Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey reunited at the premiere of the new “Mean Girls” film, based on the broadway play, on Monday night.
Lohan, who played the main character Cady Heron in “Mean Girls” (2004), made an appearance Monday night at the New York City premiere of the upcoming “Mean Girls” film, per People.
There, she reunited and shared the red carpet with, according to Today, Tina Fey — who wrote the screenplay for both films — as well as with original cast members Daniel Franzese and Rajiv Surendra, who played Damian and Kevin Gnapoor.
In addition, she got to meet some of the new cast, including Angourie Rice, who will be portraying Lohan’s character in the upcoming film, per Variety.
What is ‘Mean Girls’ based on?
The story all starts back in 2002, when author Rosalind Wiseman released a book called “Queen Bees & Wannabes,” a parenting book targeted to help with teenage daughters.
According to The New York Times, after the book’s release, Fey, while working as the head writer for “SNL,” took inspiration from the book and created what would become the script for “Mean Girls.”
Once production started, Fey had in mind one person to audition for the movie — and that was Lohan, who at the time achieved stardom after starring in “Freaky Friday,” per Vanity Fair.
Lohan initially wanted the role of Cady’s antagonist, Regina, which both Fey and director Mark Waters agreed with. But after Paramount executives and Lorne Michaels, the creator of “SNL,” objected to have Lohan portray Regina, Fey and Waters moved Lohan to be “the good girl who goes mean and then back again,” also reported by Vanity Fair.
Coincidentally, Rachel McAdams, who ending up portraying Regina in the film, first auditioned to play as Cady, but Waters felt that McAdams was too old to portray the protagonist, per Entertainment Weekly.
The cultural phenomenon
According to Box Office Mojo, the film released to theaters in April 2004 with a budget of $17 million and catapulted to a worldwide gross of $130 million.
The film instantly became a cult classic. Richard Brody of The New Yorker describes the film as “certainly, deservedly, a classic, but it’s a classic along the lines of ‘Casablanca,’ renowned for its performances and for its dialogue, for a seemingly wondrous synergy of all involved.”
According to USA Today, a musical adaptation of “Mean Girls” released on Broadway in April 2018, which was also written by Fey and conducted by Jeff Richmond, Fey’s husband.
This musical became the basis for the upcoming film, which is a musical comedy, per The Washington Post.
Where have they been since?
Fey, already a successful writer, actor and producer, has continued to be involved with “Mean Girls.” Fey told The New York Times, “I have so much gratitude that this movie seemed to stick with people. When I look at it, I am reminded of how hard I worked on it in the first place.”
Lohan has endured a roller coaster of a career since “Mean Girls” came out. After receiving worldwide recognition for her portrayal of Cady, she dealt with multiple career setbacks and faced multiple commercial failures, per Fox News.
But in 2021, also according to Fox News, she announced that she would be starting in the Netflix romantic comedy film, “Falling For Christmas.”
Since then, she has appeared in a Walmart ad campaign portrayed as an older version of Cady, alongside her older counterparts Karen and Gretchen, played by Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert, respectively — although McAdams does not make an appearance, per People.
The red carpet reunion actually wasn’t the first time Lohan and Fey have met up with each other since the 2004 film, as Katie Couric hosted a “Mean Girls” reunion back in 2020 featuring some of the original cast — over a video conference.