Take the Lead (2006) on Netflix
Rock is denied entry to a school dance and vandalizes Principal Augustine James's car. Ballroom instructor Pierre Dulaine asks to run the detention class and teach the students to dance.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.6/1027,668 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes44%
Trailer
Plot summary
At a New York City school, a group of students in detention prefer hip-hop and rap. A ballroom instructor, Pierre Dulaine, saw one of them, Rock, vandalizing the car of Principal Augustine James, and comes to the school the next morning. He offers to run the detention class and teach the students ballroom dancing. Principal James agrees, though she doubts the plan. The students are skeptical and uncooperative, and his first lesson does not go well.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Take the Lead (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Banderas initially turned the producers down without even bothering to read the script, because the thought of ballroom dancing sounded "so cheesy". After much persuasion he agreed to meet them, and once they showed him a documentary on Pierre Dulaine he said he "loved" it.
- Brandon Andrews, who portrayed Monster, had just graduated from high school and had never auditioned for a film before; he was discovered while playing on the football team at Dominguez High School in Compton, California.
- Although the story is based in New York City, the film was shot in Toronto, with stock footage of various New York locations used to fill in the city.
- The film marked the feature film debut of Yaya DaCosta, whose only acting experience beforehand had been starring in an episode of Eve.
- Take the Lead eventually made it to the stage: the film was adapted into a stage musical that opened at the Paper Mill Playhouse in April 2025.
