'We all danced to Michael on the dance floor,' director says of King of Pop, who died while film was being shot.
By Jocelyn Vena
Michael Jackson
Photo: GAB Archive/ Getty Images
Jon Chu has become the go-to man for all things dance. And with the DVD for "Step Up 3D" hitting the streets on Tuesday, Chu is opening up about what it was like to direct the flick. He reveals that when Michael Jackson, who had such a major influence on modern dance, died during the making of the film, Chu and the cast and crew felt they had to pay homage to the King of Pop.
"I remember particularly the House of Red Hook [scene] just because [we shot it] the day after Michael Jackson passed away and Michael had a huge impact on every single dancer," he told MTV News. "I would say literally 99.9 percent of our dancers would say Michael is the #1 influence in their life and he passed [while] we were shooting and everyone was so upset.
"Literally it shook us all, and the next day we were gonna go shoot the Battle at Red Hook. And so we got there and it was like there was an energy that was very stale and weird and nobody knew how to act," he continued. "And so we just started playing Michael, first thing in the morning for like 15 minutes. We all danced to Michael on the dance floor. It was one of those beautiful moments."
While fans relive all the fun of the film in the comfort of their living rooms, Chu reminds them to check out the extras on the DVD. "The stuff that we really shot behind-the-scenes, in a way it's a real documentary about the dancers in our movie," he said. "We tried to squeeze as much as we could in the movie, but of course there's only so much you can get in, so for the DVD, you get to see it all and you get to really know the dancers."
Wade Robson should take note. Variety reported on Friday (December 17) that the choreographer will direct the fourth installment in the franchise, with Chu on-board to executive produce the Miami-set flick. The film will shoot in 3-D next summer.
Check out everything we've got on "Step Up 3D."
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