58 Fun Facts About Bring it on

Who plays Torrance Shipman, the newly elected captain of the Toros?

Kirsten Dunst turned the part down at first, and the producers went back to her after Marley Shelton, their next pick, took a rival cheerleader film.

Who plays Isis, captain of the Clovers?

Gabrielle Union met the director several times to work out how Isis should be portrayed, and the role became her breakthrough.

Who plays Missy Pantone, the transfer gymnast who joins the Toros?

Eliza Dushku's Missy tells Torrance the Toros' routine is a rip-off, and a visit to the rival squad proves it was stolen.

Who plays Cliff Pantone, Missy's music-loving brother and Torrance's love interest?

Jesse Bradford: the filmmakers saw hundreds of young actors for Cliff before deciding that nobody fit the part like him.

Which two future stars both auditioned for the role of Cliff Pantone?

Franco was a year away from Freaks and Geeks fame; Schwartzman had just made Rushmore.

Torrance's squad, the Toros, cheer for which San Diego high school?

Rancho Carne High: after the Clovers mock the Toros' stolen routine at a home game there, the humiliated squad decides it needs a new one.

The Clovers come from a high school in which Los Angeles-area community?

East Compton's Clovers had never made Nationals: their school couldn't afford the trip, and the Toros kept stealing their routines.

How does Missy recognise the Toros' routines as stolen?

Her old school played the Clovers' school, so Missy had seen those routines before, and she drove Torrance to Los Angeles to watch the originals.

Which former Toros captain secretly videotaped the Clovers' routines and passed them off as her own?

Big Red: Isis remembers a redhead with a video camera, and after Regionals Big Red turns up to blame Torrance for running the squad into the ground.

Torrance fears she is cursed after dropping what at summer cheer camp?

The Spirit Stick must never touch the ground, yet Torrance dropped it on purpose: the new seniors' camp dare was to drop it in front of everyone.

Which Toros cheerleader is injured in Torrance's first practice as captain, opening the spot Missy fills?

Carver is out until after Nationals, and Missy, a gymnast, only tries out for the spot because the school has no gymnastics team.

How do the Toros raise the money to hire a professional choreographer?

A car wash raised the money, and the choreographer it paid for promptly put the whole squad on a diet.

What is the name of the infamous choreographer the Toros hire?

Sparky Polastri came recommended by Torrance's college boyfriend, Aaron, who assured her the cheer association looks the other way.

In Bring It On, what is the signature move in the hired choreographer's routine?

Spirit Fingers were in the script from the start, yet the writer and a producer both say the line only took off once Ian Roberts played it.

After Regionals in Bring It On, why must the Toros start over before Nationals?

Other squads bought the same routine: the choreographer had been peddling it up and down the coast, and another team performed it at Regionals.

In Bring It On, where are the national cheerleading championships held?

Daytona Beach, Florida: after the Regionals mix-up, the Toros still get a bid there because they are the defending champions.

How do the Clovers finally get the money to attend Nationals?

By writing to a local talk show host; Isis turned down the sponsorship check Torrance got from her father's company.

In Bring It On, where do the Toros finish at Nationals?

Second, behind the Clovers: when Isis tells Torrance the Toros were good, Torrance answers that the Clovers were better.

What does Cliff make for Torrance that she draws inspiration from before Nationals?

A mixtape: Cliff made it for her, but after seeing her kiss Aaron he cut her off.

After Regionals, what does Torrance's college boyfriend Aaron urge her to do?

Step down as captain: Aaron tells her she's just not captain material and suggests letting Courtney and Whitney take over the squad.

Which Bring It On character is gay and entirely comfortable about it?

Les jokes that Jan is the straight one while he is "controversial", and the LA Times praised the film for including a gay cheerleader at ease with himself.

Who directed Bring It On, in his theatrical film debut?

Peyton Reed had directed the Upright Citizens Brigade's TV sketch show, and that connection is how he brought in UCB's Ian Roberts to play the choreographer.

Which everyday task becomes a wordless flirting scene for Torrance and Cliff in Bring It On?

Brushing their teeth: the director wanted a quiet breather in a breathless movie, so the writer built a flirting scene with no dialogue at all.

Bring It On's director later took over which Marvel film from Edgar Wright?

Ant-Man: Edgar Wright left the project in 2014 over differences in his vision of the film with Marvel, and Bring It On's director took over.

Who wrote the screenplay for Bring It On?

Jessica Bendinger's pitch drew more than two dozen rejections before Beacon Pictures finally said yes.

What was Bring It On's working title?

Cheer Fever: the title the film finally took echoes the challenge Isis leaves Torrance with before Nationals, telling her to "bring it".

Bring It On's writer pitched it as "Clueless meets" which dance film?

Strictly Ballroom, set at the cheerleading nationals: the whole idea, she said, was to put cheerleading and hip hop together.

Bring It On's screenwriter later wrote and directed which gymnastics comedy?

Stick It, which she also directed, follows a rebellious ex-gymnast whom a judge orders back into training after a bike stunt lands her in court.

Bring It On's makers said its ending was modelled on which sports film?

Rocky: like Rocky going the distance with Apollo Creed and still losing, the Toros were always meant to lose to the Clovers.

