For fans of the wild and heartwarming 2000's cult classic Coyote Ugly, there may be hope that we'll be seeing more coyotes dancing on the bar in the near future.
Variety's recent oral history of the film included stories and moments of reflection from members of the original cast and filmmakers. The film follows Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo), a young woman who moves to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a singer-songwriter. On the way, she works as a bar maid at a wild and female-owned establishment called Coyote Ugly, and through this experience finds her confidence, love and friends for life. Perabo was joined by Adam Garcia (Kevin), Maria Bello (Lil), Tyra Banks (Zoe), as well as director David McNally and producer Jerry Bruckheimer in the interview. They discussed everything from how the cast kept from slipping on the bar to the film's iconic soundtrack.
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When it comes to a sequel, however, Banks made it clear that it wasn't just something they've been vaguely talking about. The model/actress has had a "passion" to actively try to get a second film made and even spitballed possible plot scenarios with Bruckheimer and the original writer, Gina Wendkos. “I feel like we need to do some type of rallying cry to social media, you know, kind of like a petition to get people to sign to make the sequel. I actually really want to produce it. We have really been wanting to do that and even had a form of a treatment with the original writer," Banks said. "And even [Diane] Warren, who did the original music with Rimes, is super passionate about this.”
Bruckheimer said that fact that Disney owns the film has been a challenge in trying to bring a sequel to life, as they have, as he calls it, "kind of a different brand." He's likely referring to the fact that the PG-13 film is probably too raunchy in subject matter for the family-friendly Disney demographic. "We haven’t had much luck yet but you never know," the producer said.
But even though the team is keen on trying to work out a next chapter for Coyote Ugly, Perabo (who apparently has been DMing Banks) made a point to say that the film would have to reflect not only the passage of time — “Who owns the bar? What are we all doing? Do we all still know each other?" Perabo wondered out loud — but also the social and political evolution of the last 20 years, especially when it comes to female empowerment. "That movie in 2000, that was a really different moment," Perabo said. "That was the sort of stiletto-feminism and women’s rights and we’re maybe in the third wave of feminism now and things have evolved and I would want the movie to reflect that evolution."
It sounds like the modern take on Coyote Ugly could be something like Hustlers meets A Star Is Born — and if so, sign us up.