Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey has said “there is no replacing” the late Patrick Swayze ahead of a forthcoming sequel of the 1987 film.
The original movie starred Grey as a teenager who falls in love with her dance instructor, played by Swayze.
Swayze died aged 57 in 2009 from pancreatic cancer.
Speaking about the new film, which Grey will star in and executive produce, she told People: “All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who’s passed – you never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that. You just go for something different.”
On Dirty Dancing's enduring popularity, Grey said “its appeal was that it was very genuine and simple”.
Very little is known about the sequel, except that it will be “exactly the kind of romantic, nostalgic movie that the franchise’s fans have been waiting for”, according to Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer.
Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, the duo behind Five Feet Apart and The Curse of La LLorona, are writing the screenplay.
The original film has already spawned a series of other related projects, including a TV series, a TV movie remake, a musical and the 2004 film Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
