Ever wanted to find out about some awesome behind-the-scenes facts about the Pitch Perfect
franchise and cast?
Then listen up, pitches — it's time to get a educated.
Low budget start
The first installment of Pitch Perfect was produced for only $17 million — a sum that,
by industry standards, is considerably low.
Peter Cramer, Universal Studios' co-president of production, told the Hollywood Reporter,
"It was a little, under-the-radar, affordably budgeted movie.
We didn't project that it could be a big franchise."
"We sing songs without any instruments.
It's all from our mouths."
"Yikes."
The film ended up banking $113 million worldwide at the box office, going on to earn over $103
million in home video sales, video-on-demand, and premium cable deals.
Anna Kendrick told Glamour UK, "The weird thing is that it happened so slowly.
It wasn't until [video-on-demand] and iTunes that anybody thought about making it a franchise."
Auditions
Hana Mae Lee, who plays shy and quiet Lilly, told Young Hollywood that she used to sing
in her church choir, but that most of her singing experience prior to Pitch Perfect
focused on Korean folk music...which she used for her audition.
Rebel Wilson, by contrast, went for modern pop music.
She told Buzznet that she showcased her chops by auditioning with Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory."
"Crushed it."
Changing it up
Producers made some significant changes from the film's original direction.
In an interview with Collider, Elizabeth Banks revealed her role was originally meant for
Kristen Wiig, saying, "When she wasn't going to be able to do it, we made a list of who
else could do it.
And then [director] Jason [Moore] was like, 'Why aren't you just doing it?'
So I was like, 'Yeah, okay, I'll do it!'"
In a separate Collider interview, Anna Kendrick revealed that the movie was originally supposed
to revolve around the film Say Anything, not The Breakfast Club.
She even had to re-record "Don't You Forget About Me," because she didn't feel like she
had an emotional connection to the song.
She told the mag, "To me it's like 'Take my Breath Away' from Top Gun, where it's almost
a parody of itself."
"Don't you forget about me..."
Getting messy
Those infamous vomit scenes were intense, even for the actors.
In an interview with MovieViral, Anna Camp said that the production crew attached hoses
to her neck and chin, and that the "stunt guy was off to the side, and he would press
a button and [the vomit] was so powerful that it would knock me off my feet...It was actually
gross, actually cold.
But it was fun."
And what exactly was getting all over everyone?
The cast revealed to Buzznet that the faux-vomit was a mixture of pineapple juice, tomato juice,
and chicken noodle soup.
Yum!
Improv
Multiple cast members described the flexibility for improv in the scripts for both Pitch Perfect
and Pitch Perfect 2.
Banks told Collider, "John Michael Higgins was hired because he's one of the best improv
actors of all time so we were going to make use of it…We did the script, and then we
played and played and played."
Ester Dean, who played Cynthia Rose, described a similar situation in an interview with NYLON,
saying that Banks, quote, "gave me the perfect freedom to go out there and try a lot of things…It
was like, 'These are your lines, but Ester, SAY SOMETHING, OKAY?
Try this…do whatever you wanna do.'"
Castmates Brittany Snow and Hailee Steinfeld echoed that sentiment, with Snow telling Collider
that in Pitch Perfect 2, "We felt safe with each other because we knew each other better,
so there was a collaborative atmosphere, this time around...We knew each other's comedy
so well, we really had a chance to play."
The real Fat Amy
"Love it."
"What's your name?"
Fat Amy.
"You call yourself 'Fat Amy'?"
"Yeah, so twig bitches like you don't do it behind my back."
According to Buzznet, the name Fat Amy actually originated with Amy Poehler.
When she was pregnant, scriptwriter and friend Kay Cannon asked Poehler how she was doing,
and Poehler replied that she felt, quote, "like Fat Amy" — which Cannon then used
in the movie.
Friends IRL
Given how well the cast gets along on screen, it's no surprise to learn that they get along
in real life, too.
Lee told Young Hollywood that "Filming was like summer camp.
We were there four weeks prior to filming — we would have four hours of dance and
two hours of singing a day…We're still friends now…We were all from a different place,
yet we were altogether making this beautiful and fun movie together."
And those friendships have remained intact.
Snow told Refinery29 that she and co-star Kelley Jakle, who played the role of Jessica
in the film's first two installments, live together in L.A.
Perhaps the most impressive post-filming real life relationship comes from Camp and Skylar
Astin, who got married in 2016.
Cast-mates Wilson, Banks, and Ben Platt attended their fall wedding in California, according
to People, and Snow was even one of their bridesmaids.
Snow told People, "It's funny since I've known them from the beginning of them meeting and
dating, and to now see them get married is pretty surreal."
Pitches got skills
When Dean isn't acting, she's also an accomplished song writer: she co-wrote Rihanna's "What's
My Name?," Katy Perry's "Firework," and has also worked with Nicki Minaj.
In an interview with Glamour, Dean described herself as "a very emotional writer.
I always need to have a boyfriend.
I always need to have some food...I normally work like a vampire.
Around 8 to 9pm, what I call 'the spirits' actually show up, and then I just go in the
booth and scream on top of a track."
Lee, in addition to her beat-boxing skills, is a fashion designer and even has her own
clothing line, telling Young Hollywood, "I love fashion...I've been into fashion since
I was really young.
I've started my own clothing line, Hanamahn, which means 'just one' in Korean.
A lot of my pieces are fierce and avant-garde."
Twerking and burritos
Remember the scene where Wilson is hit by a flying burrito?
It happened to writer Kay Cannon in real life.
She said, "I was running on the side of a highway and a group of five guys drove by,
one threw at burrito at me and I fell over.
I looked down and thought I was looking at my guts when it was really just beans and
rice."
Snow told Cosmo that she injured her back on the set of Pitch Perfect 2, saying, "One
of my favorite scenes to do was this number where we really get dirty with our dancing...I'm
a really bad twerker — I still haven't figured out how to do it.
I actually hurt my back one day.
I woke up the next morning and my back was completely tweaked out…from twerking."
The Pack
One of the most memorable scenes in Pitch Perfect 2 is when the Green Bay Packers compete
in the riff-off.
But how on earth did that happen?
Cannon told Vanity Fair that it all began when Packers' offensive tackle, David Bakhtiari,
started a Twitter conversation with Banks, telling her how much he loved the first movie
and eventually asking for a cameo in the sequel.
Cannon initially resisted the idea.
But the Pack promised to work hard, saying "If you put us in the sequel, we will practice,
we will rehearse, we'll take it as a serious thing.
We're athletes, this is what we do.
We'll really work at it."
Coming soon
Fans eagerly await the release of Pitch Perfect 3, slated for late 2017.
According to IMDb, in the third installment, "The now-separated Bellas reunite for one
last singing competition at an overseas USO tour, but they face a group who uses both
instruments and voices."
Can they come out on top?
Here's to getting pitch-slapped this December!
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