'Dirty Dancing' Remake Casts Debra Messing as Kelly Bishop's Marjorie Houseman

Casting for ABC's remake of Dirty Dancing keeps going forward after Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin was chosen to play Jennifer Grey's role, Baby. Now, Will and Grace alum Debra Messing has landed the role of the mother, Marjorie Houseman, and she will most likely try to put Baby in the corner.

According to TV Line, Emmy-winning Messing will be giving new life to the role played by Kelly Bishop (the grandmother in Gilmore Girls) in the original film. This is only the second performer cast in the film, which is currently in the early stages of production, with no dates set as of yet.

Access Hollywood reports that Messing's role has been described as a woman who "takes great pride in her family" while she's trying to "rekindle her romance with her workaholic husband." It'll be an interesting twist for Messing as an actress, as she's most famous for playing Grace Adler in the popular 90's sitcom.

The upcoming Dirty Dancing remake will be adapted for television by American Horror Story screenwriter Jessica Sharzer, and the original film's screenwriter, Eleanor Bergstein, will serve as executive producer in the project. The made-for-TV movie will be a reinvention of the story, featuring "filmed song and dance performances" in the story set in the 1960's.

Fans of Dirty Dancing will remember the story: Frances "Baby" Houseman goes with her family on a holiday at a resort that includes a handsome dance instructor, Johnny Castle (late actor Patrick Swayze in the original film, the role hasn't been cast in the remake yet). They fall in love to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," but things since she's a rich girl and he's a working-class dancer, her mean obviously oppose their relationship.

The original 1987 film was a big success in its day, making superstars out of both Grey and Swayze. There was even a reboot/sequel in 2004, set in pre-Revolutionary Cuba, called Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and starring Diego Luna and Romola Garai.