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Jamie Babbit's Butl'ma Cheerleader is one of the breakout independent film hits of the 1999-2000season. Babbit/asurprisingly assured30year old from Cleveland,Ohio, came to filmmaking through amateur theatre,and went on to directa series of short films, including Frog Crossing and Sleeping Beauties, before making her debutas afeaturedirectorwith Cheerleader.
Cheerleader tells the story of "femme" Megan (Natasha Lyonne), a young woman who doesn't realize that she's a lesbian until her parents stage an "intervention," which results in Megan being shipped off to True Directions, a "deprogramming" center for gays and lesbians who are forced to be "straight." True Directions is run by the monstrously repressive Mary (Cathy Moriarty) and her in-denial gay son Rock (Eddie Cibrian), with the assistance of camp supervisor Mike (RuPaul Charles, in his first non-drag role). At True Directions, Megan meets and falls in love with the "butch" lesbian Graham (Clea DuVall), and despite all of Mary's threats and machinations, Megan and Graham's love triumphs over True Direction's worst efforts to make the two girls "straighten out."
Babbit stages Cheerleader as a bright, "popped out" comedy, with bright colors and heavily stylized sets. At the same time, Babbit's experience with actors allows her to seamlessly handle a large ensemble cast with practiced efficiency. Babbit also works in television, where she directs the WB television series Popular, and the MTV series Undressed. Honest and open about her work and her lifestyle, Jamie was pleased to have a chance to talk about But I'm A Cheerleader in detail. She is already at work on her next feature film, tentatively titled Conjugating Niki. I spoke with Jamie on October 21, 2000.
WWD: How did you get started in the business, and what was your childhood like?
JB: I came to filmmaking through theJamie atre. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and I started at the Cleveland Playhouse when I was about seven years old, taking acting classes and then moving on to stage-managing. There are a lot of elements of Cheerleader that are autobiographical. I never went to a homosexual "rehabilitation" camp, although such places do exist, like the Exodus Project, but my mother runs a treatment program for teenagers in Ohio called New Directions, which helps them beat alcohol and drug problems. My father is...