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‘Backspot’ Director D.W. Waterson On Grueling Determination And Inspirations Behind Queer Cheerleading Film

Director D.W. Waterson talks to Deadline about their feature directorial debut Backspot

The film follows Riley ( Devery Jacobs), an ambitious cheerleader hell-bent on perfection, as she, alongside her girlfriend (Kudakwashe Rutendo) and their best friend (Noa DiBertro), land highly competitive spots on a prestigious all-star cheerleading squad led by an overbearing head coach ( Evan Rachel Wood) and her presiding assistant coach Thomas Antony Olajide). Then, four years of just really refining a script and then slowly bringing on producers and production companies and Elliot Page joining, and then all of a sudden, Evan Rachel Wood is involved. And we would have times where we’re like, “OK, here we’re going to go full out, and we’re just going to capture it.” Because that montage was to really show what they do in multiple practices, but I would just turn to the cheerleaders and be like, “OK, what part of your body do you feel good about?” They’re like, “I love my calves.

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