Kase Wickman - Bring It On: The Complete Story of the Cheerleading Movie That Changed, Like, Everything (No, Seriously)

R eady? OK!

Lets just say it, loud, right into the megaphone for the folks in the back: Bring It On deserves a place in the cinematic canon and recognition as an Important Film.

Its the quintessential underdog storyIm talking not about the Clovers or the Toros or members of either squad but about the film itself. Screenwriter Jessica Bendinger pitched the movie twenty-seven times before she got the go-ahead to put the film into development with Beacon Pictures, devoting years to research, writing, and pitching before getting the nod. And that nod? One producer recalls literally begging on her knees to get her boss to say yes to making the movie. That doesnt even account for what it took to get Universal Studios to agree to front the money for the production and distribution of the movie. (Even Mr. Tom Hanks, never where you expect him to be, was involved at one point, supposedly eyeing the script and eventually landing the soundtrack on his Playtone record label imprint.) Even once the cameras started rolling, filmmakers felt that the movies distributor met their rah-rah with a shrug.

A thousand butterflies had to flap a thousand wings before a single pom-pom was picked up on set.

Studio executives seemed to have a million excuses why Bring It On wouldnt work: There wasnt a star attached. Women dont watch movies. Men dont watch movies about women. Cheerleaders are dumb. Everyone hates cheerleaders; no ones going to see a movie about them. Actually, everyone loves cheerleaders, so theyre boring. Women wont watch sports movies, and men wont watch sports movies about women, and, excuse me, who even said that cheerleading is a sport? One director was attached, and then not; another teen cheerleading movie was set to eclipse Bring It On, and then not; a star was interested, and then not; and on and on. The saying goes that you only need one yes, but if Ive learned anything in reporting the complete story of the greatest cheerleading film that was almost never made, its that in filmmaking, you actually need a multitude of yeses, over and over and over again. Yes to the pitch, the director, the cast, the soundtrack, every single day, a veritable relay race of yeses to get to August 25, 2000, Bring It Ons opening day in theatersthe butterfly effect, but imagine a pair of rah-rahing pom-poms where those wings would be.

The rest is pop culture history, affecting careers, language, cheerleading, popular racial literacy, and the future of filmmaking itself.

As for me, in August 2000 I was a freshly minted twelve-year-old in Eugene, Oregon, a volleyball player and budding musical theater dork who almost exclusively wore oversized T-shirts, soccer shorts, and flip-flops, the whole look really chefs-kissed with the oval wire-rimmed glasses we found out I needed after I read the Baby-Sitters Club Little Sisters book where Karen cant read the chalkboard and gets an eye test. If it sounds like I might not be the target demo for Bring It On, the anti-cool girl, ha, how wrong you are. I was flashing my own spirit fingers around Monroe Middle School and could (still can) recite every word to the opening cheer of the movie, as could all of my mall goth tween pals. In fact, a few years ago, going through boxes in my childhood bedroom, I found a one-sheet poster for the movie, probably ripped out of Teen magazine, perfectly preserved. If youve ever wondered whether youve always been the person you are, well, theres Exhibit A for you.

However, I was no more or less a Bring It On superfan than the next person (I firmly believe that the magnetic pull of Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union combined is more than any human can withstand and absolutely dare you to find an American born after 1979-ish who doesnt immediately chirp I love that movie! when you mention