UPDATE, 2/28/25 at 10:00 a.m. ET:
Tyra Banks is breaking down how her “last minute” reunion with the Coyote Ugly cast came to be.
“It just felt so good,” Banks told Us Weekly exclusively while attending the 18th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday, February 27. “I had a very small role in Coyote Ugly, but most of the time that I spent with them — which the world didn’t see — was rehearsal.”
Banks admitted it was “so weird” to hear the cast’s on-set secrets while moderating the film screening and Q&A panel at Santa Monica’s Aero Theater on Wednesday, February 26.
“At the last minute I agreed to moderate. In the car I’m like, ‘What am I going do?’” Banks continued. “It was fun.”
Original story continues below:
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Coyote Ugly, most of the original cast reconvened for one more shift.
Film stars Tyra Banks, Izabella Miko, Maria Bello and Melanie Lynskey joined songwriter Diane Warren on Wednesday, February 26, for a special screening and Q&A panel at Santa Monica’s Aero Theater. The event raised funds for the Global Empowerment Mission LA Wildfire Relief Mission to help those impacted by the recent natural disaster in Los Angeles.
Fellow stars Piper Perabo, Bridget Moynahan and Adam Garcia also attended — albeit virtually.
“To my Coyotes… @officialmariabello @piperperabo @izabellamiko @bridgetmoynahan — who would’ve thought that 25 years after #CoyoteUgly lit up the big screen, we’d be back together, sharing a stage once again?” Banks, 51, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, February 27. “Last night’s anniversary reunion was magical, wild, hilarious and deeply touching — just like the movie itself.”
She concluded, “So many memories, so much love. Forever a Coyote.”
During the panel, the cast members further reflected on the experience.
“Everybody thinks I was dancing on the bar, and I’m so grateful I wasn’t,” Lynskey, 47, joked. “I am very grateful I was just there going, ‘You go, Violet!’”
Coyote Ugly was released in August 2000, following small-town singer Violet (Perabo) when she traded the New Jersey suburbs for the bright lights of New York City to pursue her stage dreams. In order to make ends meet, Violet applied for a job at the famed Coyote Ugly bar alongside coworkers Cammie (Miko) and Rachel (Moynahan). Banks, for her part, played Zoe, who quit the gig ahead of Violet’s arrival in town.
All of the costars — Bello played the Coyote Ugly boss, while Lynskey portrayed Violet’s hometown BFF — have fond memories of their time on set.
“I was kind of in over my head when I made it, I was so young and I’d only done two films before it so I sort of didn’t know what I was doing,” Perabo, 48, recalled Australia’s Nine.com.au in 2020. “But it’s really the people from the movie that I loved, Adam Garcia and I are still friends and in touch, and I kept in touch with a lot of people we made that movie with.”
At the time, Perabo confessed that she hadn’t “even thought” about making a potential sequel.
“Those girls are usually up for anything so maybe I should give them a call and see if they want to do it,” she said. “Yeah, that’d be fun.”
