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Ren McCormack is the main protagonist of 1984 film Footloose, as well as its musical adoptions and 2011 remake. He is a teenager who discovers the dancing ban in their town and challenges it to ensure that the high school students can hold a prom.
He was portrayed by Kevin Bacon in the original film and Kenny Wormald in the 2011 remake.
Biography[]
1984[]
After his father's desertation, Ren and his mother Ethel move from their hometown of Chicago to Bomont, Utah to live Ren's aunt and uncle. They attend church one Sunday where Ren's uncle introduces him to Reverend Shaw Moore, his wife Vi, and their daughter Ariel. Unknown to Ren, Moore is an authority figure in town who has ordered the council to enact strict anti-liquor, anti-drug, and anti-dance laws, effectively sealing a ban on dancing and rock music within the town boundary. Ariel rebels against her father's strict religious nature and behaves recklessly. Ren also gets a part-time job at a grain mill in a nearby town outside Bomont to earn for himself and his mother.
While starting at his new school, Ren befriends Willard Hewitt, and learns from him about about the ban. He soon falls for Ariel, angering her boyfriend, Chuck Cranston, who challenges him to a game of chicken involving tractors. Ren wins the challenge. However, Moore distrusts Ren's influence, and forbids Ariel from seeing him. Ren drives Willard, Ariel, and her friend, Rusty, to a bar past the state line to go dancing. Willard, unable to dance, becomes jealous and gets into a fight with a man dancing with Rusty. As they drive home, Ren learns the reason for the ban: the Moore's firstborn child and Ariel's older brother Bobby, died in a car accident after a night of alcohol and dancing. Ren decides to challenge the anti-dancing and rock music ordinance so the high school can hold a senior prom.
As Ren teaches Willard how to dance, Chuck confronts Ariel about her feelings towards Ren and they get into a physical altercation before breaking up. Ren helps Ariel conceal the physical assault before going home, cementing their relationship. However, Shaw sees through this and, thinking Ren was the culprit, sends an associate to torment Ren. The associate travels to the McCormack residence in the late hours of night and throws a brick with the words, "Burn in Hell," through a window at Ren's house. When his uncle criticizes Ren's outspoken behavior, Ethel tells Ren that though his actions cost her her job, he should stand up for what he believes is right.
With Ariel's help, Ren goes before the town council to advocate revoking the anti-dancing law. He reads several Bible verses and cites the scriptural significance of dancing as a way to rejoice, exercise, and celebrate. Although Reverend Moore is moved, the council votes against Ren's proposal. Vi, who supports the movement, tells Moore that he cannot be everyone's father and is hardly one to Ariel.
Despite further discussion with Ren about his own family losses and Ariel telling her father she is not a virgin, Rev. Moore cannot change his stance. He then witnesses members of his congregation burning library books that they claim to endanger the town's youth, and realizing the situation has become uncontrollable, stops the book burners, chastises them, and sends them home. However, Ren's boss Andy Beamis shows generosity by offering the mill as a prom venue.
The following Sunday, Reverend Moore asks his congregation to pray for the high school students putting on the prom. On prom night, as Moore and Vi listen from outside the mill, Chuck and his friends arrive, attacking Willard; Ren arrives in time to to stop the chaos and defeat the gang. The four friends rejoin the party and happily dance the night away.
2011 version[]
This incarnation of Ren mirrors the original on account of being outspoken and rebellious. However, unlike the 1984 version, the 2011 Ren is a Boston native. Similar to the 2011 incarnation of Reverend Shaw Moore, this version of Ren is portrayed in a sympathetic light and is depicted as a teenage orphan, with his rebellious nature given a backstory: his mother contracted leukemia after his father's desertation, wherein he begins caring for her, taking odd jobs to provide for her needs. When his mother succumbs to the ailment, the newly-orphaned Ren decides to live with his relatives in Bomont, which is now relocated in the state of Georgia.
Upon arrival in Bomont, Ren is welcomed into his relatives' home, where his uncle decides to shoulder his studies. Like the original, he also gets a part-time job at a mill in a nearby town to earn for himself, and also makes friends with the owner, Andy Beamis. The remake mill is changed from grain to cotton, with its town setting being Bayson, and the 2011 Andy Beamis is African American.
On a Sunday, Ren and his relatives go to church where the former is introduced to the Moores. Upon starting school, Ren learns from a classmate named Willard about the dancing ban. He also drives derelict school buses to challenge Chuck Cranston, whom he beats. The 2011 Ren also teaches Willard to dance and Ariel also reveals the reason behind the ban: her older brother Bobby was killed with some friends in a collision after a night of partying. Ariel also helps Ren try to convince the council to revoke the ban.
Despite losing the bet, luck strikes for Ren when Andy offers the cotton mill as a prom venue. Ren visits Shaw one night and they discuss their losses. Shaw finally relents to allow the prom to take place and also allows Ren to take his daughter as a date. A week before prom, with Shaw telling his congregation to pray for the students holding the event, Ren, his friends, and the students decorate the mill for the night, with the support of the parents.
Much like the original, Ren and Willard also get into a fight with Chuck and his gang, the latter party intent on causing chaos. However, they easily beat the culprits, with Ren able to subdue Chuck. One of Chuck's minions attempts to kill Ren with a brick but Andy intervenes and subdues him. With the gang controlled, Andy tells Ren to put up the party's energy as the slow dance makes it feel like a morgue, which Ren agrees too. He and Willard puts confetti into a shredding machine, pops them, and orders the party to dance.
Trivia[]
- While both Rens have a broken family background on account of a father's desertation, the original version still had his mother living. The 2011 version, on the other hand is a more tragic version, as Ren loses both his parents and is an orphaned teen.
- Both Kevin Bacon and Kenny Wormald did their own dancing in the film but had stunt doubles for the warehouse sequence.
- Bacon had a stunt double, dancing double, and two gymnasts. Similarly, Wormald had the same token applied although it was just one double. This was due to the dangerous nature of the warehouse dancing stunt.
- Kevin Bacon was offered a cameo role in the 2011 film as Ren's deadbeat father. He declined it due to the nature of the character.
- Kenny Wormald was given the role on the recommendation of a casting director to Craig Brewster.
- The reason why the 2011 Ren's hometown is changed from Chicago to Boston is because Wormald used a Massachusetts accent in his audition.