Trivia / Pitch Perfect

• Acting for Two:
  • C.J. Perry plays both one of the opening Bellas (the blonde one gagging) and one of the Footnotes.
  • One of DSM, Dylan Cheek, played one of the Footnotes in the original film.
• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Beca's audition song was selected by Anna Kendrick because she spent an afternoon learning it from a viral video on Reddit.
  • It was Ester Dean's idea to get Alexis Knapp to join her in singing "S&M" at the Riff-Off (or was it Cynthia Rose's?). Originally, it was just going to be her because it's her song, but she thought the character of Stacie singing it would be more appropriate.
• Cast the Expert: Obviously they needed actors who can sing for the lead roles, but they hired a lot of singers and musical stars for the less-acting roles to make sure they had perfect pitch.
  • Michael Viruet can also ride the unicycle.
  • Anna Camp is The Cast Show Off: she is ALL the instruments.
  • While the a capella group Pentatonix certainly counts, some of its members fit this trope better. Avi Kaplan (vocal bass, arrangement and composition) was in a college group called Fermata Nowhere.
  • Most of DSM are just singers and dancers. Their vocal percussionist, 80Fitz, is a former competitive beatboxer who also used to beatbox for his college acapella group.
• Cut Song:
  • In Pitch Perfect 2, there's the Treblemakers' cover of "Locked Out Of Heaven" in an alternate scene for their performance of "Lollipop". The scene was completed and can be seen on YouTube here.
  • Pitch Perfect 3 also has a cut song. It's an extended version of the scene where Stacie calls the Bellas to introduce them to her newborn. Emily leads the group in a lullaby showing that she hasn't completely given up songwriting. You can watch it here.
• The Danza: John Michael Higgins as John and Ben Platt as Benji.
• Dawson Casting: Though they all play college students, Anna Camp, Adam Devine, and Rebel Wilson are substantially older than their respective characters. Though you wouldn't be able to tell.
• Directed by Cast Member : Elizabeth Banks (Gail) directed the sequel.
• Fake Australian: American John Lithgow as Fat Amy's father Fergus in the third movie.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Komissar, the leader of the German group Das Sound Maschine in the sequel, is played by Danish actress Birgitte Hjort Sørensen.
  • In an inversion of Fake American, the Canadian national team in the sequel are played by American a capella group Pentatonix.
• Harpo Does Something Funny:
  • Room was left for Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine to do a lot of improv, which most of their interactions ultimately are. The rest of the cast, though, did have some freedom with their lines: just see the aca-inappropriate outtakes. Notably, Skylar Astin added a bunch of lines during song performances to the point they were expected and a lot made it into the film. In Wilson's case this could stem from the fact that Fat Amy wasn't even it the script initially. Rebel Wilson showed up for auditions, but wasn't a fit for any of the characters, but she did well enough that a character was created just for her.
  • Performed to the T as Anna Camp and Brittany Snow can be heard corpsing at the mermaid dancing, and Camp nearly does at the horizontal running (though it's not unbelievable that anyone would laugh, in the situations).
  • In the sequel, Anna Kendrick (and, to an extent, Brittany Snow) was also given breathing room. Half of her lines are improv. Meanwhile, Hailee Steinfeld purposely chose to get away with laughing at Rebel's improv by deciding Emily should think anything Fat Amy said was hilarious.
• The Other Darrin: The Latin-Spanish dub had these changes since the sequels:
  • Angélica Villa voiced Beca and was replaced by Anette Ugalde, the former now voicing Stacie Conrad.
  • Jocelyn Robles, who voiced Chloe, is replaced by Liliana Barba.
  • Betzabé Jara voiced Aubrey in the first film and was replaced by Cony Madera, due to the former already voicing Emily Junk.
  • Circe Luna replaces Ivett Toriz (from the first film) as Fat Amy.
  • Angélica Villa, Beca's former original voice actress, takes over from Diana Alonso as Stacie.
  • Noriko Takaya voices Lily, replacing Mayra Arellano from the first film.
  • Irene Jiménez as Cynthia-Rose, having been formerly voiced by Yedir Silva in the first film.
  • Luis Leonardo Suárez voiced Jesse in the first film. In the sequel, he was replaced by Carlo Vázquez.
  • Rafael Pachecho was the voice of Benji in the first film, before being replaced by Nacho Rodríguez in the sequel.
  • Treblemaker Bumper Allen, who was voiced by Ricardo Méndez, is replaced by Miguel Angel Leal.
• Playing Against Type: Though Anna Kendrick has played snarky characters like Beca in her more serious roles, her usual comedy work involves her playing the overly-sweet characters like Brittany Snow's performance as Chloe. Funnily enough, Beca's personality isn't too far off from Anna's actual personality.
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Hailee Steinfeld was already a big fan of the first movie, to the point of even admitting to family members that this was the type of cast she'd want to be working with. To say she was over the moon getting the role of Emily in the sequel would be an understatement.
  • Is anyone is wondering why members of the Green Bay Packers make a rather unexplained cameo during the riff off in Pitch Perfect 2? Well it turns out they were huge fans, and director Elizabeth Banks asked them to come on once she learned the fact. Several of the cast members even admitted that the football players memorized all the choreography to their performances in the first movie.
• Recycled Script: The sequel rehashes a lot from the first movie.
• Romance on the Set: Anna Camp and Skylar Astin met while filming the first movie, got married in 2016 and got divorced in 2019.
• Star-Making Role: This movie franchise dramatically rocketed Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, Ben Platt and Brittany Snow to stardom. And while she did have tons of critical acclaim prior, Hailee Steinfeld had her fame status blow up after the sequel was released, with her own personal music career launching soon after.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The role of Gail was originally written for Kristen Wiig but she declined due to scheduling conflicts. Elizabeth Banks, one of the film's producers, eventually took the role.
  • Brie Larson auditioned for a role.
  • Sia co-wrote both "Bird Set Free" and "Flashlight" for Pitch Perfect 2. "Flashlight" was chosen for the final film and was recorded as a single by Jessie J, whereas "Bird Set Free" was later offered to Adele and ended up on This is Acting.
  • Adam DeVine just finished season 1 of "Workaholics" when he was considering taking the role as Bumper. He asked his "Workaholics" co-stars, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson, to read the "Pitch Perfect" script and tell him if they think he should do the film. They both initially told him the script was funny and he should do it. But soon later, Blake Anderson talked to DeVine privately and told him not to do the film because having him associated with a singing film was going to make "Workaholics" loose popularity.

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