Colt Prattes – Dirty Dancing

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) Talk about what your reaction was to when you found out you were cast in Dirty Dancing.

A) I was dropping my wife off at work and I got a call form casting. They said, “The director says he wants to talk to you. I don’t know if it is good or bad.” It made everything so much worse until the director called. He offered me the role and I was so excited. I said, “Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! I just need one second.” I paused the phone, put the car in park and was running around the car screaming! I was so excited. I jumped back in the car, unmuted it and said [in a deep voice], “I’d really love to. That’d be super cool.” So, it was everything! A huge part of when I started dancing was when I realized Patrick Swayze wasn’t just an actor who danced for this particular film. He had been raised as a dancer and suddenly being a real male dancer wasn’t something that was odd or scary. It was just cool. It was everything! Being a part of it at all was a dream come true, but to play Johnny…there are no words for it.

Q) What kind of training and preparation went into you portraying Johnny Castle?

A) So, one of the coolest things was that this was a style of dance that I had very, very limited interaction with and training in. One of the things the director and I had talked about was that Johnny is not necessarily your standard dance teacher. He probably didn’t go to dance school. A lot of the things he learned he probably learned just from going to an Argentine tango club or a Cuban club and just listening to music and being around those people. Just living that life. When I was in New York for rehearsals, I would just go to any kind of Latin club that had dance. Nicole [Scherzinger] and I went to a ballroom club and just watched and talked to the people after rehearsals sometimes. The way they move and the passion they have is just…If you’ve never been to an Argentine tango gathering go tonight! Google it! Find it in your area! It is one of the sexiest, sultriest most beautiful dances out there and it was just inspiring. That was a huge part of what I did because that is everything. It’s the heart and knowing where that culture came from influenced me and Johnny.

Q) What was it like working with such well-known women like Nicole Scherzinger and Abigail Breslin?

A) Those are my girls! I couldn’t have done this with any other people. They were just perfectly cast. They were the perfect support. It was everything! The whole cast from the top down you have Katey Sagal, Debra Messing, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Hyland…The amount of talent you have and then you have rising stars like J. Quinton Johnson. If you haven’t seen it, I can’t wait for you to see everybody because they all get to shine so much. Even on days when you weren’t called you were still on set just to either support everyone else or to see the scene recreated form the original. We were all huge fans of the original so we would stick around to see it saying, “I want to see Deb and Bruce do this. I want to see Nicole and Abbie do this number.” It was incredible and very…Humbling isn’t the right word because everyone was already super chill and super humble. We all just became a family that was really supportive. All those apprehensions you have about being super star struck…I’m very big into meditation and I have some Mala beads from Bali that my wife had gotten me. Debra [Messing] knew that I was very into that and spent a large portion of my day mediating. She got me a gift of these beautiful Mala beads for the wrap day at the end of the shoot. Little things like that happen all the time. Working with them became not just incredible as an artist, but as a person and learning that even when you are a superstar these people are just good people.

Q) You do the infamous finale lift. What was it like filming that?

A) Honestly, when it came time to do it I wasn’t nervous at all because I knew that…As soon as Abbie and I met I just knew it. That’s my AB. That’s my girl. We just kind of clicked and has that support that was necessary. I knew from Day one that she had it in her. We did all of these progressions to teach her how to do the lift. If you haven’t danced, you have likely never done this lift. So, if you’re like Abbie your perspective goes to being four or five feet off the ground to suddenly seven or eight feet off the ground. And you’re not holding on to anything, you’re just trusting someone to balance you on their hands seven feet in the air. I knew as soon as I earned that trust from her I knew she’d do amazing in that lift. So, I wasn’t nervous at all about that life. I was just excited. It will forever be my favorite part of filming the movie. When you see the lift, the reaction you see to it was because we had never done it in front of anybody. We had only done it in private just with the core dance team. So, that is everyone’s first time seeing it. Everyone on the set is a huge fan of the movie so they all just went crazy. I remember looking at Abbie’s face when she came down and realized what she had accomplished was amazing. I was so proud! It kind of makes you giddy. The whole last year to year and half has been surreal. I hope that never goes away because it is the best thing. I don’t anticipate it ever going away.

Q) What scene are you most looking forward to fans getting to see?

A) Honestly, that one. That was such a special moment that to be a part of that…The whole “Time of My Life” was filmed in one day. It was a very long day, but it was an amazing day. The energy in that room was just so palpable that it was something I was really proud to be a part of because that’s the culmination of everything. Everybody is there and the stories are wrapping up. I have a big smile on my face right now thinking about it. It was just the best day. Some of the extras I talked to would just be hanging out with me between takes. They would tell me stories about Patrick Swayze because they were in the original Dirty Dancing as extras. That blew my mind and just connects you so much to this. It kind of gives you a sense of perspective and scope that if you can’t you can’t be anymore grateful to be there all of a sudden they tell you that and you think, “Oh my gosh! This is amazing!”

Q) Is there one story they shared about Patrick Swayze that you really stood out to you?

A) We filmed right outside of Ashville, NC and in historic downtown Hendersonville was where you spent some of your down time. There was a music shop that I went into to buy a guitar while I was there. As I was in there, the man behind the counter said, “You’re not from around her, are you?” You’re with the movie.” I said, “Yes, sir.” He said, “You play Johnny, don’t you?” I said, “Yes, sir.” He said, “I was a part of the band they hired back in the 80’s while they were filming this to go out to the hotel where they had the cast put up. They would have us come out there on certain nights and just play music. Patrick would get up and sing with us and talk.” It was just so cool! The stories I heard from people who worked with him on the film and extras and everyone in the town remembered Patrick Swayze everyone had a common thread that he was the most generous, kind, open hearted person. It made me feel so thankful. I don’t mean to be a broken record, but it makes you want to work even harder. It makes you want to be sure you are doing everything you can and maybe even a little bit more to do justice. Put your whole heart into it because he did and these people remember that. You are not doing it for the memory. You are doing it because that’s what was so special about Patrick Swayze. As a lifelong fan of Patrick Swayze – I mean Roadhouse, Point Break, Dirty Dancing, Ghost…I grew up watching all of those. I was so inspired by him and to know he was also that kind of person is what made this so special. It was so cool and such a great feeling.

Q) What did you take away, personally, from working on the movie?

A) I think it is kind of an intangible thing, honestly. I am going to try to put it into words, but there was heart. There was an amount of heart that was put into this that hasn’t put into any other project I have been in. And it’s not for lack of trying. Being a part of the music video “Try” with Pink…There were was so many people on this and everybody was a fan. Everybody wanted it to be so special. That feeling you get when you watch Dirty Dancing and that feeling you get when you get to the end of it…I just describe it as your heart is full. You don’t want for anything else. It gets you in all the right ways. I’m just really thankful to have been a part of that and that the people in charge took a chance on someone who is a relative unknown and let me put my heart in it.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about this version of Dirty Dancing?

A) If there was anything else, I would say how incredibly wildly talented this cast is. It is them singing these songs. We would sit at the trailers and everybody pretty much played musical instruments and sang and danced. The level of talent was just amazing! It was just the coolest place to work, especially with the first film I’ve done. On this level of magnitude to be there with such cool and creative people pushed me to want nothing more than to keep creating in that same way. It was awesome!