It was announced back in December that Little Miss Sunshine and Scream Queens star Abagail Breslin would be stepping into Jennifer Grey’s shoes to play Baby in ABC’s remake of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. Debra Messing has also been added to the cast as Baby’s mom, Marjorie. I don’t think this most recent casting news will encourage anyone to tune into the special, but it did introduce us to quite the hottie.
After an “extended talent search”, Colt Prattes has been tapped to play dance instructor Johnny Castle, originally played by the late, great Patrick Swayze. From what I can gather, his only on-screen experience was an appearance in P!nk’s “Try” video. Oh, and an IMDB search revealed that he had a part on a 2011 web series called Wiener & Wiener which, and I kid you not, told the story of “A hot dog and his human roommate try[ing] to find their way through life and love in New York City.” Is a web series about a lovelorn hot dog enough to catapult an actor into an iconic role in a cult film favorite? I guess so.
Cole can’t be found readily on Google, but his Instagram feed (where he calls himself an “Intrapersonal Futurist”) has a lot of tasty eye candy. I predict many scenes in the new Dirty Dancing where Johnny has misplaced his shirt. Yowza.
Truth be told, Cole was quite a nice, steamy addition to P!ink’s video, and he has shown he has got some dance moves in his arsenal. And, I have to grudgingly admit that Abagail can probably cut the rug pretty effectively (I mean, did you see Little Miss Sunshine?) but this whole project is shaping up to be the hate watch event of the season, don’t you think? But can Cole act? That’s the million dollar question here. These musical TV events have shown that unknowns can be surprisingly great (I’m looking at you, Shanice Williams from The Wiz Live!) but I still have a bad feeling about this project.
photos credit: Instagram, Getty and Adon Magazine
Jesus, dat body.
I have to admit he’s my favorite part of Pink’s Try video so I don’t hate this.
Also, I was sure Grease! Live was going to be a flaming tire fire so clearly my radar is off completely. They might pull this off…but my money’s on him more than Abigal because again…that body.
Oh my gosh! He looks like he has a brain on his stomach. That’s all I’ve got. Oh and, ” I carried a watermelon”.
Those abs in the last photo are really creepy.
Yes!!! It looks like a brain is exploding out of his stomach.
LOL on the watermelon part. I’ve just carried one too.
Ok I can’t unsee that. But the chest looks fake.
Oh my god, me too!
I see no dance moves from the Pink video, only lots of weight lifting and two acrobatic jumps. Swayze had a feline grace born of years of classical training (his mom was a dance teacher) and you knew that what he was doing in Dirty Dancing was only a smidge of what he was capable of. This guy is too muscle bound to have that kind of subtle movement available.
In addition to his almost lifetime of dancing practice, Patrick was the total package. He was handsome, yet humble; confident, yet not conceited.
To echo others, it is impossible to fill his shoes.
Birdix and Christin: EXACTLY. This guy is no Patrick Swayze 🙄
(Not that *anyone* is, but this dude REALLY isn’t.)
Yum yum!!!! What’s the tattoo in the last picture? I volunteer to find out and report back. 😉
Weirdly, it’s not there in the instagram one. I call Photoshop.
Hmm… not sure about Abigail’s casting, but he sure fits the bill. (He can fit pretty much anywhere, as far as I’m concerned ahahahahaha)
But truth be told this casting says nothing to me. And, I love Debra, but she seems terribly miscast as Baby’s mom.
Just put Jenna Dewan-T and Channing T there. Or something. Let’s try to imagine a different casting choice.
Ideas????
Nope. Patrick had a good body, not a Herculean body. Plus he had a sensitivity about him, that looks absent in this dude. Only time will tell, but I vote nah……..some movies shouldn’t be remade, and I think this is one of them.
Hear Hear! +1
Agreed! Patrick Swayze was perfection.
What Nancy said! All of it, especially about Patrick. Your last sentence sums it all up perfectly, and I could not agree more. DD is a classic; please, for the love of god, just leave it alone.
“The Sound of Music” with Carrie Underwood comes to mind as a recent — disastrous — attempt to remake a movie that never should have been remade.
ABC isn’t good at “learning from their mistakes,” are they? (Or was that one on NBC? My point still stands!)
No. For me, those shoes can’t be filled.
