Take The Lead
Dulaine Biopic Opens Nationwide, April 7th
"Take the Lead," the movie based on the life of acclaimed ballroom and exhibition dancer, Pierre Dulaine, opens nationwide April 7th with Antonio Banderas playing the lead role as Pierre himself.
Pierre Dulaine is certainly one of the most accomplished and eclectic dancers of our era. Whether you know him as, the many-time Open British Exhibition Champion, the star of Broadway's Grand Hotel, the Director of American Ballroom Theatre or most recently the director of the New York school dance program featured in the hit documentary Mad Hot Ballroom - these are all aspects of Pierre Dulaine. He has also been a competitor in ballroom competition and a studio owner in New York.
The movie will concentrate on the inner city school dance program and highlight the initial tensions between Dulaine and the students, but move to the uplifting conclusion as the students embrace both Dulaine's teaching and the dance itself. While the movie is based on the true experiences, certain artistic license has been taken to heighten the drama. The students in the movie are older than the actual students who enter the program (as shown in Mad Hot Ballroom). The action was moved from elementary school to high school. Also the style of dancing has been broadened to include some hip-hop, in an attempt to widen the appeal of the movie.
Most of the actors were not dancers and had to prepare heavily for the dance sequences and they all, including Banderas, had the chance to work with Dulaine as well as the movie's choreographer, JoAnn Jansen.
The producer of the movie is Diane Nabatoff and she got the idea for it while watching Pierre Dulaine being interviewed on the CBS Early Show. "I have always enjoyed mentor-oriented stories as well as dance films," says Godsick. "I felt Pierre's story took the best from both genres. If we put together the right elements, it was easy to see this project's full potential."
From there Nabatoff tracked Dulaine down and the project was in gear. Once the script was developed, Liz Friedlander came onboard as director and Antonio Banderas was cast in the lead role. Banderas was the producers' first choice for the part. "The story is urban, contemporary and international. It uses dance as a vehicle to talk about problems that are out there on the streets of America, the streets of Europe," says Banderas of the movie's appeal.
The idea that a mainstream movie would be made documenting the life of a ballroom dancer would have seemed farfetched just a couple of years ago, but such is the sudden interest in dance worldwide and children's dancing in particular, that suddenly the possibility was there.
Pierre Dulaine was given a lifetime achievement award at the Heritage Classic and Dance Beat was able to catch up with this most busy man there. Our interview with him will appear next month. This unique story should not be missed.
So go and enjoy the movie then read the story behind the movie in our exclusive interview.