“But I’m a Cheerleader” was your first feature film. Maisel,” “The L Word” and “Silicon Valley.”Īhead of the release of the 20th anniversary director’s cut, Babbit spoke to Variety about the film’s enduring legacy, the progress Hollywood has made in the decades since “Cheerleader” was released - and improvements that still needs to be made.
#VERY OLD CULT CLASSIC GAY MOVIES MOVIE#
After “Cheerleader,” Babbit went on to direct the horror movie “The Quiet” and the comedy “Itty Bitty Titty Committee,” and episodes of dozens of popular TV shows, including “Russian Doll” (reuniting her with Lyonne), “Gilmore Girls,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “The Marvelous Mrs. They took issue with (among many things) the intense blues and pinks that filled the screen, in a way that can only be described - by Babbit herself - as “Barbie Dream House” meets “Edward Scissorhands.” But over the years, it has become a modern cult classic, particularly among LGBTQ+ audiences.Īnd the movie helped launch the careers of Lyonne, Clea DuVall, and Melanie Lynskey, who got their breaks alongside a campy combination of seasoned actors: RuPaul, Moriarty, Bud Cort and Mink Stole. “I’m so happy it got back in the film.”Ĭritics skewered “But I’m a Cheerleader” when it premiered two decades ago. One of the rules of making a film is you have to cut out your babies,” Babbit said. “I had cut it out because it didn’t really have a plot point, but I always loved it so much. 8 in honor of the film’s 20th anniversary. In the aforementioned scene - which Babbit deleted from the movie’s original theatrical release - the camp director, portrayed by Cathy Moriarty, gathers the campers and breaks out a guitar to croon re-worded songs about people becoming straight.Īudiences will finally be able to see the amusing musical bit in the director’s cut of “But I’m a Cheerleader,” out Dec. That realization inspired a scene in Babbit’s first film, 2000’s “But I’m a Cheerleader.” The movie centers on a lesbian high school cheerleader (played by Natasha Lyonne), whose parents send her to a conversion therapy camp to cure her homosexuality.
“And then I heard the Joni Mitchell song on the radio and it had totally different lyrics.
But obviously my mom was singing it because it was a drug rehab song,” Babbit recently recalled in an interview with Variety. “Growing up, I always thought, ‘Wow, that’s a fun song.’ I didn’t think about the lyrics. I recall, I really don’t like drugs at all.” The revamped lyrics went: “ I’ve looked at drugs from both sides now.