Carol Kane Struggled Over Her Ballet Dancing For Scrooged

“Sometimes the truth is painful.” That is was The Ghost of Christmas of Present tells Frank after she dances, kicks him in the ding dong, slaps him across the face, and yanks his bottom lip. She then shows him the painful truth of how his scrooge-like behavior has negatively impacted everyone around him. J Michael Riva’s assessment of Carol Kane’s dance could have been a painful truth for the “Hester Street” actress, but his response was anything but hurtful. Kane explained to Vulture:

“Michael, God bless him, went to Dick Donner [the late director], God bless him, and said, ‘I think we should just use it the way it is and not have a double, and not have it be pretty. Just show her character trying, because her character can’t do this dance.’ So that’s what happened, and that’s what’s in the film. I think Michael and Dick were so courageous and creative to do the dance scene the way we did. My dance was such a mess, but it was the best I could do, and it was the best the character could do.”

Riva’s idea not only served Kane, who yearned to have at least a bit of her performance in the movie, but it also served the entire film well. I’m not sure if the ballet scene was originally written to be comical, but I would guess that it wasn’t since a professional ballerina was hired to do the dance. Letting Kane carry the performance solo provided us with natural, authentic comedy — and for the crew, unintentional comedy, which is always my favorite kind. Considering that “Scrooged” is one of those rare somber holiday movies, Kane’s clumsy ballet dance helped brighten the mood just a little.