Grease Director Randal Kleiser on the Sing-A-Long, the Sequel, and Rooming with George Lucas

Grease shattered a lot of records when it came out. Were you protective of those records? Do you keep an eye on films that threaten them?

No, I was just surprised it did so well. We were all treated like it was a little, small film; nobody really thought it would take off. The only movie that I thought kind of deserved to come up and take over [the record] was Dreamgirls. I loved that film and I thought it was so beautifully done that I'm surprised it didn't take off in a huge way.

When did you know that it had become a phenomenon?

It wasn't until the end of the summer, because back in those days, there was no Entertainment Tonight, no internet. The only people who knew how well we were doing was the studio execs, and when they said, "It's doing really well," I just thought they were being nice. Then at the premiere in London, there was a riot when John showed up. They were rocking the cars and a hundred policemen were trying to get into the theater, and that's when I knew we had a hit.

I've always been curious: what happened with Grease 2? Did they ever offer that to you to direct?

I was making Blue Lagoon, so I wasn't available for that. John and Olivia were not in it, so...

What did you think of the movie?

I do love that song "Cool Rider," that Michelle Pfeiffer sings in it.

The teen musical has made such a comeback in recent years. Have you seen Glee, by chance?

You know, I've been meaning to see it online -- especially the ones with Olivia Newton-John -- but I have not caught it yet, no.

You can tell that Grease was a big influence on the writers.

That's great. Well, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm trying to.

You were an actor in George Lucas's first student film back in your USC days. Do you remember anything about that experience?

We were roommates! He rented a room to me. We were all helping each other on our films -- he was a cameraman on my first film -- and his first film was on a wind-up, black-and-white Bolex. It was up in Malibu Canyon, and we shot a film about a guy who tries to escape over the Berlin border. It kind of was a theme that he later used in THX 1138, the film that got him started.

Did he give you his now-famous direction of "Faster, with more intense"?

[Laughs] Well, I was basically just running, so I don't think he had to say that.

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