Kevin Bacon was almost cut from the movie, and 7 other things you probably didn’t know about Footloose.

When it comes to movies, Footloose pretty much has it all.

Show-stopping dance sequences, iconic songs, memorable characters, a classic romance, and one of cinema's most beloved finale scenes.

The original movie was released in 1984 and follows high school student Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), who moves to the small town of Bomont to live with his aunt and uncle.

Ren soon learns that the town council has banned dancing and rock music within the town, and sets out to change the rule with some help from his new friends.

The story becomes even more complicated when Ren falls for Ariel Moore, (Lori Singer) the daughter of Shaw Moore, (John Lithgow) who enforces the no dancing law and forbids Ren from seeing his daughter. 

After the film's success, it went on to become a hit musical. So, here are some facts you probably didn't know about Footloose. 

Footloose is actually based on a true story.

The story behind Footloose is loosely based on the town of Elmore City in Oklahoma. 

In an attempt to decrease young people drinking alcohol, the town had banned dancing, since it was founded in 1898.

One of the leading advocates for the dancing ban was Reverend F. R. Johnson, from the nearby town of Hennepin, who said: "No good has ever come from a dance. If you have a dance somebody will crash it and they'll be looking for only two things – women and booze."

It was due to this ban on dancing that the town never held a prom, but in 1980, the junior class of Elmore City's high school made national news when they requested permission to hold a junior prom. The request to overturn the ban was initially a tie from the school board, but then the school board president broke the tie with the words "let 'em dance."

A new production of Footloose is coming to the stage.

If you've always wanted to see the classic musical performed live, now is your chance because the show is coming to His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth this June, courtesy of WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts).

The new musical, Footloose is set to be WAAPA’s biggest production of the year, brought to life by visiting guest director, Jason Langley, musical director Craig Dalton and choreographer Jodie Bickle.

The show features a cast of 40 triple-threat performers and a live band, so it's sure to have you dancing in your seat as you watch the iconic musical be brought to life.  

Image: Supplied. 

The musical's soundtrack is packed with hits, and you'll want to see them live on stage. 

WAAPA's production of Footloose will include the Tony-nominated score of classic hits, including Holding Out for a Hero, Almost Paradise, Let’s Hear it for the Boy, and of course, the unforgettable title track, Footloose.

Footloose and Let's Hear It for the Boy both topped the Billboard Hot 100 and received the 1985 Academy Award nominations for Best Music (Original Song). 

Footloose also received a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture and the soundtrack went on to sell over 9 million copies in the USA after the film's release. 

The lead character of Ren was almost played by two very famous actors. 

When Footloose first started the casting process, Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were both in the running to play the lead role. 

It's been said that the casting directors were impressed with Tom Cruise, thanks to his infamous underwear dance sequence in the hit movie Risky Business, but he was unavailable due to film scheduling conflicts. 

Rob Lowe then auditioned three times for the part, and was nearly offered the role thanks to his dancing skills and reputation as a teen heartthrob. Unfortunately, he pulled his knee during the audition process, and the injury prevented him from taking the role. 

Mitchell France (playing Ren McCormack) and Belle Parkinson (playing Ariel Moore) in the upcoming extravaganza Footloose presented by WAAPA and ECU.

Kevin Bacon was originally deemed not sexy enough to play the lead role. 

At the same moment he was offered a screen test for the movie Footloose, Kevin Bacon was offered a leading role in the highly anticipated upcoming Stephen King movie Christine.

The Footloose producers convinced Kevin that turning down the role in Christine for a part in Footloose was the better choice because if he did land the role, it was sure to make him a star.

Thirty seconds into the screen test Kevin was offered the part, but then he had to fight to keep his role when a producer stepped in and said he wasn't sexy enough to headline a youth-oriented movie. 

It took the movie’s creative team weeks of negotiating, and new screen tests, to prove that Kevin could pull off the role.

And, it's pretty clear now that his iconic performance speaks for itself.

Behind-the-scenes, the cast were not professional dancers.

Despite the show-stopping dance sequences throughout Footloose, none of the stars in this movie were professional dancers. Sarah Jessica Parker did have some dance experience from starring on Broadway as a child and Lori Singer also had a small amount of dance experience from starring in the TV show, Fame prior to filming the movie.

In fact, in an interview with Howard Stern, Kevin Bacon infamously admitted that over the years he has actually tipped DJs at weddings to not play the song Footloose, because people expected him to perform the iconic dance perfectly and some of it was filmed using a dance double.

Footloose was not the movie's original title.

It's hard to picture it now, but Footloose's original title was Cheek to Cheek. 

The film's writer Dean Pitchford used Cheek to Cheek as a placeholder title for the film, but never thought it was quite right for the story he had penned.

In order to come up with a better title, Pitchford filled pages of paper with ideas and words that he felt best described the movie.  

On his second day of brainstorming, he wrote down "footloose and fancy-free," and then decided on "footloose." 

Pitchford said he immediately liked the word "footloose" because he felt like it was one of those interesting words that looked good on paper. He could picture it scrawled across a billboard and selling the movie. 

Madonna almost had a starring role in the movie.

Footloose was almost a very different movie, thanks to one piece of casting. 

Madonna originally auditioned for the role of Ariel, Reverend Moore's independent daughter who falls for Ren McCormack. However, she wasn't considered quite right for the part. If she had been successful, it would have been her first feature film role.

Although, something tells us things worked out all right for her in the end...

WAAPA presents the mid-year musical extravaganza, Footloose at Majesty Theatre this June. Book your tickets now. 

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.