Grease 3 rumors (didn't happen)
Olivia Newton-John is set to play Kylie Minogue's mum, alongside John Travolta in Grease 3! The movie caps a great few years for the star, in which she's beaten cancer, conquered America and watched her daughter follow in her footsteps
Olivia Newton-John’s transformation from prim and proper Sandy to sexy, Lycra-wearing babe in Grease made her a Hollywood legend.
And now, 25 years on from the original movie, there’s talk of the high school gang teaming up once more for Grease 3.
Grease 2 was made in 1982, with only one original cast member, Didi Conn (aka Frenchy), and although it helped to launch Michelle Pfeiffer’s career, it was a commercial flop. But, thanks to last September’s DVD launch of the first film, as well as the enduring success of the stage musical, Grease is the word once more and Olivia’s keen to be part of the revival under the care of Tinseltown bigwig Sherry Lansing.
The Grease DVD launch in the US was a very big event - “I flew my whole band in,” recalls Olivia. “John (Travolta) and I sang together for the first time since 1980-it was great.”
The word is that Olivia, Travolta, West Wing star Stockard Channing (aka Rizzo) and other T-Birds and Pink Ladies have signed up for the sequel, which will take the form of a reunion at Rydell High, 20 years on.
“We’ll come back as parents”, continues Olivia. “I had tea with John the other day and he is interested. Grease 2 didn’t work because they didn’t use us.”
"I'm having the most fun I've ever had"
Olivia is a mum herself, to 16-year-old daughter Chloe, who’s acted with her before and now has a record contract. Olivia likes the idea of the two of them co-starring in Grease 3. “Yeah, that would be great,” she says, smiling. However, it seems that Kylie Minogue has been signed up to play the teenage lead, despite being 34.
Well, it worked before - Olivia was 30 herself when she played high-school heroine Sandy in 1978.
Grease 3 will be the icing on the cake for Olivia. She’s finished her new album and recently completed a hectic month on the road, touring the US. Her final shows in Las Vegas drew fans from all over the world.
I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had performing, I used to be so nervous I couldn’t enjoy myself, but now I love it”, she admits.
“Cliff Richard convinced me to go back on the road-I thought I was retired! I wasn’t really interested in touring but Cliff asked me to come to Australia and do a few songs with him. It was great fun and gave me more confidence.”
Born in Cambridge, England, Olivia moved to Australia with her German mother and Welsh father when she was five. Her initial success in England in the early 1970s was largely to do with her resident spot on Cliff Richard’s highly successful TV show. She was at one time engaged to Bruce Welch, a member of Cliff’s band The Shadows.
She represented Britain in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, coming fourth, behind Abba’s winning entry Waterloo, then left these shores for America, where she scored a string of gold albums before being chosen for the role of Sandy in Grease.
In 1980, Olivia and dancing legend Gene Kelly made the musical Xanadu, which spawned a hit soundtrack but bombed at the box-office. On the set of the movie, she met dancer and actor Matt Lattanzi, whom she wed in 1984. Their daughter Chice was born in 1986, but the couple divorced in 1995.
Chloe has been accompanying Olivia on the road. “I always make sure we spend a lot of time together,” says Olivia. ‘She’s a very bright young woman with strong ideas of what she wants to do.”
Olivia’s boyfriend of six years is Patrick McDermott, 46, a director of photography. “When I met Patrick it wasn’t a conscious thing to go out with a younger man. In fact, I thought: “Oh no, I don’t think I want to do this”. But he’s quite mature and I guess I’m still a little immature for my age, so it’s a perfect match.”
Olivia’s marriage to Matt Lattanzi ended after a tough period for the family - Olivia discovered she had breast concer in 1992. Now, as a very public survivor of the condition, she is devoted to raising awareness of it She’s currently involved in the opening of a cancer centre in the Austin Hospital in Melboume that will be named in her honour.
She says: “After what I went through with breast cancer, I wanted to build a cancer house for women, a quiet place where they could go to for healing throug meditation and massage. It’s really a dream come true for me.”
Despite her advancing years, Olivia feels like she’s in her prime. “There’s a freedom in your fifties you don’t even feel in your forties. It’s comfortable, a great time in my life.”
Olivia doesn’t plan to follow other actresses who seek plastic surgery in later years. “I’d like to age as gracefully as possible without the whole face-lift thing,” she reveals. “But that’s not to say in five years’ time I won’t be going: “Oh my God! Plastic surgery!””
When she was making Grease Olivia fretted about fitting into the black Lycra outfit at the end of the film. “I didn’t think I could pull it of” she says. “Now I’m over 50 I think “What was I worried about?”
By Katherine Tulich