"You just go for something different," Grey said on the production of a sequel to the hit film that broke her career, Dirty Dancing. However, the cast listing is missing one crucial role: Johnny Castle, played by the late Patrick Swayze. It's been 33 years since she took on the role as Baby Houseman, and the iconic "No one puts Baby in a corner" became a household phrase from there on out. However, Grey, now 60, is keeping details of the sequel close to her chest, but has disclosed one major point.
There will be no attempt at recreating the romance her character had with Swayze's Johnny. "All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who’s passed—you never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that," she told PEOPLE. "You just go for something different." Swayze passed away in 2009 from a battle with pancreatic cancer, and the lifelong friendships he'd formed while shooting Dirty Dancing were hit hard.
Grey reflected on the mass appeal that Dirty Dancing gained following its release, and she credits the fandom to the film's simplicity and ingenuity. "It was about innocence and the way that innocence is lost and how people explode into a different iteration of themselves," she said. The way her character comes out of her shell while falling for the "bad boy" dance instructor is something that most adolescent girls longed for, and if they were lucky, experienced because, by the end of the film, Baby is no longer in that corner. She's not a girl, she's a fully realized version of herself, which trumps even the romance.