I really don’t like remakes at all and now I’m going to have to go watch the original!!
Ick. For those old enough to have watched Friends on network television, he reminds of me of Adam “Crazy Eyes” Goldberg.
It looks like his bowels are coming through in the last picture. Not attractive at all.
I’m gonna give him the benefit of the doubt in terms of acting but there’s more to a man’s and especially a dancer’s attractiveness than sheer muscle prowess.
Those pictures are not doing him any favors. I was pretty disappointed at first but then I watched the video. Now, I’m like… OK. Let’s see. Anyway, nobody should ask him to fill ANY shoes. Patrick Swayze was one of a kind, so was Dirty Dancing. That movie was supposed to flop. This miracle wont happen twice 😉
Dids I had forgotten about that, that the set was allegedly so tense because they all thought the movie was going to bomb.
Lightning is *not* going to strike twice with this one, and they really need to cut their losses and drop this idea. 😒
Amen 😀
At 1st glance, I thought it was Sasha Baron Cohen. What’s up with remaking the classic’s?
I don’t find him remotely attractive.
Remaking Dirty Dancing is an incredibly stupid thing to do, I’ll be stunned if it’s anything other than a great big flop.
Nobody can fill Swayze’s shoes.
Swayze was one of a kind.
It is incredibly stupid to even attempt this, IMO — at least this soon, when most of the cast members are still alive and working. Maybe in 100 years or something, but now? No.
nope because it’s not possible
Exactly.
In that last pic he looks like Ian Watkins of Lost Prophets. So, nope, not for me.
*Colt. And omg he looks INSANE in the last photo. Like serial-killer crazy.
This man does nothing for me. Yes, great body. We get it. But there is something so off-putting about him. Patrick Swayze made me feel like I could trust him. He had such sweetness and warmth in his films. This bag of meat will never fill those shoes.
Yes, Patrick was sweet, warm and vulnerable in that film. You did want to protect him. This guy – well, I’m getting a gay vibe so he’s not “fantasy” material for me (strike one). Strike two – he’s WAAAAAY to muscular and gym-perfect. Don’t see the blue collar dancer image as much. Strike three – he does look a bit insane (those eyebrows! my God!). So, no, won’t watch except to laugh at him most likely.
bag of meat…. bwahahahaha! Agree with those who are in fear of his eyebrows.
No. No, he cannot.
To be fair to him no one can so he shouldn’t take it personal.
Just no. To everything: the remake, him, Abigail Breslin as Baby, Debra Messing as the mom. Dirty Dancing does not have the greatest story – what made the movie was the casting and the chemistry between them! Patrick “nobody puts Baby in the corner” Swayze and Jennifer “I carried a watermelon” Grey might not have liked each other very much in real life, but the on-screen chemistry was wonderful. The movie was very lucky to cast them – esp. Patrick.
Edit: Oh, and I don’t wanna bash the film. I love Dirty Dancing and watch it every single time it comes on TV. I went several times to see the movie in cinema back in the day! Sometimes even twice a day… I still think the script alone does not make a good movie.
Greenmonster
+1000
I think this is a terrible idea which will flop. However. If they are going to do it, at least ask Jennifer Grey to play Marjorie! (She’s probably too smart to get involved with this project in any way.)
NO way! No one can replace Patrick Swayze. He was very swoon worthy in the film. Sorry this is just wrong no. Bug eyed guy isn’t doing anything for me either.
I have no idea who this person is, but he is one amazing looking human being. That muscle definition! That ravishing eyebrow!
His smile is creepy, his abs terrifying. I have never seen him dance, but I cannot imagine his hips swivel with the grace of a thousand Appaloosas like Patrick Swayze’s, or his lips tremble vulnerably when made to feel less than by nasty country club types. Or that he can sing the cheesiest ballad ever written and make it the most gentle musical caress ever recorded. No thanks, Nobody puts Swayze in the corner!
No. Nobody can fill Patrick’s shoes. Won’t watch it, have no desire to see it, some things are sacred to an 80’s girl.
How dare they? That movie does not deserve the deservice of a remake. Also this guy and those abs aren’t doing it for me… it’s all too much.
Just an FYI, he is playing Stacee Jax in the current Rock of Ages show at the Venetian in Vegas.