10 Movie Mysteries FINALLY Explained

Much as Grease might be one of the most widely beloved movies of all time, even its biggest fans can't defend the decision to have its teenage high-schoolers be played by people who are clearly much older than that, even for the standards of American media.

The majority of the cast were in their mid-to-late twenties when Grease was being shot - around a decade older than their characters - with John Travolta being 23 years old, the late Olivia Newton-John 29, and most distractingly, Stockard Channing was 33 when she portrayed Rizzo.

While it's common practise for Hollywood to cast actors over the age of 18 to play high-schoolers in order to skirt pesky labour restrictions, going over double the character's age in the case of the 16-year-old Rizzo is a decision that's mystified fans ever since its 1978 release.

But in a new retrospective on the film, The Guardian spoke to Grease casting director Joel Thurm, who clarified that they knew they were casting older actors, and felt this was an appropriate choice given both the film's more adult undertones and slyly fantastical vibe. He said:

"People might say the cast is too old, but Grease is not a documentary; it's a fantasy. It is a non-PC fairytale that is better for the cast not being teens. The only thing that was important was that the cast all looked about the same age as each other, which they did."

That's pretty water-tight logic, honestly.