Tagline: Every second chance begins with a first step.
Step Up movie storyline. Everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams, but some people only get one shot. Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) is a rebel from the wrong side of Baltimore’s tracks – and the only thing that stands between him and an unfulfilled life are his dreams of one day making it out of there.
Nora (Jenna Dewan) is a privileged ballet dancer attending Baltimore’s ultra-elite Maryland School of the Arts — and the only thing standing in the way of her obviously brilliant future is finding a great dance partner for her senior showcase. When trouble with the law lands Tyler with a community service gig at Maryland School of the Arts, he arrives as an angry outsider, until his skills as a gifted street dancer draw Nora’s attention.
Now, as sparks fly between them, both on and off stage, Tyler realizes he has just one performance to prove that he can step up to a life far larger than he ever imagined. He’s a defiant rebel from the wrong side of Baltimore’s tracks. She’s a privileged dancer from an elite performing-arts school. Their worlds couldn’t be more different, but when their fates collide, the sparks between them fly, igniting an exhilarating hip-hop-fueled fairy tale about making your one shot at an improbable dream come true. Featuring an exciting cast of multitalented young newcomers, STEP UP is a gritty story of transcendence driven by music and dance.
Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) has grown up all his life on the rough streets of the city, and he knows he’s unlikely to ever make it out of there. But after a brush with the law lands Tyler with a community-service gig at the city’s Maryland School of the Arts, everything changes. That’s when he meets Nora (Jenna Dewan), the school’s prima ballerina, an alluring diva who is desperately searching for someone to replace her injured partner before the school’s all-important Senior Showcase.
Spying Tyler’s moves, Nora can’t help but notice he’s got a raw but natural gift. She decides to take a chance on Tyler, but as they begin to train, the tension between them, and their polar-opposite backgrounds, skyrockets. The only thing standing between Tyler and the void are his dreams of making it off the streets — and the only thing standing in the way of Nora’s obviously brilliant future is the Senior Showcase. Now, with everything on the line, Tyler will have just one performance to prove to Nora, and to himself, that he can step up to a life far larger than he ever imagined.
Step Up is a 2006 American romantic dance film directed by Anne Fletcher starring Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan. Set in Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the tale of the disadvantaged Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) and the privileged modern dancer Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), who find themselves paired up in a showcase that determines both of their futures. Realizing that they only have one chance, they finally work together. The film is the first installment in the Step Up series, it was followed by four sequels, Step Up 2: The Streets (2008), Step Up 3D (2010), Step Up Revolution (2012) and Step Up: All In (2014) and a web series Step Up: High Water (2017).
Step Up earned a total of $21 million in its opening weekend, ranking second in the North American box office. It earned $65.3 million in the United States and Canada by its last day in theaters on October 19, 2006. The film’s budget was $12 million.
A Fresh, Gritty Take on the Dance-Fueled Drama
On the heels of executive producing “Mr. And Mrs. Smith,” STEP UP producer Erik Feig wanted to make the kind of classic, music-driven, character-focused movie that he and his friends had found so mesmerizing while growing up. Having been inspired by such entertainments as “Saturday Night Fever,” “Fame” and “Dirty Dancing” – and moved by recent films that ventured realistically into the hip-hop world such as “8 Mile” and “Save The Last Dance” — Feig felt it was time to bring back the genre with a fresh, gritty take inspired by today’s youth issues and styles.
“This is an idea that I’d been thinking about for many years,” says Feig. “I remember that era when great music-oriented movies were not just aimed at girls but had a guy’s point of view, too, and that really interested me. There’s something so universal in the love of music, and I wanted to make a movie that would appeal to everyone, as much to men as to women.
That’s why I liked the idea of setting STEP UP around a scrappy underdog who finds an unlikely dream and gives it his all to make it happen.” It was from a true-life, pivotal moment that the character of Tyler Gage — who gets his one shot at a different future and an unlikely romance when he is forced to do community service at a performing arts school — was born.
Along with his Summit Entertainment producing partner Patrick Wachsberger, Feig began to search for a director. It was then that Feig had a stroke of luck – running into renowned choreographer, director and producer Adam Shankman at his local gym. “Erik ran up to me and actually said these words: ‘Who’s the next you?’” recalls Shankman. “Why, I wondered, have I passed on? Am I done? But I came to realize that he was asking who was going to be the next great choreographer who wanted to breakout as a director, and if I knew that person.”
It turns out that Shankman definitely did. He immediately had in mind Anne Fletcher, one of the contemporary film world’s leading choreographers who made her debut with the hit “Bring It On” and has gone of to choreograph key sequences for some two dozen film and television projects.
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Step Up (2006)
Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Mario, Drew Sidora, Rachel Griffiths, Alyson Stoner, Angelica Huesca, Josh Henderson, Deirdre Lovejoy, Carlyncia S. Peck, Jane Beard
Screenplay by: Duane Adler, Melissa Rosenberg
Cinematography by: Michael Seresin
Film Editing by: Nancy Richardson
Production Design by: Shepherd Frankel
Costume Design by: Alix Hester
Set Decoration by: Susan Kessel
Art Direction by: Laura Ballinger
Music by: Aaron Zigman
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements, brief violence, innuendo.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: August 11, 2006
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