Marley Shelton was in talks to play Torrance but chose which rival teen comedy instead?

Sugar & Spice, about cheerleaders who rob a bank: losing her left Bring It On close to its start date with no lead.

Bring It On's choreographer, Anne Fletcher, later directed which dance film?

Step Up, her first film as director, cost $12 million, became a hit and spawned four sequels.

Bring It On: In It to Win It was filmed at which Florida resort?

Universal Orlando Resort: the teens ride its rides and stay at its hotel so often that critics called the film an infomercial for the park.

Bring It On opened at number one ahead of which Jennifer Lopez thriller?

The Cell had opened at No. 1 the weekend before, so Bring It On knocked Jennifer Lopez's thriller off the top spot.

When the Toros copy the Clovers' "Brr, it's cold in here" cheer, what do they change?

The squad name in the chant: Isis calls out the theft and vows to take the Clovers to Nationals this year.

Which critic panned Bring It On on release but later called it the "Citizen Kane" of cheerleader movies?

Roger Ebert gave it two stars for cramming R-rated material into a PG-13 film, then used the Citizen Kane line in his 2009 review of Fired Up!

Entertainment Weekly ranked Bring It On number 30 on its list of the 50 best what?

High school movies: the teen hit went on to launch a string of sequels and a stage musical.

Which girl group, whose members play Clovers cheerleaders in Bring It On, has multiple tracks on the soundtrack?

Blaque were touring with NSYNC when they took the parts, and kept flying out of the California set to play shows during filming.

Which group covers Toni Basil's "Mickey" on the Bring It On soundtrack?

B*Witched covered it, and Toni Basil had built her original around her own past as a head cheerleader.

How were Bring It On's first five sequels released?

Straight to video, and those DVD sequels became a big moneymaker for the studio.

Where is Bring It On Again, the franchise's first sequel, set?

A college campus: Whittier quits the varsity squad there and forms her own team of outcasts to take it on.

Which pop star plays herself at the cheer competition in Bring It On: All or Nothing?

Rihanna: the squads are competing for a spot in her music video.

Which singer, younger sister of a pop superstar, plays rival captain Camille in Bring It On: All or Nothing?

Solange Knowles plays Camille, whose squad dismisses Britney as a "Barbie" before letting her join once they see her try out.

In All or Nothing, Britney is forced to move from Pacific Vista to a school in which working-class area?

Crenshaw Heights, where Britney breaks the promise she made her old squad that she would never cheer again.

Which dance style does Britney suggest adding to her new squad's routine in All or Nothing?

Krumping: Britney sees the boys doing it at practice and ends up teaching the squad.

Which musical inspired the rival squads' names in Bring It On: In It to Win It?

West Side Story: after a "cheer rumble" leaves both short of members, the Sharks and the Jets merge to compete as one squad.

Which future Pretty Little Liars star leads the cast of In It to Win It?

Ashley Benson plays captain Carson, who falls hard for Penn, a dancer on the rival squad.

In Fight to the Finish, Lina Cruz transfers from East Los Angeles to a high school in which beach town?

Malibu: Lina moves there after her mother remarries, and sets out to fix her new school's lacklustre squad.

In Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack, who does captain Destiny recruit to rebuild her squad?

Street dancers: after a masked rival squad called The Truth turns online opinion against the Rebels, several members quit and Destiny needs new blood.

Which singer stars as East Los Angeles cheer captain Lina Cruz in Bring It On: Fight to the Finish?

Christina Milian plays Lina, who beats a snobby rival squad by merging her new school's cheerleaders with her old East Los Angeles teammates.

Cheer or Die (2022) took the franchise into which genre?

Abby's Diablos rehearse in an abandoned school and start disappearing one by one; it still came in at PG-13.

Cheer or Die premiered on television on which channel?

Syfy: in the film, the Diablos are banned from risky stunts, so they rehearse forbidden routines in secret at an abandoned school.

Bring It On: The Musical has music by Tom Kitt and which other composer?

Lin-Manuel Miranda; rather than retell the film, the show invents a new plot about a head cheerleader redistricted to another school.

Which future Oscar winner made her Broadway debut in Bring It On: The Musical?

Ariana DeBose played Nautica beside real competitive cheerleaders, cast because the show's aerial stunts needed them.

In Bring It On: The Musical, which group does Campbell befriend at her new school, Jackson High?

A dance crew, led by Danielle, who insist they "ain't no cheerleaders" until they and Campbell form a squad for Nationals.

Bring It On's screenwriter drew on her time covering hip hop for which music magazine?

Spin: as a white writer covering Black artists, she saw white cheer squads copying hip-hop moves and asked what if the best team were stealing routines.

In Bring It On's famous opening cheer, what happens before Torrance wakes up?

Her uniform disappears mid-routine, but her real nightmare comes later, when she learns the Toros' routines were stolen.

Who plays the online "Cheer Goddess" in Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack?

Vivica A. Fox: her Cheer Goddess guides the feuding Rebels as they prepare for a virtual worldwide cheer competition.

In Bring It On: All or Nothing, what does Britney's replacement as captain, Winnie, do behind her back?

Sleeps with her boyfriend, yet Britney's new squad goes on to beat Winnie's at the championship.