The role of Torrance was offered to Marley Shelton before Kirsten Dunst came on board, director Peyton Reed told MTV. Shelton, though, turned the role down to be in Sugar, Spice, and Semi-Automatics, the other cheerleading film being made at the same time. Reed wanted to get Dunst in to play Torrance, but she said no a few times. "We kept coming back to Kirsten – and she kept turning us down," executive producer Caitlin Scanlon told MTV. Dunst came around, though, and signed on for the film.