Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey has revealed Patrick Swayze was hiding awful pain during filming of the famous lake-lift scene.
Swayze had turned down dance roles because of a knee problem. It was so bad, it threatened to end his Broadway career altogether.
It caused problems during the iconic lift, Grey told UK tabloid The Mirror, as well as the scene where the pair dance on a log.
The lake's cold was particularly memorable for Grey.
"I remember swimming in the lake was very, very, very cold. You have to be really young and hungry to get in water that cold for that long. It was not good.
"I remember thinking: 'Can you die if your nipples explode?' It just didn't feel healthy to be in that water."
Swayze also had vivid memories of the lake.
"It was horrifyingly, hypothermically cold in that lake, and we filmed that scene over and over," he wrote in his autobiography.
"And despite the fact that Jennifer was very light, when you're lifting someone in water, even the skinniest little girl can feel like 500 pounds."
Swayze also used his autobiography, released in 2009 after his death to pancreatic cancer, to vent about Grey.
He said she was "truly phenomenal" and "in many ways, she made the movie" - but he also found her difficult to work with.
"We did have a few moments of friction when we were tired or after a long day of shooting. She seemed particularly emotional, sometimes bursting into tears if someone criticised her. Other times, she slipped into silly moods, forcing us to do scenes over and over again when she'd start laughing."
But Grey says the pair had chemistry.
She was certain Billy Zane (Hugie in Dead Calm and Caledon Hockley in Titanic) would get the role - but her connection with Swayze won out.
"Billy was one of my partners, and I thought he was going to get it because he was very like Marlon Brando and his dancing was pretty good.
"But then I remember Patrick and I dancing together, and all of a sudden it was very easy."
After the film was released, Grey spoke of how she went from being "celebrated as the next big thing" to "deep sorrow".
While in Ireland, her boyfriend at the time, Mathew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Out) was convicted of careless driving in an incident that killed a mother and her daughter. He had crossed the centre line, hitting into their car head-on.
Grey took a break from acting.
"The juxtaposition of that deep sorrow, the survivor's guilt, and then being celebrated as the new big thing just didn't jibe. It didn't feel good to be the toast of the town", she said in 2010.
Grey is currently promoting a DVD and Blu-ray re-release of the classic film for its 30th anniversary.
Newshub.
