What Really Happened On The Mean Girls Set
The Mean Girls Black Friday Walmart Commercial premiered on November 1st, it had everyone talking about the cult classic movie. But really, when did we ever stop?
Fans were ecstatic when pictures of a reboot surfaced. Many questioned if we were actually getting a reboot, as we are in the age of reboots, spin-offs and revivals. It was confirmed as too good to be true when it was revealed the cast got together for a commercial only.
The commercial was full of call backs to the movie dialogue which influenced Pop Culture and todays slang in a big way. It starts off with the infamous Missy Elliot beat and the new Plastics walking out of school, and we see that Gretchen Wieners is the mother of one the girls. She quotes “get in loser we’re going shopping,” referring to Walmart’s Friday Deals. We see Karen Smith still offering her odd weather forecasts then a call back to Kevin G telling his kid “don’t let the haters stop you from doing your thang.”
Cady Herron is fittingly the school guidance counselor letting us know that ‘Girl World’ is still at peace. We have a series of camera interviews from the students as they gush over Walmart deals exactly as the OG movie depicted the Junior class fawning over Regina George.
But Regina George was missing. Her absence stood out as we got a peek of Damian, the Jingle Bell Rock choreography at the school’s Winter Talent Show and Gretchen reenacting Amy Poehler’s original dance-along as she recorded the talent show as Regina’s Mom. It seems we got every important nod back to the movie except for one of the most important characters.
It made me think about why McAdams “…didn’t want to do it,” as a source claims when she was offered a role in the commercial.
Lets look back to Fall of 2004 when the movie was filmed to get some insight on the dynamics
of the cast relationships as well at their attitudes towards the experience of filming this legendary movie.
Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams roles were originally reversed.
The Director, Mark Waters wanted an “aggressive and testosterone-laden energy” for Regina that he saw in Lohan and was excited to have her play the role. I think we can all agree Lohan has a ferocity that would have translated really well into the hostile nature of the character. But with Freaky Friday being released and becoming a huge hit, it was decided Lohan needed to play the lead (Cady) and that her fans would not want to see her as the villain.
During scenes Lohan was very shy with McAdams. She was intimidated by her which worked very well with the chemistry. McAdams was older and “a very accomplished actress,” which contributed to Lohan's reaction to her. She was still a minor, while McAdams was 24 at the time.
The feeling on set
Rajiv Surendra (Kevin G) said his filming experience was “relaxed..the most famous person was Lindsay [other than that] “the set was littered with SNL cast members. It felt like it was going to be a B-movie, there were murmurings on set among the crew saying it might go straight to DVD.”
It was Tina Fey’s first movie, she still hadn’t proved herself. After the movie, she went on to win a Writer’s Guild Award which was much deserved after creating line after line that we still repeat today. On set if the joke didn’t work, she would rewrite it in minutes Waters explained.
One of the actors, Jan Caruana, was sad on set. She played Emma Gerber who was part of the clique of ‘The Girls Who Eat Their Feelings.’ Caruana said “it was a little bit hard because nobody wants to be known as that person…Being at that table with the props people just putting piles and piles of food in front of me made me think, 'Ok nobody eats this much…”
There is unfortunately much shame surrounding eating disorders with many assuming that when someone is fat, overweight or very thin, that they inevitably having an issue with eating habits. But that is not true. The actor ultimately said she “didn’t feel exploited and nobody ever made me feel bad which is a testament to how nice it was to work on that set.” She explained the point of the movie was to stop judging women, which was a “perfect message.”
Caruana also said "Nobody felt like the star, everyone was just as important as the next as everyone had a job to do.”
According to Jonathan Bennett who played Aaron Samuels, Lacey Chabert (Gretchen Wieners) and Amanda Seyfried (Karen Smith) were best friends on set. This lines up with the end of the movie plot where Wieners and Seyfried stuck together after the Plastics fell apart.
Off-Set Activities
Jonathan Bennett threw his own Halloween party, true to his character Aaron. But this time, he dressed up as Peter Pan. The Paramount studio took the cast to shows to see Chris Rock and Coldplay. They also received many gifts.
Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried were neck and neck for the role of Regina. According to the Director, Amanda approached the role in a more scary ethereal way, but was less aggressive. He described it as “kind of brilliant.” When McAdams eventually won the role, the producer suggested that Amanda would be perfect for Karen Smith instead.
I can’t help but wonder what the movie would have looked like with Seyfried as the Queen B. However, casting made the right choice in the end. The Notebook, which Rachel McAdams also stars in premiered June 2004 just 2 months after Mean Girls. Both movies were a hit. Mean Girls opened with 25 million at the box office, beating other movies like 13 Going On 30 that was released just a week before, who had a large marketing budget.
It turns out that it is not far fetched (pun intended) that McAdams declined to participate in the commercial. Daniel Franzese (Damian) said “Most of us hung out together except Rachel… She's very very cool and doesn't get wrapped up in a lot of that stuff, she's super low key.”
Rachel McAdams took a break from acting at the height of her career. She hasn’t had a role since 2020, though she does have a recent film that was released this past April 2023. She lives somewhere in the south with her kids and and partner. She has no social media explaining that she is not tech heavy not even owning a TV and still trying to learn how to use email.
In a recent Vanity Fair interview she talked about her decision and feelings surrounding taking a step back from acting after the success of Mean Girls. The actress “felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot. But I also knew it wasn’t quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane…There were definitely some anxious moments of wondering if I was just throwing it all away, and why was I doing that? It’s taken years to understand what I intuitively was doing.”
This helps us understand her decision to pass on the Mean Girls commercial. She didn’t hang out with the cast as much during filming and she values her privacy as well as enjoying her time away from the industry. It is rumored that additional mean girls Black Friday commercials are due to drop, so maybe we can hold out hope that she changes her mind. Or it might be a waste of time to hold our breath.
We can focus on the gift of having this “first meme-able movie” grounded in the late Y2K gifting us comfort, laughs and fashion.
The Mean Girls Musical is set to release in early 2024. The 2004 movie was adapted into a musical written by Tina Fey, which was then adapted into a screenplay. Renee Rap, known from Sex Lives of College Girls, plays Regina George. The only OG actor in the new film is Tina Fey returning as Ms. Norbury.