Treat Williams have all also played the Danny Zuko role on stage and could be considered for the “Grease 3” film.
Zap2it.com reports that the new Paramount film will be produced by Carsey-Werner-Mandabach's newly formed feature film division along with Laurence Mark Productions.
