This iconic scene wasn’t edited, now take a closer look and try not to gasp when you see the unexpected

An 80s movie with a $20 million budget, a gorgeous John Travolta, and a skimpily dressed Jamie Lee Curtis dancing in an aerobics class—what could go wrong?

Well, it turns out, quite a bit.

Here’s the tale of the movie that had all it needed to succeed but ultimately failed for several unexpected reasons.

Few could have foreseen Perfect’s failure when John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis were revealed as its stars in 1985. At the height of their careers, both were adored by viewers and in great demand in Hollywood.

It appeared to be a surefire hit with director James Bridges at the helm and Columbia Pictures investing a substantial $20 million. However, when the movie finally came out, it turned out to be one of the worst letdowns in Hollywood history. Only $12.9 million was made worldwide.

In addition, Perfect received nominations for three Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actress, and Worst Actor (Travolta). In addition, it received a nomination for Worst Picture at the Stinkers Bad Film Awards.

For those who may have forgotten, Perfect is about journalist Adam Lawrence, who is tasked with speaking with a prosperous businessman who may be involved in drug trafficking. His second project, however, which is an exposé on fitness clubs, introduces him to aerobics teacher Jessie Wilson (Jamie Lee Curtis), who has little affinity for journalists.

What went wrong, then? Let’s examine the errors and interesting details that contributed to this movie’s flawless failure.

Way-too-revealing gym shorts

Perfect was dubbed by some critics as one of the 1980s’ most inadvertently campy movies, full of odd decisions that made it both absurd and oddly captivating. Critics couldn’t help but notice the film’s peculiar energy, which was evident in everything from John Travolta’s very showing gym shorts to the continuous scenes of aerobics classes that resembled softcore fitness porn.

The film’s R rating was probably obtained by one well-known aerobics sequence that featured more pelvic thrusts than anyone could have imagined. Jamie Lee Curtis did not like this, but we’ll talk about that later in the piece.

The film’s “weird gay vibe,” which included a soundtrack containing Whitney Houston, Jermaine Jackson, Berlin, and Wham, was further enhanced by all the gym scenes, which included excessive close-ups of crotches and glistening bodies.

Variety’s review was unreserved, and it gave Perfect one of the most critical ratings:

“Perfect” is embarrassing and unlikely to please any audience on any level.

How Jamie Lee Curtis lost 10 pounds of muscle

If anyone remembers Perfect in the modern era, it’s Jamie Lee Curtis as the best aerobics instructor. She became an immediate sex icon by portraying the self-assured and vivacious fitness expert Jessie Wilson, enthralling audiences with her agility and enthusiasm.

“I’m an athletic person, a minor sort of closet jock,” Jamie Lee Curtis said, expressing his excitement about appearing in the film. Every time I attended an exercise class, I would picture myself instructing one. However, even though I found the topic fascinating, I was more thrilled about working with these folks.

Before filming started, she trained for months, and all of the aerobic sequences were filmed first, then the dramatic ones. Even though Curtis only ate one meal a day, he had actually lost ten pounds of muscle by the time the last workout scene was done during the credits.

To further promote the film, she even collaborated with Jermaine Jackson on a music video. What commitment!

John Travolta doesn’t regret doing it

In the mid-1980s, John Travolta was quite popular, or at least he had been a few years before. His roles in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978) made him one of the world’s biggest cinematic stars by the late 1970s. He was a box office powerhouse, a heartthrob, and a pop cultural figure.

But by the time Perfect (1985) came along, his career had begun to wane. John Travolta has no qualms about appearing in Perfect, even though it was a box office flop that momentarily halted his career.

The joys for him were getting to collaborate with director James Bridges once more and making friends with the actors.

Critics, on the other hand, weren’t so complimentary; some even said, “To be honest, the entire film feels like just a series of scenes of Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta working out.”

John Travolta took an unplanned hiatus from the big screen after Perfect, and he didn’t return until 1989 with Look Who’s Talking and The Experts. He would not appear in another movie for four years, which was one of the longest stretches of time in his acting career.

The longest shoot ever?

