Courtney Cox recalled her appearance in Bruce Springsteen’s music video for “Dancing in the Dark,” describing her dance moves as “pathetic.”
The then-unknown Cox was selected for “Dancing in the Dark” by the clip’s director, Brian De Palma, before she found fame via the hit sitcom Friends.
@courteneycoxofficial 1980’s dancing… in the dark
In the clip she shared on Instagram, which features the words “Asking my mom how she danced in the 80’s” across it, the mom and actress is seen in a zipped-up hoodie and jeans with her hands in the air, attempting to dance to Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy.” As she moves for a few beats, it’s clear she’s just not feeling it. She shakes her head, unzips her sweatshirt like a record scratch to reveal a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band T-shirt, and the song switches to “Dancing in the Dark,” the biggest single from Springsteen’s best-selling album Born in the U.S.A.
“I thought I was in the wrong place,” the actress recalled during a recent appearance on the Howard Stern Show, noting that most of the other women at the audition were professional dancers. “I was like, ‘I don’t know what they’re doing but I can’t even bend my leg. This is it.’ I went into on Brian De Palma’s office. He put on the music and said, ‘Well, you dance.’ And I thought, ‘Right now? Here? In front of you? Just the two of us?'”
Referring to Springsteen as “incredible,” Cox admitted she still listens to “Dancing in the Dim.” “I enjoy that tune. I get a very little humiliated since I do experience like when I check out the movie, when I see it. I imply, God. Did you see my dance? It was pathetic,” the actress declared. “I’m not a terrible dancer, but that was horrible. I was so nervous.”
