My shooting script is the final version written by the screenwriters and delivered to me just before production began. There are dialogue changes, rewrites, and spur-of-the-moment revisions that occurred during filming that are not all reflected here. But that’s the way movies are made, so apologies if some of your favorite lines are not included!

“Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing”

The Song

We wanted the audience to get the idea of a fifties-style summer fantasy right away, so over the montage of Sandy and Danny frolicking on the beach we played the classic romantic song “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” from the 1955 film of the same name. Written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster, this Oscar-winning song is over-the-top, but it set the tone and swept the audience right into Grease.

The Scene

In the shooting script, there is a sequence that was not filmed. Sandy Olsson lies on a beach towel on a beach, listening to “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” on the radio. She looks at her watch—she’s clearly waiting for someone, and he’s late. The scene changes to a hamburger stand, where Danny Zuko is wrapping up his day’s work as a short-order cook, with the same song playing on the radio. Then we see Sandy, her eyes filling with tears as she fears her relationship with Danny has ended.

In both the script and the movie, they meet one last time on that final day of the summer. In the shooting script, the romantic dialogue gets broken up by some jokes. For the movie, we cut a lot of the dialogue (and the jokes) to focus on shots of the two enjoying themselves. Then Sandy asks, “Danny, is this the end?” and he replies, “Of course not. It’s only the beginning.” The mood is jolted by the radio blasting in the animated title sequence.

My very rough storyboard sketches on the script show the simple shots of Danny and Sandy.

An adjustment we made: In the shooting script Danny has a picture of James Dean in his room. Instead, we had Danny wear a jacket just like the one the ultra-cool James Dean wore in Rebel Without a Cause.

The Location

We considered several locations for the beach scenes, including Marion Davies’s beach house in Santa Monica, which would have stood in for a club where Danny had a summer job. After looking around at other options, we decided on shooting at Leo Carrillo State Park near Malibu. This is the ultimate Southern California beach, with rock formations, caves, white sand, and several intimate coves. Dozens of films have been shot there, including Journey to the Center of the Earth, Beach Blanket Bingo, Attack of the Crab Monsters, and, years after us, The Usual Suspects and Inception.

The Shot

This opening sequence was shot in one day with John and Olivia improvising the action. Olivia has said that it was a good way for them to get to know each other, and their clowning around suited their characters well. We arranged for Danny and Sandy to sit on a rock to watch the sunset. We set up the cameras and waited, not realizing that the tide was coming in. The right moment came and we began rolling when, suddenly, a huge wave smashed into them. Their surprised reaction was totally real.

Although Olivia laughed off getting hit by the huge wave, John was very protective of her and worried about her safety, as you can see in this picture.