TIFF 2023 | BACKSPOT Dir. DW Waterson Says "It's Like BRING IT ON If Darren Aronofsky Directed It"

"Backspot" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where this interview was filmed shortly after the screening. The film is written and directed by DW Waterson in their feature directorial debut, Executively Produced by Elliot Page.
Synopsis: "A driven cheerleader (Devery Jacobs) struggles to handle the pressure when she and her girlfriend are both selected for an elite cheer squad, in D.W. Waterson’s feature directorial debut.
There are a lot of movies about cheerleaders, but Backspot is out to do something different. It goes behind the phony smiles of its young athletes to explore the ambition and drive that defines them.
Sure, Toronto DJ and filmmaker D.W. Waterson (TIFF Filmmaker Lab ’22) still brings an irrepressible energy to the obligatory scenes of young women pushing themselves to perform dizzying feats of agility and strength. But Waterson and screenwriter Joanne Sarazen (TIFF Micki Moore Resident ’19) know their characters are still just kids, dealing with the same insecurities and challenges as everyone else. They might launch themselves into the air like superheroes, but one wrong move will bring them crashing to the ground.
Riley (Devery Jacobs, who also produced) can’t afford to make that wrong move. The ferocious competitor and furious perfectionist finds herself under pressure when she and her girlfriend Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo, TIFF Rising Star ’23) are both selected for an elite cheer squad. As the diamond-hard coach (Evan Rachel Wood) and her assistant (Thomas Antony Olajide, TIFF Rising Star ’21) put them through their paces, Riley’s anxiety escalates, and a compulsive behaviour intensifies. Something’s going to break… but whether it’s physical or emotional is anybody’s guess.
A decade after her revelatory turn in Jeff Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls (TIFF ’13), Jacobs has grown into a performer who holds the screen like no one else. She understands that acknowledging one’s vulnerability is a formidable strength, and Backspot is about watching Riley figure that out as well." - TIFF
In this conversation, Thomas Stoneham-Judge talks with DW about major themes of the film "Backspot" and discusses various aspects of how DW approached this feature directorial debut.
CONVERSATION TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Introduction
00:52 - Synopsis
01:33 - Tell me more about your intentions on what you wanted to convey with this story
02:55 - What other films influenced this story?
04:11 - Where did the inspiration of this story come from?
06:12 - Tell me more about what you want people to take away from the film?
08:39 - Tell me more about casting and working with the cast.
11:03 - Talk about expanding the short film into this feature length film
12:18 - What were you able to take away from making the film?
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Music featured in this video include the tracks "With Your Bad Self" by Adrian Crutchfield, licensed through Soundstripe.
Motion animation graphics designed by Thomas Stoneham-Judge.