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THREE CHEERS FOR BRING IT ON

LOS ANGELES—It was 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, a day before the final day of shooting, when the actors and professional cheerleaders that make up the fictional Renegades cheerleading squad took the stage at the Cal State Los Angeles gym.

Clad in black leather cheer outfits with rock music blaring, the team prepared to perform a dance number for the first of several takes of one of the final scenes in Universal Pictures Franchise Development’s Bring It On Again.

The video premiere sequel to theatrical release Bring It On, which starred Kirsten Dunst, features new characters and actors.

College freshmen Whittier (Anne Judson-Yager) and Monica (Faune Chambers) arrive on campus ready to prove themselves for State University’s champion cheerleading squad.

However, when the friends run into trouble with head cheerleader Tina (Bree Turner), Whittier decides to form her own cheer squad, the Renegades, to compete in a cheer off with the school’s varsity team.

“The point of view is that individuality is more important than power or fame or trying to please your peers,” director Damon Santostefano said while sitting in the bleachers between scenes. “It’s sort of a stab, not at cheerleading itself, but at the tradition within the cheerleading industry.”

The four lead actresses had never cheered before. Before filming, they spent three weeks at a professional cheer camp learning basic toe touch jumps and stunts.

“Dancing is a whole other world, a whole other language than anything, and cheerleading is even more of a different language; it’s a different dictionary,” Judson-Yager said while stretching out on the gym floor before a Renegades dance scene.


Choreographer Tony Gonzalez, a professional cheerleading squad coach, had to condense the typical six months a team spends learning a routine in the cheer world down to two weeks for the movie.

Gonzalez said he created routines with the personalities of the film’s two dueling teams in mind.

The seven-year champion Varsity squad was given strict cheer moves, while the routine for the Renegades incorporates ballet, karate and funk moves.

“We gave it more flair for a TV audience,” Gonzalez said. “For people who may not like cheerleading, we let them see it and be entertained.”

Santostefano signed on to the project because he says he has always wanted to make a musical.

“There are five major dance sequences, and in between there are a lot of very, very fun scenes,” he said. “The fun part about it was finding actors who were fun and could dance and do their own stunts.”

The first movie was a surprise hit, grossing $67 million at U.S. theaters, which convinced UPFD president Louis Feola to produce the sequel.

If Bring It On Again performs well, it could become another video franchise for the company, which released Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice and K-9: P.I., second and third films respectively, this year.

That’s good news to Bill Bliss, producer on both Bring It On films.

“The success of the first film surprised us,” Bliss said. “What appealed to people in that first movie was that we treated people with respect.”


By Jennifer Netherby
(uploaded Oct. 29, 2002)