SYDNEY—Forget the leg warmers and leotards, the 1980 classic film Fame has been reinvented for a new generation.
Fame, 2009-style, takes a couple of the iconic songs and the concept of a group of young dancers, singers, actors, and artists attending the New York City High School of Performing Arts, and presents a completely new story.
Director Kevin Tancharoen said he doesn't consider the new Fame a remake, more a reinvention for the YouTube and reality television era.
"We really just wanted to make our own version," Tancharoen told AAP during a recent promotional trip to Australia.
"I had to walk in knowing you'll never top the original, so you really have to look at them as two separate movies."
Tancharoen comes from a choreography background, and has worked with Britney Spears, the Pussycat Dolls and 'N Sync on video clips and tours.
He said he thought the time was right for a new Fame movie, considering the recent success of films like the High School Musical series and dance flicks like Step Up.
"There's a definite appetite for it," Tancharoen said.
"I think it was time to bring a grittier, more hybrid version of the film back into today's culture.
"All the kids who grew up watching High School Musical are older now, so you want to give them something a little bit more authentic and realistic and grounded, with more drama, and show the hardships that really come with the performing arts life."
The film introduces a new cast of rising stars, including 19-year-old Kay Panabaker, who plays budding actress Jenny.
Panabaker got her big break playing alongside Aussie actor Anthony LaPaglia in Dead Heat, before working with a young Zac Efron on the TV series Summerland.
Efron played her boyfriend on the US drama, and the two have stayed in touch.
"I worked with him before High School Musical fame, ... and he's remained very humble and very genuine as a person," she said.
"He called me when he found out I got Fame and was like, `That's huge, congratulations. Have fun. High School Musical was great for me, I hope this is great for you.' He's really sweet."
Panabaker said she loves acting, but she has also done a history degree at university in case showbusiness doesn't work out.
Fame, she said, was never her goal.
"It's always a nice perk, but it's kind of the difference of why people get into acting," she said.
"Some get into it to become famous, and some do it for the love of the art, and that's really why I'm doing it."
Panabaker said one of the messages of the film is that hard work and talent are the best roads to success.
"You have these celebrities that are known for doing nothing, or for sex tapes or whatever, but they really don't have a talent," she said.
"Our movie kind of shows that hard work and passion is the better route to success - you feel more validated as a person and it also often has more longevity.
"But it also shows that success is not always promised, regardless of whether you have a passion and put in the hard work in. Sometimes it still isn't enough."
Fame opens nationally on September 24.
