With a get-up-and-dance soundtrack, audiences flocked to see Flashdance, the story of Alex Owens – welder by day, exotic dancer by night – who dreams of becoming a ballet star. We’ve done some fancy footwork to find secrets from the dance floor.
Braced for disaster
Before the triumph-over-adversity flick was released in 1983, Paramount thought they had a lemon on their hands. Says director came out, I literally couldn’t get anybody on the phone. It was like everybody had run for the hills. Paramount sold at least a quarter of their interest in the film in those two weeks. In other words, they saw the film and thought, ‘Well, this is gonna go down the toilet.’” Instead, it was the third-biggest box office hit of the year.
