‘Grease 2’ Maxwell Caulfield struggled to watch Michelle Pfeiffer’s fame | Page Six Celebrity News

Maxwell Caulfield may be a cult legend for his role in “Empire Records,” but his throngs of fans on social media came after he fought through heartbreak in his early career.
The 61-year-old actor recalled to Page Six what it was like to be set up for stardom at an early age when he was cast in the lead to the sequel to “Grease” - only to temporarily sink into oblivion when the movie tanked.
“It was, psychologically, quite a kick in the pants,” he said.
The bitter taste of watching 1982’s “Grease 2” fail was made even worse by seeing his co-star, a then-little-known actress named Michelle Pfeiffer, head on to stardom, he said.
#MichellePfeiffer #MaxwellCaulfield #Grease2
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[@kendallsmythe8744]

Maxwell Caulfield was so gorgeous and perfect in Grease 2. The film might not have had huge commercial success at the time but I consider it to be a classic.

[@barbaramozie6285]

Maxwell Caulfield will always be my favorite one in Grease2!!!❤❤❤

[@ThePinkladies18]

Mine too

[@topflightstyle4141]

Michelle for me ! Teenage memories, but she was blessed with the look.

[@MaryBer2]

If he only know how much I still love him AND this movie...it truly has a bit of a cult following all these years later. And he has aged like a fine wine I must say 🍷

[@sarahdanielle7591]

Omgoodness I second your entire comment. Omgoodness he’s so beautiful ❤️❤️❤️

[@IMChrysalis]

I loved Grease 2 as much as I did Grease! It was a great movie, it was campy and fun, and I never could figure why it wasn't considered a success!

[@sarahdanielle7591]

@@IMChrysalis It was awesome. It was literally one of my top 2 movie playlist for sure and still till this day one of my top favorites. ☺️☺️❤️❤️

[@ELEKTRARE]

I was crazy so in luuuuvvvv with Maxwell Caulfield 🥰

[@VeeLondon1449]

I appreciate his honesty. It reminds me of something similar Josh Charles said about Chris O’Donnell & Ethan Hawke after Dead Poet’s Society. That it was painful to see their careers just immediately take off and watch them have all of these opportunities yet he was still struggling.. Everybody has their own path. It’s such a competitive industry.

[@Jprager]

I’m genuinely shocked he didn’t take off as far in the business, he still held his own pretty well even if the movie wasn’t a number 1 follow up.

[@GamingSaturnMoonManBoy]

My Mom had a poster of him on her wall so he was still a teen idol

[@sarahdanielle7591]

What a beautiful man Maxwell is. I always loved him. Beautiful Beautiful man ☺️☺️🥰🥰🥰

[@valoxsen6003]

I loved Grease 2, but yeah... Michelle Pfeiffer, Pamela Segall (later voiced Bobby in King of the Hill), and Christopher McDonald (later became known for supporting roles in A-list productions) were really the only cast members who would go on to make it big in the industry. Adrian Zmed (who played Johnny) experienced the same career struggles as Maxwell, and in 2009 he talked about it in detail on Confessions of a Teenage Idol. Lorna Luft (who played Paulette) was Judy Garland's daughter, but she also never got that far on the big screen. Hollywood is definitely hard to break into and then hard to hold onto.

[@drewconway7135]

I don’t understand why he wasn’t given more parts. He could have played James Bond.

[@industriesofintelligence2236]

He voiced him in Nightfire at least

[@cassandrapersaud8165]

I love Michael from grease 2!!!!! Amazing talent!

[@lycanlycans7548]

Grease 2 is the best !

[@vickyc6069]

I watch Grease 2 because of that handsome Maxwell!!!❤❤❤

[@seanahmed9079]

WE LOVE YOU MAXWELL!!!

[@ahumanjustbeing2466]

Maxwell could have been Bond in '83

[@archie_bunker]

agreed..

[@schoolinJOO]

He is so beautiful in Grease 2 !!

