Presented by Paramount Pictures, the 2004 icons of Mean Girls are back. Produced by Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey, this comedic reboot introduces a new spin on this coming of age film.
Cady Heron, played by Angourie Rice, starts at a new school where she encounters ‘The Plastics’, a group of popular girls consisting of the cunning Regina George (Reneé Rapp), and her two followers, Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). Cady accidentally finds herself on bad terms with Regina when she develops a crush on Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney). Cady, along with her two outsider friends, Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), join forces to put Regina in her place.
Through the lens of comedy, the classic story paints an amplified version of life in high school, riddled with its humbling insecurities, naivety, and navigating how to stay true to yourself.
Lorne Michaels is co-producing the film alongside Tina Fey. He explained that while he was on the fence about revising Mean Girls, he knew that an updated version of the story can still have a similar impact. However, it was a priority for Fey and Michaels to find ways to update the story in a fresh way, while maintaining the integrity of the original.
“That meant considering the ways that the high school world has evolved in the last 20 years. People of all ages are living on their phones today. Social media is everywhere. Tina did a great job of working all that in,” explained Michaels.
He said that the teens who watched the film back in 2004 are now parents in their 30’s. “I have a daughter and she has said to me, ‘Dad, know what today is? It’s October 3rd.’ Mean Girls Day is a big deal for several generations. It just has a different meaning for each of them.”
Even though the teenage characters of Mean Girls are popular amongst Gen Z, those who watched the original film in the early 2000’s will find familiar faces from their era, such as Busy Phillips, Tim Meadows, and Jenna Fischer, who plays the role of Cady’s mother.
“I figured that if I could get Jenna Fischer to play the part, my children would finally respect me. And when I looked at Jenna and Angourie side-by-side, I realized there’s a startling resemblance. Not only do they look alike, they also have the same intelligence and comic timing,” said Fey.
Fischer added that she is excited for the project, being a huge fan of the movie when it first came out. “My character is a single mom who brings her daughter back to America for high school. Cady has to navigate American teenage social dynamics for the very first time. Neither of them has any idea what this will entail. The film is full of positive energy, and it starts with the directors. And this cast is doing everything you loved about the original movie — while also singing and dancing!”
Mean Girls will be playing in theatres until Jan. 29.
