Kirsten Dunst’s Bring It On House

Well, as Vanessa Williams once sang, I definitely “saved the best for last” regarding my Bring It On posts this week.  As you might have already guessed, the BIO filming location I was most excited about stalking was, of course, the ultra-cool, modern-style abode belonging to Kirsten Dunst’s character, Torrance Shipman, in the movie.  Fellow stalker Owen found this location by, again, getting a hold of a Bring It On crew member who remembered that the house was located on a cul-de-sac about twenty-five miles north of San Diego in a small beach community named Cardiff-by-the-Sea.  Owen got to cyber-stalking and, sure enough, found the house pretty much immediately.  So, on our way home from San Diego this past Saturday morning, I dragged my parents out to Cardiff-by-the-Sea to stalk the house.  And, let me tell you, the stalking gods were definitely smiling down on me that day, because when we pulled up to the house the owners happened to be standing outside and they ended up giving us a TOUR OF THEIR HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  🙂   But I'”‘”‘ll get to that in a minute.

When I first hopped out of the car, camera in hand, and noticed the owners standing outside, I asked them if their house had been used in Bring It On and they said, “You found us!”  LOL  The owners honestly could NOT have been nicer and literally talked to us for over twenty minutes and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming.  They also told us all sorts of cool behind-the-scenes information, like the fact that the movie was originally titled Cheer Fever  and that the flick was not expected to be released in theatres, but to instead go straight to DVD.  No one had any idea it would turn out to be such a huge hit!   The owner, Cindy, also told us that producers were considering three different houses in the area to stand in as Torrance’s home in the movie – hers, one just around the corner, and another in Point Loma.  They ended up choosing Cindy’s because they liked the fact that it was located on a cul-de-sac.  So interesting!  Then, when I asked Cindy if she had gotten to meet Kirsten Dunst during the filming, she said “Hold on a minute!”, ran inside, and grabbed a photo album that she had made of the shoot!!!!  It was at that point that I just about keeled over from excitement!!!    🙂

As you can probably imagine, I was absolutely mesmerized by Cindy’s photo album! It contained numerous pictures of the filming, including candid photographs of the actors hanging out on set and getting their make-up done, and photographs of the house being dressed up for the shoot.  Cindy told us that producers actually changed the front of her home quite significantly for the filming.  In real life, the home has two separate garages – a single car garage on the right hand side and a two car garage on the left.  For a reason that she was unsure of, set dressers built a false exterior to cover up the two-car garage, as you can see in the above photograph.  They also added a significant amount of foliage in front of that fake exterior, I am guessing to hide that part of the driveway.

One part of the home that was not changed for the movie was the little circular address plaque situated on the front of the single car garage.  Yay!!  I so loved seeing that!  🙂

Another cool tidbit of information that Cindy told me what that prior to the filming of Bring It On, she did not have a bench in her front porch area.  But when producers brought one in for the shoot, Cindy and her husband really liked how it looked and ended up purchasing one to put in the exact same spot where Jesse Bradford sat in the above scene.   Love it!

Included in Cindy’s Bring It On scrapbook were pictures of the interior of her home all dressed up for the filming.  As I had been under the assumption that all of the interior scenes had taken place on a soundstage, I just about fell over when I found out that they had actually filmed inside of the real house!  And it was then that Cindy asked – are you sitting down for this??? – if my mom and I wanted to come inside her home to see the areas that were used in the movie!  DID WE WANT TO COME INSIDE?  DID WE WANT TO COME INSIDE?  LOL  OF COURSE WE DID!  🙂  The area of the home that I was most excited about seeing was the cool spiral staircase located off of the living room, as my fiancé and I have a very similar stairwell in our apartment!  🙂  When I mentioned that fact to Cindy, she insisted that I pose for a picture on the stairs.  SO COOL!  🙂  Thank God she did, too, as it was the ONLY photograph I ended up taking inside of the house.   🙁  I was so incredibly overwhelmed at seeing everything in person that I totally forgot to take any pictures!  LOL  I am such an airhead sometimes, I swear!

Needless to say, the Bring It On  house is absolutely beautiful inside.  The areas of the home that were used in the filming include the kitchen and the living room, which both look a bit different in real life, as producers changed the color of the walls and brought in all new furnishings for the shoot.

The home’s master bedroom – which we did not get to see – was also used in the movie as Kirsten Dunst’s room.  Producers not only had the room painted a mustard yellow color (yuck!) for the filming, but also paid a young girl to decorate the walls with magazine pin-ups, photographs, and cheerleading memorabilia.  Oh, how I would have LOVED to have had that job as a kid!   LOL  So would have been right up my alley.  🙂

I cannot tell you how cool it was to see the Bring It On house so up close and personal and to get to speak with the real life owners at length about their experiences during the filming.  My mom was completely floored, too, and she’s never even seen Bring It On!  LOL  As I was leaving the house, I texted Owen to let him know the awesome news and he wrote back “How do you always get so darn lucky???”  To tell you the truth, I often find myself asking that very same question!  LOL Sometimes the stalking stars just align, I guess, but, let me tell you, I often have to pinch myself when thinking about all of the amazingly cool things I’ve gotten to do while stalking!  🙂

A big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location.  And another BIG THANK YOU to the owners of the Bring It On house for COMPLETELY making my day by inviting my mom and me into their home and spending so much time chatting with us!  You guys ROCK!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Kirsten Dunst’s house from Bring It On  is located at 2002 Bruceala Court in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, just North of San Diego.  If you stalk this home, please respect the owners’ privacy and do not trespass, ring the doorbell, or ask to be let inside.  My mom and I were extremely lucky to meet the residents and be given a tour of the home, but as this is not common practice, please don’t bother the owners about doing it yourself.

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