Jennifer Grey reveals how she plans to approach the 'Dirty Dancing' reboot: 'I'm really committed to getting it right'

Jennifer Grey has had starring roles in some of pop culture’s most iconic films, from being Ferris Bueller’s disapproving sister to sweeping us off our feet as Johnny Castle’s Baby. The actress now looks back on some of the most quintessential moments from those movies and spills the tea on some secrets from the set. Just how upset was Patrick Swayze when she couldn’t stop laughing? And what unforgettable scene in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was totally improvised? Today Grey is also standing behind a cause and wants everyone to go out and get their flu shot this fall. With experts predicting a worse-than-normal flu season, she’s urging people to protect themselves and their loved ones by scheduling a flu shot right away.

Video Transcript

- Why are you here?

- Drugs.

- I don't know why I'm here.

- Why don't you go home?

- Why don't you put your thumb up your butt.

ETHAN ALTER: Ferris Bueller just turned 35 this year, and one of your most famous scenes in the movie is the scene with Charlie Sheen at the end, which I think everyone really loves that scene. Well, what would you have any funny memories of shooting that scene with Charlie?

JENNIFER GREY: Oh I loved shooting that scene so much. I recommended Charlie for that part because I had done "Red Dawn" with him. John didn't know him. He only knew Emilio, because he did "The Breakfast Club." And I said, oh his younger brother is-- I just did "Red Dawn" with him, he's so great, he's so weird and funny, you would love him. So they brought him in, and they gave him the part, and then when we shot it, it was really hard to keep a straight face. And then I'm singing "Danke Schoen" and we're going down the steps. That was all improvisational.

- (SINGING) Danke Schoen, darlin', Danke Schoen.

ETHAN ALTER: In your mind do a Jeanie and the Charlie Sheen character end up together? Do they get a happily ever after?

JENNIFER GREY: I don't think Jeanine ends up with anyone for a really long time. I think that he just showed her that she's more than she had thought of herself.

ETHAN ALTER: I like that, that's good. "Danke Schoen" is also part of the iconic parade sequence. Were you on set for any of that? Did you get to watch any of that being filmed?

JENNIFER GREY: Oh, so when we were shooting that scene I had a lot of days off, and I don't-- I'm not good with a lot of days off I like to be in the middle of the action. I was like, what do I do? I don't even live in Chicago. I'm just here. I'm alone. So I decided to-- because I knew it was a huge crowd scene, I went out and I dressed myself up in this weirdo outfit, and I put my hair in a beehive, and disguised myself and went on the set as this autograph hound. And I had this like crazy hair and crazy makeup and glasses, and they had security following me, and so my goal was to get on camera as this other person, just because I was-- don't give me too much time to myself.

ETHAN ALTER: I love it. That's great. That's such a Jeanie thing to do, too. That's perfect.

JENNIFER GREY: That's where Jeannie and I mix, you know. We intersect.

- Um, I'll see you, OK?

ETHAN ALTER: You did get a chance to get your dance on in "Dirty Dancing," obviously, which celebrates its 35th anniversary next year. One of the rumors is that Billy Zane was originally going to be the Patrick Swayze role, and that wound up not working out. What's the story behind that? His original casting?

JENNIFER GREY: Billy's lovely person, lovely actor, fine dancer. Just there is just-- it had that thing where Patrick walked in and I was like, oh, yeah. I guess we're done here.

- Look, spaghetti arms. This is my dance space, this is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine. You've got to hold the frame.

JENNIFER GREY: But I will tell you that I love him, loved him, miss him, and feel very, very, very sad that he's not here with us now. That just kills me. We all think we have forever, you know? And we just don't know.

ETHAN ALTER: You can followed everywhere, I'm sure, ever since then by the line, "Nobody puts baby in a corner." It's in your book, the title of your book. What was that moment like when you shot it? Did you know it was going to have that lasting impact?

JENNIFER GREY: No, Patrick didn't want to say it. It's been talked about for many years that he just did not want to say it. And I didn't blame him. There are certain things that feel bad when you're doing them that you have no idea how they'll resonate in the world, and just it means so many things to so many people now. There's so many ways that we put ourselves in the corner. Or we think other people are putting us in the corner. And unless we collude with that and agree with them, that we belong in the corner, then they really can't. They don't have that kind of power. But you have to understand that as long-- you have to be able to recognize that you don't belong there.

- Nobody puts baby in a corner. Come on.

ETHAN ALTER: There's also a scene in one of the montages I've always wondered about where he sort of putting his fingers down your arm and you start laughing. Was that an improv? Or was that is that where you broke character, or was that scripted that you laugh in that moment?

JENNIFER GREY: I was ticklish. What do you mean? And then once it started, then I got anxious that he was going to be mad at me for laughing that I then really couldn't stop.

ETHAN ALTER: So that annoyance on his face is real there. That's his action.

JENNIFER GREY: Yeah. Because he didn't understand, why. He was like, this is sexy scene. And I'm like OK, it stop being so-- I can't help with it. I'm ticklish. What are you supposed to do? Now you're freaking me out, now I have to keep laughing because I'm not trying to annoy you, but now I'm scared. I'm like I'm scared that you're mad at me now. I can't stop.

ETHAN ALTER: Now I understand it was announced last year I believe that you're overseeing another "Dirty Dancing." That you're starring and executive producing and can you share any details on the status of that? What are some of your ideas and hopes for that?

JENNIFER GREY: I'm really committed to getting it right, and to doing right by the fans. I just feel an enormous responsibility to the place it holds in people's hearts and what made it so special. And to do it without Patrick is just unthinkable. It has to have something fresh, and it has to be about real stuff, which is what the original movie was. It was fun, but it was a really about identity and class and feeling that the world's not made for you.

ETHAN ALTER: Flu Shot Fridays. How did you get involved in this program? What was sort of the origins of it?

JENNIFER GREY: This particular flu season, experts are predicting a particularly brutal flu season because of everyone having been isolated last year and hand-washing and masking, and because so few people got the flu last year because we were basically hermits, it actually has made us have less immunity this year. The idea that you can get a flu shot and make it like a point of telling your friends, telling your family. Like I love their campaign, Flu Shot Friday, and their website that has all the resources you need, and go to your health care provider and figure out if it's right for you.

ETHAN ALTER: The campaign is slogan Jennifer Grey's day off, and obviously that hearkens back to Ferris Bueller. Was that part of the appeal too? Did you like that idea of using your iconography that way?

- Life moves pretty fast.

JENNIFER GREY: You know, if you don't get a flu shot, you can miss it.