Trivia / The Hairy Bird

• All-Star Cast:
  • The cast of this film is a who’s who of 90s It Girls: Kirsten Dunst (Little Women, Jumanji), Gaby Hoffmann (Now and Then), Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That), Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse), and Monica Keena (Dawson's Creek). Merritt Wever (Momo) would later go on to win an Emmy Award for her role on Nurse Jackie. The only missing actress is Christina Ricci.
  • Other recognizable faces include Matthew Lawrence, Vincent Kartheiser, and Tom Guiry (Smalls from The Sandlot). Lastly, pre-fame Hayden Christensen and Shawn Ashmore have bit roles as St. Ambrose boys.
• Market-Based Title: The original title, The Hairy Bird, was changed by Miramax for North American release as the studio felt it sounded offensive on account of the title alluding to... erm... male genitalia. (It was, however, used for its release in Australia.) In the U.S., the film was released as All I Wanna Do; while in Canada, it was released as Strike!. Confusingly, both titles have since been used for U.S. digital releases of the film, with streaming/digital download services (such as Paramount+, Prime Video and YouTube) listing it by the Canadian title only or as "Strike! (aka All I Wanna Do)", with the film's credit sequence keeping the U.S. title.
• Executive Meddling: It is not an accident that a film with rising stars didn’t make a bigger splash at the time, as it never got a proper theatrical release and was instead shelved to video. The film was acquired by Miramax Films, whose co-head Harvey Weinstein wanted greater editorial control of the film. Weinstein pushed director Sarah Kernochan to make the film more male-friendly, envisioning it as a Porky's for female audiences. The finished film was never promoted by Miramax and only had a one-week release in American theaters. It did fare better in Canada and Australia, but was quickly sent straight to video. The different, inconsistent titles also didn’t help. The film has since gained a small cult following for its groundbreaking female-driven plot, cast of young stars, and colorful dialogue.
• Write What You Know: The movie's plot was inspired by writer/director Sarah Kernochan's time as a student at Rosemary Hall in Connecticut.
• 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.
• Singer Darlene Love contributed two songs to the soundtrack. She sings the songs "Girlfriends for Life" and "Starlight, Starbright."
• Filmed over the summer of 1997 in Toronto and Whitby. Most of the school scenes were filmed at Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby.