Hindsight is a funny thing. I remember when Bring it On was first released and I barely acknowledged it. To me, it wasn’t anything other than the annoying movie my sister watched at sleepovers.
Since then, I’ve come to realize that this film was not only ahead of its time but that it also happens to be one of the greatest teen films of the past two decades.
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To celebrate this incredible milestone, here are 10+ behind the scenes secrets about Bring it On .
1. The film’s opening dream dance/cheer sequence almost didn’t make the cut.
“There was talk of cutting the opening number, and I just threw myself on the sword,” writer Jessica Bendinger said during an interview.
Thankfully, Jessica wasn’t about to take no for an answer.
Jessica made the argument that without this pivotal scene, the film loses its context.
“I was like, ‘If you cut this cheer, then it’s just a dumb movie! Who cares?’ You need to let everybody know your tongue is in your cheek.”
2. It was one of the earliest examples of diversity in teen films.
It’s what first drew Gabrielle Union to the role.
“That is what appealed to me—the appropriation of our culture and winning awards and championships, using routines created and cultivated by black women who never got acknowledged, and couldn’t afford to get on that national stage to be recognized.”
3. Every actor who auditioned had to have their own cheer prepared to impress those watching.
“We made everybody come to the audition having prepared some kind of a cheer – probably the most humiliating thing you could do to an actor.”
Humiliating as it was, Peyton explains that it was completely necessary.
“We needed to know they at least had some sense of rhythm and coordination because not only did they need to act, but they needed to meet the physical demands of the roles.”
4. Members of the cast actually got arrested in Mexico.
Jesse Bradford set the record straight:
“First of all, it was Rosarito, not Tijuana . It was me, Eliza, Rini Bell, and this dude Lance, one of the male cheerleaders on the Toros. I’m gonna blur the details of how and why, but needless to say, we got arrested.”
Jesse goes on to explain that the four were brought to court and had to plead their case!
“We had to go in front of a judge — I use that term loosely here — and explain what happened, and he let us go.”
Talk about a lucky break!
5. Kirsten Dunst wasn’t the first choice for Torrance.
“I met with Marley Shelton and I gave her a couple of things and she seemed really cool. Then a day or two later we found out that Marley Shelton was no longer interested.”
Dunst was then quickly offered the role!
6. According to director Peyton Reed, rising star Kirsten Dunst was a pleasure to work with.
“She was 17 when we shot this movie. She started doing commercials when she was 3, so she’s worked in this business longer than I have! That’s a surprising thing to think about, but she’s just great.”
7. Both Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union were actually cheerleaders in high school.
“Kirsten and Gabriel both said they were cheerleaders in school more to be popular than anything else. It probably gave them some insight into just standing up in front of a crowd and having people stare at you as you dance around.”
8. Several big name actors auditioned for the part of Cliff.
“There were so many people who came. Jason Schwartzman read for that role, James Franco read for that role. I remember Franco coming in and they had just shot the “Freaks and Geeks” pilot and I think was getting ready to do the series.”
9. It wasn’t always going to be called *Bring It On*.
“For a lot of us, we were like, “This is gonna be the cheerleading movie .” It was called Cheer Fever at the time—I’m glad they changed it. It wasn’t helping the movie in terms of people wanting to do it.”
It wouldn’t have helped audiences in terms of wanting to see it, either!
10. Eliza Dushku’s work on *Buffy, The Vampire Slayer* helped her land the part.
“When we really started casting, once we got Kirsten, we were all Buffy fans and knew Eliza ’s work from Buffy and later on Angel and she just seemed like the perfect person.”
11. Members of the girl group Blaque were cast as Clovers!
“Then the girls from the group Blaque — Shamari, Natina and Brandi — they came, they had a recording career, they were about to put out an album and I was like, “There are these girls, they’re a girl group from Atlanta, could we audition them as some of the Clovers?”
12. The character of Torrance was inspired by Gwen Stefani’s “I’m Just A Girl”!
“It was that, ‘[expletive] you,’ it had a lot of bravado to it, but was still girly. That was exactly what I was trying to go for in Torrance and the girls. It was just a very early form of empowerment, bitchy empowerment.”
13. There was an actual “Cheer Boot Camp.”
“Not only did we have to learn the dance routine and the cheers, but we also did all our own stunts. So we had to learn the pyramids; we had to build up strength for that.”
Nicole Bilderback, who played Whitney, detailed the experience:
“We had to learn all the tosses. We learned all that stuff. So it was eight hours a day, and we’d get a lunch break. It was tough. It was a lot of work.”
14. The movie was supposed to be a documentary.
Director Peyton Reed told BuzzFeed News:
“I had no idea I would find interest in competitive cheerleading, but I did in a big way. Jessica’s writing has such attitude. I liked what it had to say about the dynamics of high school.”
“It turned cheerleading on its ear and made them the underdogs; traditionally cheerleaders are the untouchables in the caste system of high school and this script made you really root for them.”
“I like what it had to say about entitlement.”
15. Gabrielle Union’s character was actually based off of Michael Jordan.
“I had gone to school in North Carolina and was a huge fan of Michael Jordan as a basketball player and the idea that he is just this hyper-competitive person. I remember talking about that moment at the end of the competition where Kirsten comes up and says, ‘You guys were great,’ and Isis says, ‘We were, weren’t we?'”
“She didn’t feel any compulsion to say, ‘Oh, you guys were great too.’ She had this competitive streak, but there was clearly an understanding.”
“There was a mutual respect there and Gabrielle was instrumental in finding those moments.” said Reed.
16. The now iconic toothbrush scene was not even in the original script.
“The toothbrush thing just came about because we had to figure out where they could come into contact,” Reed said . “The idea to do the toothbrush scene as this wordless thing was [inspired by] Capra’s It Happened One Night .”
“There’s that moment where they’re in the motor lodge and it’s inappropriate and they put the blanket between them. It’s all played in these looks and it really creates this sexual tension.”
“It’s a huge tribute to Kirsten and Jesse that the scene is so memorable because they’re so good.”
