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Fired Up brings good cheer – Metro US

Fired Up brings good cheer

In the new comedy Fired Up, two high school football stars attempt to expand their dating pool by spending the summer at cheerleading camp. After all, where else would be better to meet cute, athletic girls? Once they arrive however, the characters (and their actor counterparts) discover something else — an extremely difficult athletic sport.

“This is more about the boys obviously and the jokes end up being on them a little bit but the cheering part — I think anyone who watches it has got to respect what these kids do in cheer camp,” said actress AnnaLynne McCord (TV’s 90210) recently over the phone from Los Angeles. McCord should know what she’s talking about. Not only does she play a head cheerleader in the movie, but her and co-star Sarah Roemer (Disturbia) spent more than two weeks at cheerleading boot-camp preparing for the comedy.

“This is definitely a dangerous sport. I don’t know why parents let 14-year-old little girls do it. I mean, they’re throwing you 20 feet in the air and you’re having to focus and actually do something,” explained McCord. “I was doing such minimal things considering what actual cheerleaders do and, at those ages, it’s absolutely incredible.”

“Its extremely hard and you have to be precise and strong,” adds Roemer. “I felt much more comfortable with the girls throwing me up in the air than these two strong guys.”

Although the choreography in Fired Up — which opens in theatres next Friday — is sure to gain admirers, it is still a comedy intended to mock the sub-culture of cheerleaders. No scene perhaps captures that spirit more than one in which actors Eric Christian Olsen and Nicholas D’Agosto had to strip down and perform a naked cheer — a sequence in which the pair not only had to have their pom-pom choreography down pat to avoid full exposure but they had to be fearless.

“Oh yes, it’s very fun,” laughed Roemer. “(Eric and Nicholas) kind of fed off each other and they totally go for it.”