'Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies': Move over Travolta, Alexis Sides has T-Bird energy

Before Danny Zuko fell in love with Sandy, and Rizzo was getting a hickey from Kenickie, Rydell High looked a little different, which is what we see in the Paramount+ series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.

One of the cast members of the prequel show is Alexis Sides, who plays T-Birds member Potato.

“[Potato] is Mexican, … he's going through a lot of separation from the top society,” Sides told Yahoo Canada. “Because of the racism happening back in the ‘50s, Potato has a long road.”

“He also has a dad that went through the war, so there's a lot of things going on with Potato in the TV show that really illustrate his arc in the end of the season for sure.”

Sides was born in Guadalajara, where he started doing school plays, before leaving for Vancouver where he studied and got his agent.

Just at the beginning phase of his career, Sides is very aware that he has big shoes to fill, getting his big break on a spinoff series of one of the most well-known films.

“You're talking about John Travolta, who's an amazing actor, and … you’ve got Olivia Newton-John and all these actors who left a very huge legacy,” Sides said. “Definitely taking on this role was an amazing opportunity, but it definitely was shocking to get it because of the name, for sure.”

“There's going to be a lot for the audience that watched the original Grease. We're going to be talking about friendship, about discrimination, racism and all these things that still prevail nowadays.”

When it came to auditioning for the series, Sides said it was "really dramatic," particularly because he didn't have a background in singing or dancing.

“I received the audition … and it said, dancing and singing people only, and I was like, OK I'm not going to get this,” Sides said. “I was so desperate for something I was like, OK let's try it out.”

He originally auditioned for the role of Richie, now played by Johnathan Nieves, and then he got a callback for Richie's fellow T-Bird Potato.

"I knew that this could be a life changing opportunity for me and I just didn't want to screw it up," Sides said. "I think I was more nervous about that."

When the actor eventually received the call from his agent, the great news took time to sink in.

"Didn't really hit me in the moment, even my agent was a little surprised with my reaction," Sides said. "Two days later and it definitely hit me, and I definitely cried."

Misogynistic comments were hard to stomach

Once Sides started filming Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, the actor said it was hard to get into the '50s-era world.

“My character Potato has a few … misogynistic comments that when I was going to say them, I was like, I'm not sure about this," he said. "But you’ve got to feel comfortable because it's the ‘50s, you're portraying an era, you're trying to show what it was back in the days and that's what it was."

In terms of highlights, Sides said it was filming the musical number for "Grease Is The Word," which is really the first thing you see in the series. That's when it really hit Sides that he was on a massive series.

“It was just take after take after take,” Sides said. “It was definitely not easy and just having to keep that Grease energy - that's what we call it on set.”

Moving beyond Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Sides hopes to move into other aspects of TV and movie making, while recognizing this is very much the beginning of his career.

“I'm definitely interested in producing and writing in the future,” Sides said. “I'm just starting my acting career right now, so there's tons to learn."