‘Xanadu’ Star Michael Beck on His Cult Classic’s 45th Anniversary and Olivia Newton-John Memories (Exclusive)
On August 8, 1980,Xanadu hit theaters. A roller-disco musical fantasy about creativity and dreams, the film starred Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly and Michael Beck, who starred as Sonny Malone, a down-on-his-luck illustrator who rediscovers his inspiration after meeting Olivia’s mysterious Kira, a.k.a. the ancient muse Terpsichore.
The film flopped at the box office (though the Jeff Lynne -produced soundtrack certainly did not; it went double-platinum in the US and gold in the UK, plus five top 20 singles), But 45 years later, the film is a cult classic, and to celebrate that big anniversary — as well as honor the death of Olivia Newton-John, who passed away in 2022 on the Xanadu‘s premiere date of August 8 — cast and crew members convened for a weekend in Los Angeles that included a screening of the film, along with a panel discussion, a meet and greets with film’s cast and crew, including Beck, Patricia Ward Kelly (Wife of Gene Kelly), many of the film’s Muses, and costume designer Bobbie Mannix. The celebration also included a tribute concert and a Xanadu picnic at the Pan Pacific Park, where the original Xanadu building stood.
Credit: Mike Pingel
ReMIND Magazine sat down with Xanadu leading man Michael Beck to reflect on the film’s enduring legacy, his memories of Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, and the keepsake he held onto from the set. Welcome to Xanadu — where roller disco dreams never die.
What do you think about the 45 years of Xanadu Fandom?
Michael: I go to a lot of Comic Con type conventions, and I sit at a table like this, and people come up and I like to get their stories. There are so many people who love this movie. You would be surprised at the number of people who have shared with me that whatever their current profession is, an artist of some sort or a professor. It doesn’t matter what it is, but they got the message from this film to follow their dreams, and they became what it was that they had always wanted to. That’s a pretty cool thing for people to say that a movie influenced them in a way to go ahead and have the life that they wanted to have.
Do you have a favorite memory of Olivia Newton-John?
Every minute spent with Olivia was great. I love it when people ask, ‘What was Olivia like?’ She was like who you hoped she would be. Not only was she beautiful and amazingly talented. She was down to Earth. She was generous. She was funny. She was kind. She was the real deal. Sitting and talking to Olivia, was just like talking to a friend. She was great. There were no airs about her. She was a cool lady.
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
How about working with Gene Kelly?
Gene Kelly, I was a little nervous about. I grew up loving Singing in the Rain and other Gene Kelly movies, he was a huge old school Hollywood star. So, I remember sitting in a director’s chair and we’re down in Malibu, sitting on the beach. And I just had to – I didn’t physically do it – but I almost had to pinch myself and go, ‘This is Gene Kelly!’ Sitting and casually talking to him was great. He was a real gent. I lived in New York while making this movie and we broke for Thanksgiving and Gene said, ‘Well, I know you don’t live here, and you live back East, but if you don’t have anything to do, come spend Thanksgiving with my family.’ It was really cool.
Any skate mishaps?
No skating mishaps.
What’s your favorite scene you filmed?
I think my favorite scene is when Sonny is skating and goes through the wall. Because it was kind of an intense kind of scene. So yeah, I enjoyed that.
When Sonny breaks though that wall, how was it filming some of the new wave lighting effects in that “getting Kira back” scene?
All that was put in after. There was nothing there, so I had to imagine that it was there. But I like the way it looked on film. I thought it was pretty cool.
Did you keep anything from the set?
The only memorabilia I have are the roller skates that I skated in.
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
Was there anything hard to film in Xanadu?
I think the most difficult thing about that movie was that it was being rewritten constantly as we made it. We were getting reams of revisions almost on a daily basis. So that made it hard because things we filmed two weeks ago just didn’t jive. That was difficult to try to piece it together, characterizing it in your head. So that was hard.
Did the original concept of Xanadu change due to all the re-writes?
Yeah, a lot of things changed over time. I think originally there were two or three roller skating disco kind of movies that studios wanted to exploit, and Xanadu was initially a small movie that attached Bobby Greenwald, the director, and then it grew into something else. It grew into a movie that had Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. It was no longer this original script. Which wasn’t a bad script, but it was not the musical fantasy that it turned into.
Were you a dancer at the time?
No, a bad dancer, but I could roller skate. I was an ok mover, but I had never done any kind of formal dancing.
How about singing?
Fortunately, I didn’t sing, but I can carry a tune.
Why didn’t they have Sonny sing?
Because they had Cliff Richard and he was an old buddy of Olivia. So, there we go.
Weirdest thing you’ve ever signed for a fan?
I signed a guy’s chest and then he came back to another convention, and he had a whole tattoo with my name under it. That was bizarre.
Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection.
Your films are still loved by fans – How does that feel?
I was just thrilled as a young actor to be working. But now I look back in retrospect and I am blessed with two films that are cult classic movies, The Warriors and Xanadu, which is just crazy. I just feel very blessed by that because I’ve met so many people over the last 30 years, especially going to conventions and I get to hear their stories, and I love to hear people’s stories. 15-year-olds are now coming up to meet me who love The Warriors, and I’ll ask, who turned you on to this movie? They say – my grandfather – it used to be my dad, or my older brother, but now it’s my grandfather. That’s cool.
Michael Beck will next be appearing at the Hollywood Show on September 5-6 in Burbank.
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Oh What A Year: 1980
January 2020
Take a look back at our retrospect of the year 1980 where we celebrate the hottest in movies, music and TV.
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