They come from two different worlds, two different cultures. Yet for all their differences, they share one fervent passion dance!

Sara (Julia Stiles), who comes from a middle-class, small-town environment, dreams of devoting her life to ballet. As the crown prince of a local music club, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), from inner-city Chicago, dances to a different beat the rhythmic pulse of hip-hop.

When they discover they share a love of dance, they also discover a passion for each other. Now, these two young people must overcome not only their differences but also the opposition of their friends and families if their romance is going to survive.

Save the Last Dance is a Paramount Pictures presentation in association with MTV Films. A romantic musical drama, the Cort/Madden Production of a Thomas Carter Film, stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas and is directed by three-time Emmy winner Thomas Carter. Robert W. Cort and David Madden are the producers of the film, which is written by Duane Adler and Cheryl Edwards. Also starring are Terry Kinney, Fredro Starr, Bianca Lawson and Kerry Washington. Paramount Pictures and MTV Films are part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc.

The production's creative team includes director of photography Robbie Greenberg, A.S.C., editor Peter E. Berger, A.C.E., production designer Paul Eads and costume designer Sandra Hernandez. Choreographers Fatima and Randy Duncan fashioned the dance numbers for the film.

''We're very excited about this movie at MTV Films,'' says David M. Gale, senior vice president of MTV Films. ''It's contemporary and timely, with all the energy of hip-hop and the passion of a truly romantic love story. As a film company we continue to explore new themes, work with new talent and speak to audiences about subjects that resonate with the MTV demographic.''

About the story

Echoing both Saturday Night Fever and Dirty Dancing, Save the Last Dance is a romantic drama set in the gritty world of urban America. Sara (Julia Stiles) is a white, middle-class, suburban teen who sparks a clash of cultures, both ethnic and artistic, when she enrolls in a predominantly black Chicago high school following her mother's death.

Growing up in a small town in Illinois, Sara loves ballet and dreams of going to Juilliard. When her mother dies in a car crash, however, she abandons her hopes and joins her long-absent father, Roy (Terry Kinney), a musician who lives in Chicago's South Side. There, she begins classes at her new school, an urban campus vastly different, both racially and culturally, from anything she's experienced before.

Still struggling with the loss of her mother, she finds solace when she is befriended by Chenille (Kerry Washington), a black unwed teenage mother whose younger brother is the handsome and gifted Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). One of school's most popular students and the crown prince of a local hip-hop hangout called the Stepps Club, Derek guides Sara in the culture of hip-hop. And dance leads to romance.

Sara's father, however, can't accept his daughter's relationship with her black classmate, which the school's black women, particularly Nikki (Bianca Lawson), Derek's old flame, also resent. Derek also faces opposition to his new romance, particularly from his boyhood friend, Malakai (Fredro Starr), a violent gangbanger who is afraid he will lose his friendship with Derek. As the school year progresses, the couple finds that their affection and devotion for each other could ultimately threaten Derek's hopes for a better life and Sara's rediscovery of her dreams.

''This is a movie about contrasts, about dualities,'' producer David Madden says. ''It deals with an interracial romance. It is a dance movie, with the girl coming from the world of ballet and the boy coming from the world of hip-hop. It contrasts the small town and the big city.

''When developing this project, Robert Cort and I began by looking at genres not currently in vogue, and one of the things that really leapt out at us was the dance movie, specifically that spate of dance movies from the late '70s and early '80s like ''Saturday Night Fever,'' ''Grease,'' ''Urban Cowboy,'' ''Footloose,'' ''Flashdance'' and ''Dirty Dancing.'' They were all enormously popular and successful, yet nobody has made films like that since.

''The other idea Bob and I had talked about was interracial romance and the social impact created by such a subject,'' Madden continues. ''We felt a movie could explore what those obstacles were for people involved in such relationships, particularly young people in high school.''

To flesh out these ideas, Madden turned to an unknown, yet promising, screenwriter, Duane Adler. A few years earlier, the producer had read Adler's original script entitled ''Chasing the Game,'' which was a semi-finalist in the 1994 Nichol Screenwriting Contest. His semi-autobiographical sports story depicted the experiences of the only white basketball player on an all-black high school team.

Madden and Cort next turned to director Thomas Carter (Swing Kids, Equal Justice), who had been looking for a story about interracial relationships that he could bring to the screen.

Carter says the film positively reinforces the possibilities for people to love and understand each other, even when they are from different backgrounds and races. ''What is fresh about this script is how the black characters react to the interracial relationship as opposed to how the white characters react, which is what you normally see,'' Carter says. ''There are black women who certainly have issues with interracial romances, particularly when black men and white women are involved. I wanted to explore that subject in a more complex way, not just dismiss that concern.''

About the casting

Of the two leading roles, Derek turned out to be more difficult to cast than Sara. Madden says: ''We had to have a guy who we could believe came from the streets but was smart enough and sophisticated enough to be believable as somebody going to med school. And he had to be a terrific dancer. It was no easy task to find a 17-year-old kid who could do all that, but we got lucky with Sean, who is just terrific in this film.''

Sean Patrick Thomas says: ''As a young black actor, you don't get to flex your intellect in most roles. What was great about this role was its smartness and sensitivity, which was different than most parts I audition for. As Derek, I'm like the All-American boy at this inner-city school. I want to go to medical school, but I have loyalties and friendships from the old neighborhood, particularly with Malakai, a gangbanger for whom I feel a great sense of obligation and loyalty. And in the midst of all this, I meet a white girl from the suburbs, we fall in love and that causes further conflict between me and my friends and family.''

In casting his two leads, Carter wasn't sure what to expect once the cameras started rolling. In the end, he couldn't have been more pleased with his choices.

''Sean and Julia played it really well together,'' he says. ''Julia's such a sensitive and subtle actress that she brings out the best in everybody. It's hard not to find her appealing, and Sean really responded to her. You never know when you cast people how their chemistry will be. They're very real actors and portrayed a very realistic romance. There's a lot of soul and subtlety and substance to their work, and they brought that to the screen.''

In describing her character, Julia Stiles says: ''When Sara first starts at her new school, she feels very insecure not just because of race but because culturally she's from the suburbs and these kids are so much cooler than she is. But she slowly builds up her confidence, and Derek starts to respect Sara because he sees that, while she appears to be this nerdy suburban girl, she does have a tough, determined side, so they become friends and then they fall in love.''

One of the attractions of working on the film for Carter was the opportunity to work with new talent, including Kerry Washington, whom the director calls ''a real find.'' The young actress plays Chenille, the compassionate unwed teen mother who is Sara's mentor as she enters a whole new culture. The film's other key roles were played by platinum-winning rap artist Fredro Starr as Malakai, the street thug who tries to draw his friend Derek into a life of crime; veteran TV actress Bianca Lawson as Nikki, Derek's ex-girlfriend; and Terry Kinney as Roy, Sara's father.