Pop Culture Fix: Evan Rachel Wood Will Star in Elliot Page’s Queer Cheerleading Movie

Feature image photos by: Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The Roku Channel //  Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

A jolly good Monday to you, my friends. Did you know that we HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL IN FIVE DAYS? Y’all are too good to us! Thank you! I made you a Pop Culture Fix; it’s not much, but it’s full of gratitude.


+ Well now here’s some weird and welcome news: Evan Rachel Wood has joined Elliot Page’s queer cheerleading movie, Backspot. According to Variety: “Wood stars as professional cheer coach Eileen McNamara, head coach of the high-performance Thunderhawks squad who pulls Riley (Devery Jacobs) and Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo) from their mid-level cheer team to be a part of her group of intensely competitive athletes.” I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life to see ERW play a Cheertator! Bring it on! (I’m sorry.)

+ Abbott Elementary’s Brittani Nichols on the importance of community as a writer.

+ Jinkx Monsoon’s Chicago run is just getting better and better. It set a ten-year box office record last week! According to Broadway News: “Chicago earned $913,161 this past week, up 15%, and played to standing-room-only crowds with attendance up 8%.”

+ Peacock has renewed Bel-Air for a third season.

+ Willow creator clarifies season 2 future after cancellation report: “The truth is less splashy.”

+ SURPRISE! A new survey shows that the way streamers are constantly cancelling shows is changing the way people get invested in shows in the first place.

+ Joy Ride features a few queer actresses, but Natalie pointed out it looks like they’re all playing straight?!

+ The Lonely Few, a Geffen musical about lesbian rockers in love, is full of old-fashioned heart.

+ Lily Tomlin declares Ron DeSantis’ anti-trans legislation a travesty.

+ 5 queer international romance films to watch on Netflix.

+ Daisy Jones & the Six star Nabiyah Be talks about Simone’s queer, Black love story.

+ A new queer dramedy called Everygay Life is in the works from SXSW breakout star Anton van der Linden: “The series will revolve around two queer married couples, David and Miles, and Kate and Emma, who are raising children and juggling work responsibilities while navigating society’s preconceptions — often leading to tragicomic situations.”

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

2 Comments

  1. Yeah, at least 3/4 of the Joy Ride case is queer(not sure about Ashley Park) and they are all playing straight in the movie. Or I should say all of the love interests are men. Kind of disappointed in that aspect of it but I suppose queer actors should be allowed to play straight characters too.

Contribute to the conversation...

Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated by the guidelines laid out in our comment policy. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation and thanks for stopping by!