Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were both slated to play the lead. The casting directors were impressed with Cruise because of the famous underwear dance sequence in "Risky Business", but he was unavailable for the part because he was filming "All the Right Moves". Lowe auditioned three times and had dancing ability and the "neutral teen" look that the director wanted, but injury prevented him from taking the part. Bacon had been offered the main role for the Stephen King film "Christine" at the same time that he was asked to do the screen test for "Footloose". He chose to take the gamble on the screen test. After watching his earlier film "Diner", the director persuaded the producers to go with Bacon.