Bring on the Big Screen

Growing up in Raleigh, Peyton Reed '86 used his Super 8 video camera to make movies in his backyard, filming explosions of fireworks blowing up tiny action figures. Now, Reed has graduated to Los Angeles, where he recently directed full set pieces and star actresses in his first feature film, Bring It On. The movie about high school cheerleading, which stars Kirsten Dunst (Wag the Dog, The Virgin Suicides), is a specialized comedy, said Reed, who called it "The Citizen Kane of teenage cheerleader comedies."

"It's the haywire world of competitive cheerleading that never occurred to people." The movie was filmed last summer in San Diego, a place Reed described as "a bizarre hub of cheerleading."

Reed also has directed the made-for-television movies The Love Bug (1997) and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1995) for Disney and behind-the-scenes documentaries for the Back to the Future trilogy and Forrest Gump. He was reading some feature scripts and directing shows for HBO and Comedy Central when his agent came to him with the script for Bring It On, originally titled Cheer Fever.

Ken Jacques

Peyton Reed '86, offers direction to actress Kirsten Dunst on the set of his new feature film, Bring It On.

After meeting with Beacon Pictures, the producers of Bring It On, and pitching his vision for the movie, Reed landed the gig as director for the film—which seemed to suit his style well.

"I liked it because this one had a lot of big set pieces and set numbers," he said of the movie, which will hit theaters Aug. 25. "It hinges on the leading role," which is why Reed was so glad to land Dunst, a veteran actress although she was only 17 when the movie was filmed. "Once we got her, everything fell into place," he said.

Overall, the film took Reed a little more than a year to direct, from pre-production to adding the music in post-production. So after a vacation from directing and the world of competitive cheerleading, Reed said he plans to film and direct a comedy he wrote that is set in Raleigh. "My hope is to shoot [the film] in North Carolina," he said. In doing so, Reed would fulfill a longtime dream of returning to the state to make films in and about North Carolina.

Reed first learned the art of writing at UNC, where he double-majored in English and radio, television and motion pictures. "Being an English major was the best in terms of screenwriting and storytelling," said Reed, who was also a member of Chi Psi fraternity.

He picked up some more experience through his involvement with UNC Student Television while it was still in its early stages. "It was really great in terms of hands-on production experience," said Reed, who also worked as a disc jockey for WXYC and was a member of the Student Union Film Committee, a group of students who would shoot their own films and then screen them for each other.

After graduation, Reed served as a production assistant for a film shot in Tarboro. He moved to Los Angeles in January 1987, where he now lives with his wife, Beth LaMure, who manages a music video production company called Daisy Force Pictures. Reed enjoys spending his free time playing basketball and miniature golf. "It's my goal to eventually play every miniature golf course in the United States," he said.

Reed also is one half of the band manCHILD, along with former Chapel Hill musician and filmmaker Norwood Cheek '90. They have recorded two CDs with Chapel Hill producer Caleb Southern, who has worked with Ben Folds Five and Superchunk, and their next release is due out later this year. Reed has directed several of the music videos for Superchunk, as well as The Connells.

Working with Dunst and the rest of the youthful Bring It On cast made the experience worthwhile, he said. "They were all fun and enthusiastic."

And while he's unlikely to add backflips and basket tosses to his mini-golf and music hobbies, Reed did come away from his feature-film directing debut with a newfound respect for the pompon set. One of the more memorable and humorous moments came when the cast had to go through an actual cheerleader training camp in San Diego. "It was really demanding, with the dance and gymnastics," Reed said. "The cast was put through [the camp] with real coaches. It was really funny watching them, but in the final product, you can't tell the actors from the real cheerleaders."

—Worth Civils