Trivia / Save the Last Dance

• Dawson Casting: 30-year old Sean Patrick Thomas as high school senior Derek, 24-year old Kerry Washington as high school senior Chenille, and even the least extreme example, Julia Stiles, was 19 years old playing high school senior Sara.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Sara and Derek flirt in a CD shop while she's looking for hip-hop music.
  • Sara sees her dad perform at a jazz club.
  • Kenny and Chenille argue about their baby, and talk about what their relationship was like before she got pregnant.
  • Kenny and Chenille arguing in a park.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Julia Stiles did a month and a half of dance training, and would practice for up to six hours a day. During filming she continued training at the weekends. This resulted in endless callouses, blisters and bunions - which made her feet bleed.
• Money, Dear Boy: Sean Patrick Thomas took the role to pay off his student loans.
• No Stunt Double: Julia Stiles did all the hip-hop dancing herself, but she used a double for some of the ballet.
• The Other Darrin: Neither Sean Patrick Thomas nor Julia Stiles reprise their roles in Save the Last Dance 2.
• Throw It In!: The dance practice in the cafeteria was completely improvised, and the camera catches Sean Patrick Thomas whispering instructions to Julia Stiles.
• Typecasting: Although this came out first, Julia Stiles had starred in "O" - about an interracial relationship - two years previously.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original draft of the script had Sara moving from Pennsylvania to Baltimore. They changed the setting to Chicago because they felt the city had more character.
  • Filming was supposed to take place at an all-girls Catholic school in Lemont (Mt Assisi Academy). When the school refused to let them take down the religious icons, they changed locations.