The production was scheduled to run for 81 days when director James Bridges started work on Perfect, which was an adaptation of Aaron Latham’s script about a Rolling Stone reporter. That timeline was promptly abandoned, and the movie took an incredible 140 days to finish.

The longer schedule didn’t exactly excite Jamie Lee Curtis, who was accustomed to the fast-paced world of low-budget filmmaking. She made the following joke in an interview with The Boston Globe in 1984:

“This production hasn’t been the fastest I’ve ever worked on.” We could have likely shot all of my previous films in the time it took to complete this one.

The fact that a virtually identical, two-story replica of the Rolling Stone offices was constructed on two soundstages at Laird International Studios in Los Angeles since it was impracticable to shoot the Rolling Stone sequences at the magazine’s headquarters in New York is another indication of how much money and time went into the movie.

However, director James Bridges justified the drawn-out procedure by stating:

“The true test will be when everything is finished, assembled, and we’re prepared to screen the film; if it turns out well, we didn’t spend too much time on it. However, there is no amount of time that can make it right. People at the box office will inform us.

We know the answer today.

The real star of the movie

One of the most surprising performances in Perfect didn’t come from a Hollywood actor — it came from Jann Wenner, the actual co-founder and editor of Rolling Stone magazine. Playing Mark Roth, Travolta’s editor in the film, Wenner brought a level of authenticity that even seasoned actors couldn’t match.

Wenner didn’t just walk onto set and get the role—he actually went through a full screen test alongside John Travolta! And when asked how realistic the film was, he didn’t hold back:

”Dead-on accurate. There are naturally some liberties taken, but Jim’s movies are all somewhat journalistic in that they look at a scene and report it accurately.”

Wenner also hoped the movie would clear up some misconceptions about Rolling Stone, saying:

”I think the film shows Rolling Stone as it really is. I think that the movie will explain Rolling Stone to a lot of people who may have misconceptions about what it is.”

Whether Perfect actually did that is up for debate — but Wenner’s performance? Surprisingly solid.

What did the Perfect title mean

What did the title Perfect mean to Jamie Lee Curtis? For her, it wasn’t about flawlessness but about personal freedom.

She explained: ”There is no such thing as being perfect, but I think that perfection is the right that people have to be whatever they want to be. That’s what’s perfect in my eyes. And the fact that people are entitled to that right is what [my character] Jessie stands up for in the movie. Defending one’s right to be whatever you want to be is what Jessie Wilson is all about.”

”Perfect” was a very commercial yuppie drama about journalism and health clubs, but the word-of-mouth about the picture is was often centered around Jamie Lee Curtis and to be: ”You`ve got to see her body!”

Sad truth about the aerobic scene

The aerobics scenes in Perfect (1985) became notorious for their suggestive nature, with Jamie Lee Curtis wearing leotards that ranged from revealing to almost transparent.

Her hip-bending, pelvis-thrusting exercises in these scenes were seen by many as pushing the boundaries, from being merely suggestive to downright lewd.

Curtis herself was candid about her disappointment with the way these scenes were handled.

”They’re supposed to be substitute love scenes,” she explained in a 1984 interview in New York. ”But in a way, the scenes are almost more pornographic than if I were naked. It’s my big disappointment (about the picture). I think the scenes are held on too long. And because the point of them is held on and drilled home so hard, I think maybe if you saw (me) making love, it might be a little softer.”

When Curtis asked for the scenes to be cut down, she was told that they already had been. This behind-the-scenes truth about the infamous aerobics sequences shows how the film’s provocative elements were more than just part of the storyline — they became a focal point, which Curtis found frustrating.

Her last ”nude” scene?

Despite her iconic role, Jamie Lee Curtis had bigger concerns than just her sex symbol status. As she candidly explained, “That’s been my biggest problem ever since I started… I never had any training as an actress.

But I was 18 and I did this little horror film (Halloween) that became a huge, huge hit.” Curtis went on to talk about how she ended up doing more horror films, and even doing nude scenes, but promised that moving forward, ”that’s going to be a negotiated item for me.”