Chace Crawford talks about being “Footloose”

You gotta figure that John Travolta regrets turning down both American Gigalo and An Officer and a Gentleman early in his career. Richard Gere did both and became – and remains – a superstar. And who knows what kind of career Burt Reynolds would have had in the 80s if he had decided to do the Jack Nicholson role in 1983’s Terms of Endearment – a role that won Nicholson hos second Oscar. Instead, Reynolds decided to do the awful Stroker Ace and his movie career never really recovered.

Only time will tell if Zac Efron will live to regret giving up the lead in the upcoming remake of Footloose which has the pedigree of Kenny Oretga (High School Musical franchise) as director and Craig Zaden and Neil Meron (Hairspray, Chicago) as producers.

But Zac’s decision is a real boost for his replacement, the handsome star of TV’s Gossip Girl Chace Crawford. While we know Zac can sing and dance, we will have to wait to see how Chace fares in those areas. He talked to Entertainment Weekly all about it:

“I know Zac and we’re actually friends,” he says. “He’s gotta make the best choice for his career at this point and I have to make the best for mine and luckily it worked out for both of us.”

Crawford won the part after a brutal audition, including dancing and singing, for Zadan and Meron and Ortega. “It was, like, five hours of the most rigorous tests ever,” says Crawford. “I walked out very confident.”

Says Zadan: “At the end of it, we all sort of looked at each other and said, ‘He’s the guy!’”