Twenty-five years after its release, But I’m a Cheerleader still raises spirits for fans of the cult queer comedy. Jamie Babbit marked her feature directorial debut with the project that stars Natasha Lyonne as Megan, a high school cheerleader sent to conversion-therapy camp when her loved ones suspect that she’s a lesbian.
The filmmaker hatched the idea after reading an article about gay rehabilitation centers and recruited Brian Wayne Peterson to write the script. Babbit cast Clea Duvall (who starred in her short film Sleeping Beauties) as Megan’s love interest. Rosario Dawson was among those considered for the lead, but the part went to Lyonne, who led 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills and asked about Cheerleader after seeing the script in friend Duvall’s car. Rounding out the cast were Bud Cort, Melanie Lynskey and Michelle Williams.
Babbit remembers when RuPaul expressed interest in the film. “Ru was excited because the world really didn’t know him out of drag at that time,” she tells THR of casting him as part of the camp’s conversion team. Lyonne has recalled that a drunken night in Hollywood during production led to her first and only tattoo — and a scolding from Babbit: “Jamie was so pissed off because I had to be in my sports bra doing the cheers, and she was like, ‘How could you do this?’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know what happened!’ “
After premiering at Toronto in 1999, But I’m a Cheerleader was picked up by New Line; Lionsgate later nabbed it when the deal fell through. It initially was rated NC-17, but Babbit was able to get an R with two small changes, including cutting a line about oral sex between two women. “I felt very frustrated by the ratings board and how conservative and sexist it was,” Babbit says.
But I’m a Cheerleader hit theaters July 7, 2000, and collected $2.5 million at the box office ($4.8 million today) but developed a devoted following, especially among LGBTQ viewers. Babbit, who now directs Only Murders in the Building, says, “The queer community deserves stories with happy endings.”
This story appeared in the June 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
