Twenty-five years after its launch, However I’m a Cheerleader nonetheless raises spirits for followers of the cult queer comedy. Jamie Babbit marked her characteristic directorial debut with the mission that stars Natasha Lyonne as Megan, a highschool cheerleader despatched to conversion-therapy camp when her family members suspect that she’s a lesbian.
The filmmaker hatched the concept after studying an article about homosexual rehabilitation facilities and recruited Brian Wayne Peterson to jot down the script. Babbit solid Clea Duvall (who starred in her quick movie Sleeping Beauties) as Megan’s love curiosity. Rosario Dawson was amongst these thought of for the lead, however the half went to Lyonne, who led 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills and requested about Cheerleader after seeing the script in pal Duvall’s automobile. Rounding out the solid have been Bud Cort, Melanie Lynskey and Michelle Williams.
Babbit remembers when RuPaul expressed curiosity within the movie. “Ru was excited as a result of the world actually didn’t know him out of drag at the moment,” she tells THR of casting him as a part of the camp’s conversion workforce. Lyonne has recalled {that a} drunken night time in Hollywood throughout manufacturing led to her first and solely tattoo — and a scolding from Babbit: “Jamie was so pissed off as a result of I needed to be in my sports activities bra doing the cheers, and she or he was like, ‘How may you do that?’ and I used to be like, ‘I don’t know what occurred!’ “
After premiering at Toronto in 1999, However I’m a Cheerleader was picked up by New Line; Lionsgate later nabbed it when the deal fell via. It initially was rated NC-17, however Babbit was in a position to get an R with two small adjustments, together with reducing a line about oral intercourse between two ladies. “I felt very pissed off by the scores board and the way conservative and sexist it was,” Babbit says.
However I’m a Cheerleader hit theaters July 7, 2000, and picked up $2.5 million on the field workplace ($4.8 million immediately) however developed a loyal following, particularly amongst LGBTQ viewers. Babbit, who now directs Solely Murders within the Constructing, says, “The queer group deserves tales with completely satisfied endings.”
This story appeared within the June 11 challenge of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.