Taglines: Every girl has a secret desire.
All I Wanna Do takes place at an elite New England boarding school in 1963 before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Odette “Odie” Sinclair (Hoffmann) is forcibly transferred by her parents to Miss Godard’s Preparatory School for Girls after her parents find out that she has planned to have sex with her boyfriend, Dennis (Matthew Lawrence).
Upon arrival to the school, which is run by the stern but kind headmistress Miss McVane (Redgrave), Odette is introduced to her roommates, the intelligent and charismatic Verena von Stefan (Dunst) and the promiscuous Tinka Parker (Keena). Verena and Tinka are the school’s primary troublemakers; both mock an uptight hall monitor named Abigail “Abby” Sawyer (Cook), who has a penchant for tattletaling, and Verena regularly buys cigarettes from a lunch cook and is constantly late for classes.
After a brief hazing period, Odie is welcomed into the D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Ravioli), a club of several girls at the school who have greater aspirations than those of their peers; the members congregate in the school’s attic, where they have access to canned ravioli stored above the cafeteria.
The club is led by Verena, and consists of several other girls, including Theresa “Tweety” Goldberg (Heather Matarazzo), a bulimic who self-induces vomiting by drinking ipecac syrup and plans to be a child psychologist; and Maureen “Momo” Haines (Merritt Wever), a well-spoken science nerd and aspiring biologist. Verena has plans to start a fashion magazine like Vogue, while Tinka plans to be an “actress-folk singer-slut”. Odette declares her interest in politics, but pines to finish what she started with Dennis and lose her virginity.
The D.A.R. begins planning a rendezvous for Odie and Dennis, but when it is discovered that Miss Godard’s is considering going co-ed with the nearby St. Ambrose boys’ academy, the girls become divided on the matter and ultimately the club breaks up, leaving Verena and Momo to plan a sabotage for an upcoming dance with the St. Ambrose boys. Meanwhile, the board of trustees for the school deliberates on the matter, which include Abby’s parents. Miss McVane detests the merger, but can do little about it because of the school’s financial problems.
All I Wanna Do, also known under the titles The Hairy Bird in Australia and Strike! in the United Kingdom and Canada, is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Sarah Kernochan. It stars Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffman, Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo and Rachael Leigh Cook in an ensemble cast as students of the fictional Miss Godard’s Preparatory School for Girls, and Lynn Redgrave as the school’s headmistress. The film takes place in 1963 and focuses on several students’ plotting and sabotage of a proposed merger for the school to go coed.
The film’s setting, in 1963, is based loosely on Kernochan’s experiences at Rosemary Hall around that time. Filming was done in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby. The song “The Hairy Bird” plays during the film’s end credits; it was written by Kernochan and sung by a group which includes Kernochan and five of her Rosemary Hall classmates, including Glenn Close.
All I Wanna Do (1998)
Directed by: Sarah Kernochan
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Lynn Redgrave, Rachael Leigh Cook, Thomas Guiry, Vincent Kartheiser, Monica Keena, Matthew Lawrence, Heather Matarazzo, Merritt Wever, Rosemary Dunsmore
Screenplay by: Sarah Kernochan
Production Design by: John Kasarda
Cinematography by: Anthony Janelli
Film Editing by: Anita Brandt Burgoyne, Peter C. Frank
Costume Design by: Ann Hould-Ward, Julie Whitfield
Set Decoration by: Elizabeth Calderhead
Art Direction by: Kim Karon
Music by: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for teen sex-related material, language and substance misuse.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: September 4, 1998
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