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Have you ever experienced the reverse where you saw an actor trying to be a dancer and it was just not working?

JH: I definitely do (laughs).

KW: There’s been a few movies in the past few years that are dance movies that they hire actors and they have to either fake the dancing or fluff it or use a double.

JH: It goes both ways though where it sucks if the actor can’t dance, but the dancer can’t act.

Dancing from such a young age, when did acting come into the picture for both of you?

KW: I have footage from when I was ten in a drama class at my dance studio; it was called “The Chair,” and it was miserable. You had to sit in a chair for one minute and talk and that’s not really acting as far as a script, but it’s just getting comfortable with your body and mouth. I think through practicing stuff like that and doing musical theater as a kid, it helps.

JH: And I did home videos with my brother and sisters and made movies and just wanted to entertain. I took classes. When I lived in London for five years, I went to a performing arts school, I was studying acting and singing and dancing.

What was more challenging in preparation of Footloose: the dancing or acting aspect?

JH: For me, more challenging was the acting, because even though I’ve been doing it my whole life, I’ve always had an opportunity with my dance. It’s so normal for me now. When I started singing, I didn’t like to sing in front of people – I was nervous. But now I’ll sing in front of anybody. The same thing with acting, you just have to have the experience, so it was more challenging for me, but I loved that. I always say if I could be done with everything in my life, would I teach or would I still learn, I’d just want to keep learning the rest of my life.

KW: And there is nothing like having the pressure of a $25 million film on your shoulders, trying to look natural and comfortable. So that says a lot about our [director Craig Brewer]; he helped us in every way, shape, and form to have us perform at our best.

Did you approach Footloose as if you were doing a new story or did you go back and watch the old one?

KW: I approached it like it was a new story. We had known Footloose so well growing up seeing it probably a hundred times. You just know what it’s about. So once I booked it, there was a two-month period prior to going to Georgia to film it that I didn’t study it, I didn’t watch it at all. I didn’t even watch any Dennis Quaid movies purposely, because I didn’t want to be intimidated. So I definitely came at it like this was the first time this was ever being done. Craig Brewer’s script, he re-wrote it, it felt like our movie.

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