Clea DuVall has opened up about starring in the groundbreaking LGBTQIA+ comedy But I’m a Cheerleader.
Released in 1999, the film starred Poker Face actor Natasha Lyonne as Megan Bloomfield, a cheerleader who is sent to conversion therapy camp to “cure” her lesbianism.
DuVall memorably played queer camper Graham Eaton and Lyonne’s on-screen love interest.
While it earned low box office numbers and received harsh reviews from critics, the movie has since become an LGBTQIA+ cult classic for its satirical approach to gender roles and heteronormativity.
In light of But I’m a Cheerleader’s upcoming 25th anniversary, DuVall opened up to PEOPLE about the film and its trailblazing legacy.
“We had no idea. We were just making this tiny little movie in Palmdale, California. We were all so young– just a bunch of little punks running around the set and giving [director Jamie Babbit] a hard time,“ she told the news outlet.
“Especially at that time, there were not a lot of people doing things like that. It was very ahead of its time.“
While DuVall said the press cycle was “brutal“ because she wasn’t out at the time, she still ranked the film as “the most rewarding thing” she’s ever done.
The Faculty star also reflected on some of the heartwarming moments she shared with LGBTQIA+ fans, including a mother-daughter duo she met at a film festival.
“They had driven for four hours to see this movie because the kid really wanted to see it, and the mom really wanted to make it happen for her, and it really meant a lot to them,“ she continued.
DuVall’s isn’t the only But I’m a Cheerleader star to dish about the film.
In 2023, Lyonne revealed to Melanie Lynskey – who also starred in the queer classic – that she had no reservations about playing Megan.
“I’m consistently shocked by the things we consider shocking. I find it very patronising when we say something like, ‘Oh, did you see that this straight male actor is playing gay? Bravo,‘” she explained on an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors.
“And it never crossed my mind to not try to use the arts to tell the truth about what’s going on. When Clea [Duval] and I were on the cover of Out magazine, it just seemed weird to me that people will care. It felt like what you’re supposed to care about is the conversion therapy part. And we’re supposed to try to stop that.“
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