Pitch - Perfect
The plot—the Bellas reunite for a USO tour, only to become entangled with a shady arms dealer ( in a bizarre cameo)—was universally panned as nonsensical. Director Trish Sie tried her best, but the "a cappella vs. rock band" climax felt tired.
The plot—the Bellas get suspended after a notorious "wardrobe malfunction" at the Lincoln Center and must win the World Championships in Copenhagen—was bigger but riskier. wrote a darker script exploring post-college anxiety. Pitch Perfect
was a near-unknown Australian comedian. She auditioned for a small role (Chloe or Aubrey) but improvised a joke about "doing a character from The Simple Life ." Kay Cannon immediately rewrote the role of Patricia "Fat Amy" for her, giving her full license to improvise. The plot—the Bellas reunite for a USO tour,
Her script was raw, raunchy, and smart. She created (based on a composite of real singers), a cynical DJ who sees a cappella as a joke, and Chloe , the optimistic senior desperate to win. Cannon pitched it as The Bad News Bears meets Mean Girls with beatboxing. The plot—the Bellas get suspended after a notorious
Originally, the film was set at with an original villain group called "The Harvard Sirens." The script circulated for years, with directors like Jason Moore (Avenue Q) attached. The problem? No studio wanted a movie about singing in showers. Part 3: Casting (The Accidental Dream Team) Elizabeth Banks signed on as producer and co-star (as commentator Gail ). But the key was Anna Kendrick . Coming off Up in the Air , she was a rare "indie star who could sing." She was cast as Beca.
Rapkin discovered a world of fierce rivalries, intense choreography, and "pitch slaps" (when one singer hits a note so perfectly it silences the competition). The book, Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a cappella Glory , was a fun, quirky read, but no one expected it to become a blockbuster movie. Producer Gold Circle Films bought the rights and hired Kay Cannon to write the script. Cannon, a writer for 30 Rock , had a revolutionary idea: ignore the book’s plot, keep the world, but make it hard-R rated with a female-led cast.
Before the movie, there was Mickey Rapkin , a senior editor at The Hollywood Reporter . In 2008, he traveled the country to write a non-fiction book about the high-stakes, obsessive world of collegiate a cappella. He focused on three groups: The Tufts Beelzebubs (the all-male group that later helped produce the movie’s soundtrack), the University of Oregon Divisi, and the reigning champions, The Virginia Belles .