Sarah
Roemer "Fires Up"
Cheer Camp!
by Lynn Barker
 Remember
the hot girl living next door to Shia LaBeouf in the popular film Disturbia?
Sarah Roemer was also in The Grudge 2 but you can see her starting
February 20th as the head of a high school cheerleading squad; the smart
and beautiful girl all the guys want to land in the crazy comedy Fired
Up. This is Sarah's first comedy film and she had a blast learning
to cheer and hanging out with cute and funny Nick D'Agosto and Eric Christian
Olsen.
We sat down
in Sarah's room at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills to get the inside
scoop on making the film, her "guilty pleasure" love of the
cheer film Bring It On and which guys were the most fun to make a film
with... Nick and Eric or Shia LaBeouf and Aaron Yoo of Disturbia?
We're jealous because Sarah looks fantastic without make-up! For our chat
she was wearing a beautiful, soft spaghetti-strap blue/purple Stella McCartney
top and jeans.
AGW: Is there
any cheerleading in your own background?
Sarah: Absolutely
no cheering in my background. I was the farthest thing from a cheerleader
when I was in high school and was never fond of cheerleaders until I worked
on this movie and now I absolutely love them. The girls on my squad were
dancers and real cheerleaders.
AGW: So they
taught you that fired up cheer spirit?
Sarah: Well,
one, when I had to get really peppy, which I'm not, necessarily, one girl
Becca, on the squad was always [in very young, upbeat voice] very excited
and so encouraging 'that's great, Sarah!' So, I would just try to use
her energy right before a take. Sometimes, I'd just say 'Becca, say something'
just to hear her voice because anything she says is just so chipper!
AGW: How do
you relate to your character Carly if you aren't a cheerleader?
Sarah: What
I love about Carly is that she is very passionate about what she does
and she has a lot of heart. She doesn't take a lot of c**p from the boys.
She knows what they're up to. She gets it. And I love her determination.
Even though her squad fails time and time again, every year, her heart
is still in it to win it. I think that's really great. And she's a smart
girl. She knows what the two guys [played by Nick D'Agosto and Eric Christian
Olsen] are up to so she doesn't want them to join the squad at first,
but ultimately makes the sacrifice knowing that they do kind of help out
the squad.
AGW: What
was your first reaction to being in the film when you read the script?
 Sarah:
First I was like 'absolutely not. I'm not gonna play a cheerleader. I'm
not gonna do a cheer movie because it's been done so many times'. But,
my manager twisted my arm and got me to read the script and it's so funny.
I was laughing every single page. I loved that it referenced Bring
It On. It's not like Bring It On or other cheerleading movies.
We bring light to it. We make a joke out of it.
AGW: I love
that scene where all the cheerleaders at camp are quoting all the dialogue
from Bring
It On as they watch it. Had you seen it?
Sarah: Absolutely.
A guilty pleasure. I could not really quote the dialogue but for the movie
I was and that was one of my favorite things when I read the script. The
movie doesn't take itself very seriously and a lot of it is tongue-in-cheek,
with that sense of humor. I loved getting to that part.
AGW: Who is
more fun to make a film with? Nick and Eric or Shia [LaBeouf] and Aaron
Yoo [with whom she co-starred in Disturbia]?
Sarah: This
is a funny movie so it helps it being a lot more fun to work with those
boys because it was non-stop jokes on set. I really got a kick out of
them. Eric is so funny. He's hysterical. He's non-stop on and off camera.
On Disturbia Aaron Yoo had a lot of energy and he was really
non-stop but a doll. I told Aaron my favorite thing in L.A. was this red
velvet cake and he'd show up bringing me a red velvet cake. Shia and I
were very funny on set. We had a lot of different kinds of moments but
I adored him and especially after, now, he and I get along really well.
During filming it was just really stressful. It was a stressful set. Everything
was a little overwhelming.
AGW: Did you
have any injuries just trying to do the cheers in this film?
