It may seem ironic that the recently busted Tatum O’Neal plays an icon of authority – a high school principal in Lifetime’s “Fab Five,” a fact-based drama about cheerleaders, Texas-style. It’s a combination of “Mean Girls” and “Bring It On.”
But the Academy Award-winning actress, recently arrested for buying crack cocaine in Manhattan, has something in common with the character she plays: neither seem to understand boundaries.
O’Neal plays Lorene Tippit, a woman who is completely wrapped around the finger of her Queen Bee daughter, Brooke (Ashley Benson), and the bigwig parents who unconditionally support the rebellious actions of their spoiled cheerleader daughters.
“I thought Tatum had what it took to play the part, which is softness and toughness all in one,” says Orly Adelson, the film’s executive producer. “I thought she would be relatable, which is really important. I didn’t want the viewers to hate the principal. I wanted them to care for her and understand what led her to let all of this happen.”
As for working with the controversial actress, Adelson says, “We had a wonderful relationship. There were no problems. She was always wonderful on the set, and always knew exactly how she wanted to play her part.”
Adelson’s film is based on the real-life story of one young teacher and cheerleading coach, Michaela Ward, who was hired to teach and coach cheerleading at McKinney North High School, near Dallas. Ward, renamed Emma Carr in the film and played by Jenna Dewan, quickly discovered that the girls under her watch were not to be controlled, particularly the ringleader, whose mother was the school principal, Linda Theret.
When Ward was fired after trying to discipline the girls, she granted interviews to the local press. After a $40,000 investigation conducted by the school district, according to an article that appeared in Newsweek in January 2007, Theret was found culpable of failing to balance her roles of principal and parent and she ultimately resigned. The story was soon picked up nationwide, receiving coverage from ABC News and other outlets.
Adelson says she thought the story would make a good film because “it touches the heart of America today. What are we going to do with our teenagers? How are we going to send the message that we need to help them define their boundaries? When we, as parents and educators, assist them in defining their limits we are actually helping them.”
In the movie, when any of the so-called “Fab Five” receive demerits for cutting, taking cell phone calls in the middle of class, or showing up in highly inappropriate clothing, Tippit erases them from the computer. When a risqué video of Brooke and her friends posing in a sex-toy shop shows up on the Internet, Tippit glosses over it. And when the rebel cheerleaders are literally caught drinking booze in a car on school property and Coach Carr wants to suspend them from the team, Tippit and her assistant principal argue that their drinking can’t be proven even though the empty bottle literally falls out of Tippit’s car.
“What was interesting to me was what surrounded those girls and how there were no boundaries for them. I have a teenager myself, so that interested me personally,” says Adelson.
O’Neal herself ran up against some real-life limits when she was arrested in June for her crack purchase. But like the cheerleaders her character was supposed to be overseeing, O’Neal got off easy: she was fined $96, spent one night in jail and did two half-days of rehab for her transgression. Meanwhile, O’Neal’s dealer, 33-year-old homeless panhandler Allan Garcia, was deported.
FAB FIVE: THE TEXAS CHEERLEADING SCANDAL
Saturday, 9 p.m., Lifetime
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