The cheerleader fantasy has inspired some of the greatest porn movies ever made.
Think Debbie Does Dallas, an all-time ‘70s classic, or Digital Playground’s Cheerleaders (2007), which became a bestseller on DVD and VOD.
Will Cheerleaders Behaving Badly, the new comedy feature from Elegant Angel, dust off the pom-poms, rouse the masses, and cheer its way to a place in that legendary lineup?
Director Harry Sparks and star Blake Blossom certainly hope so. It’s a project they’ve backed with a full-throated enthusiasm that rivals even the peppiest of cheer teams.
The elements are certainly all there: a sexy cast led by Blossom, an entertaining storyline (college cheer team does naughty webcam shows for cash to avoid eviction), a reverence for porn’s history, and a director with a passion for the project and genre.
Sparks, best known for Revenge of the Petites and Beauty and the Beast XXX, had been nursing the idea for years, although he originally envisioned a much darker plot. “During the pandemic, when we were all locked down, I had several ideas I wanted to pursue, and I actually wrote a first draft of Cheerleaders. And it was a little bit different. It’s a little bit darker. It was more of a mystery about what’s going on in the school. It was involving an investigation about these cheerleaders,” he said in a recent interview.
Eventually it evolved into something more akin to a 1980s or ‘90s sex comedy, making it an ideal follow-up to Sparks’ sci-fi character drama, The Visitor. “I set out to make a fun, feel-good movie, because my other movies have been a little bit on the dark side. So I wanted to do something that was more fun, more in a summer vibe,” Sparks said.
As the project moved closer to production, Sparks knew who he hoped to see in front of the camera, particularly in the lead role of Britney. “I pretty much knew that then I wanted Blake Blossom as the lead. So I had her in mind for the main character. And I think actually, maybe on the second draft of the script, I pretty much had the main cast that I wanted. I knew I wanted to work with Gizelle [Blanco], and I kind of knew Maya [Woulfe], her skill as an actor and with comedy, and I knew that she could pull the role off. But yeah, I pretty much had a pretty good idea of the cast in mind. And fortunately, I was able to get everyone that I wanted to see.”
Blossom immediately embraced the idea, finding particular resonance in the movie’s teamwork themes. “Harry definitely did a great job of writing those underlying tones and themes of teamwork and the coming together. Because, a lot of times, porn itself, like the actual industry, and then even within the movies, it’s a competition. It’s the women are always set up against each other. And this was the complete opposite. It’s like we’re teammates because we’re cheerleaders, but we’re teammates trying not to get kicked out of this house, too. We don’t want to get evicted, so we need to come up with a plan. And then even the nemesis [played by Anna Claire Clouds], she joins in on it to kind of help. So I thought that was really awesome, and I hope that people pick up on that,” she told interviewer Nicole Chappelle.
Teamwork was the key to the movie’s sex scenes, too, which flowed from the progression of the story. “That’s the main thing with that is all the sections I wanted to kind of evolve organically. They had to make sense. I didn’t want to just have to have them there, just to have them. They’re all part of the plot, which I think is cool. And there are the way they’re shot – one where Blake’s character is shooting the scene with her phone, and you’re actually seeing part of the scene the way it’s shot, like through her phone, which makes it more real, I think, for the for the viewer,” Sparks noted.
When it comes to the movie’s hottest moments, two scenes stand out to him. “It’s interesting because they’re all kind of unique,” he said. “But I would say that there’s a scene that involves all four girls, which might be pretty hot if you like girl/girl. But I think the one that he hits you in the feels emotionally is the last scene, which is a boy girl scene between [computer guru] Derek [Oliver Davis] and Britney. That’s more of an emotional, romantic scene that might recall that scene between Anna and Alex [Jones] in The Visitor, which is more of a romantic, slower-paced scene.”
Ever the student of porn history, Sparks also laced the script with several entertaining references to porno past, including some surprisingly deep cuts to 1970s adult cinema. Cheerleader Jasmine (Woulfe) amuses her friends by occasionally revealing a knowledge of classic erotic vids. Dropping obscure movie references into conversation is something Sparks admits to doing at times. “Because I have all these facts in my head, and then occasionally they’ll come out. ‘Oh yeah, that reminds me of such and such a movie.’ The room sometimes gets quiet, like ‘What?'” he said, laughing.
Fans are getting their first crack at Cheerleaders Behaving Badly this week, but Blossom also sees plenty of awards potential. “I always try to do projects that are going to be nominated for an AVN,” she said. “Looking at this project, I’m like, okay, there’s a four girl scene, there’s a three girl scene, there’s a boy girl scene. I really need to focus on those scenes that I want to push more for the nomination. So I think we definitely, definitely that the four girl scene is going to be super. I hope it’s definitely nominated.”
Two, four, six, eight, who will AVN nominate?
Sparks wasn’t thinking of awards when he made the movie, although he would welcome a trophy on his shelf if it came to that. “It’s cool if it does win something, or if it gets nominated, but my main goal was to hopefully make a movie that people will keep coming back to and watch it over and over again. That’s the main thing I’m hoping for that people like the movie and watch it again and again,” he said.
Our guess is the movie will be inspiring audience cheers for many years to come.