Grease casting director responds to criticism over actors’ ages: ‘It’s a non-PC fairytale’

Movie musical has been criticised in recent years for its gender dynamics

The casting director of Grease has described the 1978 film musical as a “non-PC fairytale”.

Grease, which starred John Travolta and the late Olivia Newton-John as two high school students who fall in love, has faced criticism in recent years for its problematic elements.

In a new oral history of the film for The Guardian, casting director Joel Thurm also rejected one of the common criticisms of the film’s casting – that most of the actors look too old to accurately portray high school students.

“People might say the cast is too old, but Grease is not a documentary; it’s a fantasy,” he claimed. “It is a non-PC fairytale that is better for the cast not being teens.

“The only thing that was important was that the cast all looked about the same age as each other, which they did,” he added.

In 2021, Newton-John hit back at accusations that the film is “sexist”.

“I think it’s kind of silly. I mean, this movie was made in the 1970s about the 1950s,” the actor and singer commented.

“It was a stage play, it’s a musical, it’s fun. It’s a fun movie musical not to be taken so seriously,” she continued, adding that critics “need to relax a little bit and just enjoy things for what they are”.

Much of the criticism has focused on the film’s ending, in which Newton-John’s character, Sandy, radically transforms her image to appeal to Danny (Travolta).

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in ‘Grease' (Paramount)

“It’s a movie,” Newton-John remarked back in 2020. “It’s a story from the Fifties where things were different. Everyone forgets that, at the end, he changes for her, too. There’s nothing deep in there about the #MeToo movement.”

Earlier this year, Travolta spoofed one of Grease’s best-known songs in a Super Bowl advert.

He also paid tribute to Newton-John at the 2023 Academy Awards, becoming choked up as he introduced the In Memorium section.