October 3rd is National Mean Girls Day and to celebrate we’re taking a quick look back at the 2004 cult classic. The film, directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey, opened on April 30th, 2004 and earned a surprising $24.4 million over its debut weekend. Mean Girls lived on through its DVD release and endless television loops and years later the flick still ranks as one of the very best teen films ever made.
So fetch…
Here are 20 fun facts about Mean Girls that you probably didn’t know.
1. Mean Girls was loosely based on the parenting book, Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence by Rosalind Wiseman.
2. The movie was originally going to be called Homeschooled. Remember Cady (played by Lindsay Lohan) was homeschooled before she and her parents moved to America.
3. Even though the movie was set in Evanston, Illinois, it was mostly shot in Toronto, Canada. Notable locations include: Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall and Sherway Gardens.
4. Lindsay Lohan originally auditioned for the role of Regina George. Lohan was known for her good girl roles in Disney’s Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and desperately wanted to play the cool girl Queen Bee character. Mark Waters, who had also directed Lohan in Freaky Friday, felt she was better suited to play the heroine Cady Heron and didn’t want moviegoers to associate Lohan with Regina’s negative attitude.
5. Rachel McAdams originally auditioned for the role of Cady Heron, but scored the role of Regina George.
6. P.S. Regina George’s signature long, blonde hair was actually a wig.
7. Amanda Seyfried originally auditioned for the role of Cady, while Ashley Tisdale auditioned to play Karen Smith. Of course, Seyfried went on to play Mean Girls’ rather, um, simple character Karen.
8. James Franco was originally considered to play Aaron Samuels. Tina Fey ultimately cast Jonathan Bennett as Aaron because he resembled Jimmy Fallon.
9. Janis Ian (played by Lizzy Caplan) was named after singer-songwriter Janis Ian, who was the first-ever musical guest on SNL‘s first episode on October 11, 1975.
10. The cast department did a lot of age-bending. Regina George and Cady Heron were supposed to be the same age in the movie, but Rachel McAdams is actually eight years older than Lindsay Lohan. Also, Amy Poehler (who played Regina’s “cool” mom) is only 7 years older than McAdams in real life.
11. The MPAA wanted to give Mean Girls an R rating, so scenes from the movie had to be edited to get the PG-13 rating.
12. Gretchen Weiners (played by Lacey Chabert) was the voice of Eliza Thornberry on The Wild Thornberrys and the voice of Meg in Family Guy’s first season.
13. The song Cady “actually recognizes” at the school dance is called “Built This Way” by Samantha Ronson. Lohan would go on to date Ronson a few years after the movie’s release.
14. The Plastics wore skirts made out of plastic during their winter talent show performance of “Jingle Bell Rock.” The plastic skirts were meant to represent the Plastics, obviously.
15. Though Tina Fey wrote the Mean Girls script, Amy Poehler penned mathlete Kevin Gnapoor’s talent-show rap. In fact, there’s an amazing YouTube video (above) of Poehler performing the rap circa 2004, with Fey and Lohan as her hype women.
16. The number on Kevin Gnapoor’s (played by Rajiv Surendra) business card is 847-555-2148. 847 is the real area code of the North Shore.
17. Tim Meadows broke his arm before shooting, so they wrote in Principal Duvall’s carpal tunnel.
18. Principal Duvall’s line, “I did not leave the South Side for this!” is actually a quote from another movie, Lean on Me.
19. Daniel Franzese (who played Damian) is still constantly bombarded with his most famous line, “You go Glen Coco!”
20. And, finally. Glenn Coco is a real person! The actor’s name is David Reale, a Canadian actor born 1984. For some horrible, horrible reason this role was not credited in the movie.
