Abigail Breslin Will Star in a Dirty Dancing Musical Remake

Jennifer Sharzer is penning the script for the project

By Chris Harnick Dec 08, 2015 6:40 PMTags
Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Abigail BreslinVestron Pictures; Getty Images

Abigail Breslin is going to have the time of her life and she owes to ABC. E! News has confirmed the Scream Queens star will play Baby in ABC's Dirty Dancing TV movie musical. Jessica Sharzer of The L Word and American Horror Story fame will write the script for the TV movie.

Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze and Jerry Orbach starred in the original 1987 click. Dirty Dancing got the TV series treatment in 1988 starring Melora Hardin (pre The Office and Transparent), Patrick Cassidy and Ghostbusters director Paul Fieg. The movies got their groove on again in 2004 when the world was given Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. A remake was planned in 2011 with Kenny Ortega, the movie's original choreographer, behind the camera, but it was shelved.

Musicals and nostalgia are all the rage in holiday these days. NBC presented live productions of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan and The Wiz, while Fox is prepping for a live production of Grease and a taped remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring Laverne Cox. Meanwhile, shows based on flicks are popping up left and right with Uncle Buck on ABC, and Rush Hour on CBS just this season. CBS's TV version of Bradley Cooper's Limitless has scored a full season order.

Breslin shot to fame in Little Miss Sunshine. She received an Oscar nomination for her breakout role and went on to star in The Call, Zombieland and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.

Watch: Why Abigail Breslin's New Show Pushes the Envelope!