Wanda Holloway (Holly Hunter) is an ambitious housewife who does not shirk breaking the bounds of decency to realise her ambitions. She comes from Channel View, a refinery town outside Houston. She is accused of hiring her former brother-in-law (Beau Bridges), the black sheep of the family, to kill the mother of her daughter’s rival in the cheer-leading con¡test. In a small American town like Channel View there aren’t many opportunities for young people: the boys have (American) football, baseball and basketball, the girls have cheer-leading and obsessions can take on such proportions that someone plans a murder.The film is painstakingly based on true events and follows exactly their course: the try outs, the alleged murder plan, the trial, the media hype and the battle for the film rights.Holly Hunter played this role immediately after The Piano. She was attracted by the idea of playing someone who could get so worked up that she would blow all her fuses. The tapes of police interrogations include fragments in which witnesses talk about the murder as if they were teenagers talking about spraying graffiti.Michael Ritchie: ‘The film is as much about media – and hence public – fascination for the story of Wanda Holloway as about cheer-leading or murder. Everyone involved with the incident was a famous personality overnight.’
