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John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John Reunite for ‘Grease' 40th Anniversary Celebration

Newton-John said she had doubts about accepting the role

"Grease" co-stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John reunited on Wednesday for the first time in years at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' screening celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic film.

The two, who played high school couple Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson, were joined by fellow cast members Didi Conn (Frenchie) and Barry Pearl (Doody), as well as director Randal Kleiser.

At the event, the 64-year-old Travolta said Newton-John was his favorite thing about doing "Grease."

"If you were a young man in the '70s, and I'm sure many of you were, out there, if you remember that album cover of Olivia with that blue shirt on, with those big blue eyes staring right at you, every boy's, every man's dream was, 'Oh, I'd love for that girl to be my girlfriend,'" Travolta told the audience. "So when I had the privilege to have input on the casting, I said, 'There is no other person in the universe other than Olivia Newton-John to play Sandy. You must cast her.' So I held tight, didn't I, and I got my way."

Newton-John, 69, had her doubts about accepting the role.

"I really wasn't sure I wanted to do the movie because I'd made a movie before in England, which was a musical, and it didn't work, so I was very frightened about doing a movie," she said. "Then they sent John to meet me and who could say no, right? This gorgeous guy walks up my driveway, these bright blue eyes, and he was so sweet and melted me and he talked about it."

"I said, 'But I'm 29 years old. How can I be 18?'" she said. "I look back, I can't believe I was thinking that. But anyway, it's all relative, right girls? So he talked to me and said, 'You know, it's alright, none of us are gonna be 18.'"

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Travolta and Newton-John have reunited before and have even worked together since Grease was released in 1978.

In 1983, the two teamed up again for the movie "Two of a Kind." In 1987, they appeared together, along with several other actors, in Michael Jackson's music video "Liberian Girl."

In 2012, Travolta and Newton-John recorded a Christmas album together for charity, as well as a music video, "I Think You Might Like It."

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