Flashdance/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Dawson Casting: Alex is 18 years old, but played by then-20-year-old Jennifer Beals. Not as extreme as most examples, but still there.
  • Throw It In: The sweatshirt Jennifer Beals wanted to wear shrank in the wash, so she had to cut out the collar in order to put it on, even though it would keep slipping off her shoulder. This ended up creating a fashion craze for off-the-shoulder sweatshirts and T-shirts through the mid-80s, and which unexpectedly came back into fashion beginning around 2009.
  • What Could Have Been: The director's chair was originally offered to Brian DePalma. DePalma accepted, but a few weeks into pre-production, he left the film to direct Scarface and was replaced by Adrian Lyne.
    • The role of Nick was offered to Gene Simmons, who declined it rather than compromise his onstage persona. (The post-1996 Gene would probably rethink it.)
    • Kevin Costner was the runner-up for the role of Nick.
    • Janice Dickinson, Andie Mac Dowell, Demi Moore, Leslie Wing, and Melanie Griffith were considered for the role of Alex.
    • One for the soundtrack, "Maniac" was originally a song made in tribute of the horror film Maniac before being reworked for this film.