[@jumpforjoy6]

He married a 40 Yr old when he was 22. That probably didn't help bc he wasn't "available" to fans

[@suzannek3493]

exactly

[@kidee761]

I agree! I think he was 21 and Juliet was 39 at that time.. they are still married

[@suzannek3493]

@@kidee761 its kind of weird as he has made comments that when he was young he wanted a piece of the " Hollywood scene" and he mentions the whole young women going crazy over him as being part of the appeal . He also has mentioned several times how he was quite taken with the young Micehlle Pfieffer when they filmed Grease , but admits in hind sight he was quite full of himself and under the delusion that he was the next big thing and going to hit it big ... we all know that wasnt the case and he speaks a lot now of how hard that was for him at the time , especially to see Michelle hit it so big . Personally i think hes a very talented and interesting man .. but he certainly has made his share of c and even d list movies . Poor guy .

[@simple.1829]

@@kidee761 Maxwell does not have his own child. He is the stepfather of Juliett’s daughter. He should have made his own child 😢

[@ahumanjustbeing2466]

" I fkg love Grease 2!"- Danny Zuko

[@DestinyFilmWorks]

Michelle got lucky in that she had someone like Martin Bregman who championed her and fought to get her into Scarface..Had Max had someone like that I think he could have had what Michelle had in one way or another.

[@greenkitty82]

Yes it's who you know and whether they come into your life at a particular moment. I think Leonardo DiCaprio said a similar thing about meeting the right people at the right times that furthered his career. It's all half chances.

[@vickyc6069]

Watch so many times and watching now again on paramount plus

[@leticiadiaz7805]

So handsome

[@dianelooper3755]

Playing on Paramount now.❤

[@BoysBearsandScares]

He was awesome in The Boys Next Door.

[@trueempire8948]

Grease 2 is better then Grease.

[@EleanorPennington_]

I’m some ways

[@JWalkers050]

Parts of it is, it definitely has better music than the first one.

[@HolgerRuneFan]

Max was gorgeous then and he's still gorgeous! I love his wife too.

[@cassidyjosey5455]

i cried watching this in 2010 as an 8 year old cause i knew i would never be with him😂😂

[@ericdillon7467]

I said, I'll try to get ahold of myself but I don't know how you do that.... Ask Him

[@thechanneloffun3760]

😭😭 it’s a shame just like mark from Star Wars 😭😭

[@brendarudman8806]

Don't worry Maxwell Here I am,still remembering you I typed your name in to search for your movies,not Michelle's name

[@ericdillon7467]

You'll have to have him figure out when he has time for molds and show him how we don't look exactly alike because my wife as him will do more than sue! Have you ever met her?

[@kevincarpenter2525]

Michelle looked like a whole grown woman (attending High School) in Grease.

[@giancarlojacobs9982]

All the grease actors did 😂😂😂

[@JWalkers050]

Did you forget seeing Lorna Luft in it, lady was like in her thirties in it.

[@amberanderson528]

She was 23 so she was a college girl. That easily passed for a high school senior girl.

[@JWalkers050]

I still think marrying that old lady probably hurt his career and his social life back in the day too. I still wonder how is he still married to her, she is like 80. She must have dirt on him or she pays for him.

[@ilovebeinagirl]

This has me totally confused. So, you're an actor in Hollywood, taking a 1 in a million shot to become a 'star' and you get disappointed when you don't make it? I always thought actors had resigned themselves to that possibility? Yeah you wish you could be famous but you're actually having a tough time watching someone else's career rise b/c you thought--what both of you were going to be stars or maybe that you should've been the star. Then there's the casting couch issue. I don't know and am not implying MP was on it but also don't know and am not implying that she wasn't. She is married to a famous producer--I'm SURE that's helped to open doors as well. Did he think b/c he was the prettiest guy he had it made in the shade? Plenty of attractive one hit wonders in Hollywood.

[@nva2021]

TAN WEANDO?

[@marisawood721]

I’m sick he looks like my dentist

[@kman20]

This guy became Rex Manning…so he wins

[@PureAloha78]

he aged badly

[@JWalkers050]

He lost his hair pretty fast. Thought he would have kept it longer since he didn’t even have a receding hairline. Probably from stress of hiding from his 80 year old wife when she’s feeling frisky.

[@franniea]

He might have wanted a career but not enough to relocate to the United States even if it was for just a few months or years In reality whom is going to land the role an actor with all qualifications that lives less than a few minutes from Hollywood or the one whom lives 20 hours away That is considered I dont consider his career a failure He just lived in another country far away from Hollywood Which is probably a far better decision with all the terrible stories coming to light