"Cheer as a sport is no joke," Backspot star Devery Jacobs tells Teen Vogue over email. In the trailer for the forthcoming film, directed by D.W. Waterson and executive produced by Elliot Page, that statement proves true: high-stakes tryouts, countless injuries, sweat, tears, and a tough-as-nails head coach played by Evan Rachel Wood all fill this intense world of competitive cheerleading.
Jacobs plays Riley, who strives for perfection and will stop at nothing to succeed. In the film, this starts to conflict with the harsh realities of the sport, ones that affect both her and her girlfriend (played by Kudakwashe Rutendo, named a TIFF Rising Star after the movie premiered at the festival last year).
“I originally came up with the concept of Backspot in 2017," says D.W. Waterson, who began their career as a DJ and web series creator. “I really wanted to focus on the realities of cheer and what it tangibly means to be an all-star cheerleader.” Backspot is their feature-length directorial debut, and they immersed themselves in that world by shadowing the competitive cheerleading program Cheer Fuzion Allstars.
“I got to sit in on their practices and competitions to see what their 360 degree experiences were like,” they say. “I saw everything, from stress and anxiety, to concussions, from athletes running around screaming and blasting Cardi B, to them pounding cheeseburgers right before practice — all the way back around to witnessing broken arms and bloody mats. It was these elements that I wanted to highlight in Backspot.”
There's a rich cheerleading lineage in pop culture that Waterson appreciates, but they also had a unique vision for the film.
“Like everyone, I love the iconic Bring It On and But I’m a Cheerleader, but I wanted to see more of the sport. Neither of these films dig into the athleticism that cheerleading demands, or the sacrifices these girls pay with their bodies in order to chase perfection,” Waterson says. "I definitely feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of these cheer cult classics, but I also feel I’m departing from them, by shifting the conversation past pom-poms and comedy, and bringing it to the mat.”
In an exclusive clip shared with Teen Vogue, Wood's character demands that Riley take over pushing a teammate forcibly into the splits. The one minute, 17 second clip is both thrilling and excruciating.
“The heaviest part of filming that scene was the knowledge that this stretching tactic is used in real life; forcing athletes down into splits past their natural flexibility,” Jacobs says. “It’s a really disturbing coaching method, and one that I luckily never had to face growing up as a competitive gymnast.
Jacobs continues: "Fortunately, shooting the scene wasn’t as intense as what we were conveying; Noa DiBerto, who plays Rachel, is actually really flexible and so it caused her no pain at all and Evan Rachel Wood is so sweet and bubbly in real life — but getting into the emotional headspace was definitely dark. Both myself and my incredible director D.W. Waterson wanted to explore the truth and nuances of cheerleading; the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between in Backspot.”
Watch the exclusive clip from Backspot, in theaters May 31, below: