The “Hacks” star reacts to “Stranger Things” actress Millie Bobby Brown’s obsession with his cult classic, and shares the larger part he almost played in the film.

Grease 2’s Christopher McDonald on the film’s surprise celebrity fans — and the role he almost played instead

The “Hacks” star reacts to “Stranger Things” actress Millie Bobby Brown’s obsession with his cult classic, and shares the larger part he almost played in the film.

By Patrick Gomez

Patrick Gomez

Patrick Gomez is an Executive Editor at . Formerly at People magazine and The A.V. Club, the Critics Choice and Television Critics Association member has appeared on ‘Today,’ ‘Extra!,’ ‘Access Hollywood,’ ‘E! News,’ ‘CNN,’ and ‘Nightline,’ and can be seen frequently on ‘Good Morning America.’ Follow the Texas Native at @PatrickGomezLA wherever your media is social for all things ‘For All Mankind’ ‘Top Chef,’ and puppy related.

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September 13, 2026 9:30 p.m. ET

Christopher McDonald at GBK Brand Bar’s 20th Annual Emmy Luxury Lounge in 2026; in 1982’s ‘Grease 2’. Credit:

Paramount Pictures;bellamarieadams

- Christopher McDonald played T-Bird Goose in the 1982 film *Grease 2*.

- Millie Bobby Brown recently professed her love of the cult classic sequel, which doesn’t surprise McDonald.

- The actor recounts how he actually auditioned for a larger role in the film first.

*Stranger Things*’ Eleven may have loved her Eggos, but actress Millie Bobby Brown loves something else: *Grease 2*.

On a recent episode of *Hot Ones*, host Sean Evans asked Brown what makes the hotly debated sequel the “superior” Grease film and the actress is quick to answer: “‘Cool Rider’ is the best song ever,” she says. “And, uh, yeah, I’m obsessed with Michelle Pfeiffer. One time I saw her in an elevator and I almost collapsed on the floor, because that was my childhood growing up. I used to be like...” she continued before singing a bit of Pfeiffer’s big song from the film.

“Well, I love Eleven too!” Christopher McDonald — who played T-Bird Goose McKenzie in *Grease 2* — tells ** of Brown’s thoughts on the 1982 sequel. Not that he’s surprised by her adoration.

“I think she’s not alone in that,” he continues. “I just went to a Turner Classic Movies event, and people just showed up by the pool to sing the songs, like it was *Rocky Horror Picture Show*. Most of them — 99 percent of them — were women. And I thought, *That’s what’s speaking to the people: It’s ‘I want a cool rider, I want a rider that’s cool’ — not like all the stuff happened in the first one*, nothing against that one. But wow, this movie is moving people, and the female population’s really getting into it. So that’s a blessing. It’s a shock and a blessing.”

McDonald attended that TCM event in early May alongside Lorna Luft, Adrian Zmed, and Maxwell Caulfield, who also starred in the film, which was considered a critical and commercial bomb when it was first released but has grown its fanbase over the past four decades.

“It’s just so heartwarming to think something we did all those many years ago is touching people right now. Yes, it’s entertaining, but it also has a big heart in that movie. So that’s, I think, what people wanna see when they go to the movies — that kind of story,” says McDonald, speaking to EW at GBK Brand Bar’s 20th Annual Emmy Luxury Lounge. (As a 2026 Emmy nominee for *Hacks*, he was bestowed a collection of coveted items totaling more than $100,000 — including Alto Canto tequila, the Nuropod vagus nerve stimulator, and more.)

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McDonald marvels that he almost missed out his *Grease 2* experience, explaining that he originally auditioned for another role: “I was up for Johnny Nogerelli, and I didn’t want to do anything else,” he says. “But [the film’s director, producer, choreographer, Patricia Birch,] called me after they didn’t cast me — because Adrian Zmed got it — and said, ‘Would you come in tomorrow? We’re doing mixing and matching,’” he continues, recalling a process where a creative team brings in a batch of potential actors and moves them around into different groupings and pairings — romantic and platonic — to see who they would like in the ensemble.

“I had nothing else to do,” McDonald says of deciding to show up for the exercise, eventually thrilled with the role they ultimately chose him for.

“The way it worked out was perfect, because I got to be Goose — which was more into my favorite zone,” he says, describing the character as “a little bit slow, but also a great heart.”

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And the film’s bonds have held up as well as its fandom has. McDonald says he’s still close with Alison Price, who played his onscreen girlfriend Rhonda Ritter.

“She and I are dear friends to this day,” he says of Price. “Michelle’s a friend to this day too. I just love that, really, the whole cast have all stayed friends.”

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