Sarah: I get
hurt in all my movies! In Disturbia I got stabbed in the knee
with this knife when we were doing stunts. That hurt. Another movie I
twisted an ankle but this movie it was a lot of bruises but it was fun
so you don't pay so much attention to the pain.
AGW: Who cracked
you up most on set?
Sarah: The
director [Will Gluck]. He's a funny, witty guy and it was so nice working
with him because he knew exactly what he wanted and me being new to comedy,
that was really helpful. Also David Walton, who played my [disgusting]
boyfriend [Dr. Rick], it was really hard to keep a straight face while
he's doing all these disgusting things, wiping the side of his mouth and
me having to look at him with loving eyes.
AGW: These
guys go all the way to a cheerleading camp to get close to girls. Has
any guy ever done anything crazy to get close to you?
Sarah: When
I get asked that question, I think of creepy instances when a guy takes
it too far, like having to change trains because a guy will follow you
from one train to another. I lived in Italy when I was 16 and an Italian
kept following me and was going [in Italian accent] 'Blah, blah, blah,
I have a mansion'.
AGW: Ewww,
one of those 'I'll give you everything, baby' types.
Sarah: Yeah.
AGW: Okay,
on the flip side, have you ever done anything pretty wild to get a guy
to like you?
 Sarah:
Honestly, I can't think of one. I'm a flirt though so I never think of
putting in extra effort. I'm a flirt in general and that's worked fine
for me.
AGW: Did you
like any of the cheerleading costumes you had to wear?
Sarah: I did.
It's really fun wearing little cheer outfits and little skirts and midriff-baring
things. Definitely, at the beginning, I was like 'wow! I need to start
eating salads' and doing Pilates. Actually, after the movie, I started
doing a lot of Pilates. They are really cute though. I would have loved
to take one home with me.
AGW: We heard
there were peacocks when you were shooting at the L.A. Arboretum that
were squealing or messing up takes with their noise?
Sarah: Yeah,
the peacocks were making noises throughout the entire set and at first
you're looking at all these beautiful peacocks and filming in this gorgeous
area and 'oh, isn't that nice? They're so pretty' and, by the end, you
want to strangle them. We did so many retakes. They scream like crazy.
AGW: Also
you were shooting in Winter pretending it was Summer. Anything you remember
about freezing?
Sarah: Yeah,
it was freezing outside and we're wearing little outfits. Also, it looks
all hot and steamy when [the boys] swim with the girls in the lake but
that was ice cold.
AGW: You shot
this in the L.A. area so did the cast and crew go hang out after shooting
or just go home?
Sarah: We
hung out so much on set that we really did just go home at the end of
the day but we all really got along and loved each other. I loved working
with the two boys. I couldn't have asked for two better people to work
with.
AGW: You're
very athletic so what sport could you teach a guy to do?
Sarah: I could
most sports but it would depend on the guy. Lately I was teaching a couple
of guys how to snowboard. I taught my cousin how to ski as well. I ski
and snowboard but I need a guy to teach me how to surf. I'm learning on
shortboard. I can longboard but I want to shortboard.
AGW: Was there
any scene cut out of the film that you wish was still in it?
Sarah: No,
but what I really hope they put on the DVD is the bloopers for our wrap
party. They did a swearing blooper thing with everybody on camera swearing
in the middle of messing up a take or afterwards. It's just one after
another. They already have bloopers over the end credits but this is strictly
a swearing blooper and it's hilarious. I think it will go on the DVD.
AGW: Are you
going to do a commentary for the DVD?
Sarah: We've
not done that yet. I only did that for the first time for Disturbia.
AGW: What
would you tell teens and college kids why they should go see this movie?
Sarah: I think
it's a very fun film for both guys and girls which makes for a perfect
date night film because there's a lot of cute girls in it dancing around
and it's about guys trying to get girls and, at the same time, the cheering
is fun for the girls too. It's not just a silly movie. It has some great
tongue-in-cheek humor and has a lot of heart.
Photos
courtesy of and copyright Screen Gems, 2009
This
movie is rated PG-13
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