musicalhell:genecurrankelly:Debbie Reynolds tells the story about how Fred Astaire encouraged her to
musicalhell:genecurrankelly:Debbie Reynolds tells the story about how Fred Astaire encouraged her to keep working hard on the dance routines for Singin’ in the Rain. (x)Okay, we need to talk about this because I haven’t heard near enough about what a freakin’ boss Debbie Reynolds was on Singin in the Rain. Because that was the first dance role she’d had EVER. She had gymnastics training so she knew how to move her body, but she hadn’t danced before, and here she was thrown right into the deep end with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor. Kelly in particular was a huge asshole to her and gave her a lot of crap because she wasn’t performing to his standards, even though she was putting on tap shoes for the first time and he was Gene Fucking Kelly. Hence the nervous breakdown under the piano and encouragement from Fred Astaire. (Kelly, to his credit, owned up to the assholeness after the fact and said he was surprised Reynolds was willing to put up with him afterwards.)And she DID IT. She didn’t give up busted her ass and danced until her feet bled (literally, she had to not be carried off the set after filming “Good Morning”) and she held her own alongside two of the best dancers in Hollywood then or ever and she smiled through what by all accounts was one of the most physically demanding movie musicals ever. She worked through her self-doubts and met the challenge and made history.Debbie Reynolds. Carrie Fisher. The badass is strong in their family. Never forget it. -- source link