No, Diane Keaton's 'Poms' isn't based on the Sun City Poms – not exactly

Despite what you may have heard and seen, Diane Keaton’s latest film “Poms” is not based on the Sun City Poms, Arizona’s senior cheer team.

Not precisely, anyway.

In the film, which opened Friday, May 10, Keaton’s character, Martha, is living in a retirement community in Georgia, not Arizona — called Sun Springs, not Sun City. Of course, changing names and locations doesn’t really mean anything. That happens all the time in movies.

Whatever the case, Martha and a neighbor, played by Jacki Weaver, form a cheerleading club at the community, adding Pam Grier and Rhea Perlman, among others.

Perlman, on a “Today” show appearance Thursday, May 9, said the movie was based on the Sun City Poms, who surprised her with a video inviting her to join their team.

But STXfilms, the studio that produced the movie, says not so fast.

The film was co-written by director Zara Hayes, who came up with the story, and Shane Atkinson. According to the STXfilms production notes, Hayes had been kicking around the idea since her childhood in England.

“Hayes was further inspired by some photos of women who had set up cheerleading teams later in life,” the notes say.

Indeed, the word from the studio is that the team in the movie was inspired not by any one group, but by groups like the Sun City Poms and others.

A call to the Sun City Poms wasn’t returned. However, in a story in YourValley.net, Greta Paulson, a Sun City Poms member, says in 2015 Hayes called Ruth Pharris, then the director of the team, and talked for an hour about it. They never heard back about the film until they found out a couple of months ago it would be released.

Since then, in addition to the “Today” show, “Inside Edition” aired a piece on the Sun City Poms, citing them as the inspiration for “Poms.” Local stations have shown similar stories.

Even if that is not technically true, it does seem as if the Sun City Poms and other senior cheerleaders played at least some part in the idea behind the film.

What is it Chief Bromden says in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?” “It’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.”

Or, in this case, it didn’t.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

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