1. When Mark Waters—who'd directed Lindsay Lohan successful Freaky Friday—visited the histrion successful Toronto portion she was filming Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, helium asked her if she wanted to beryllium successful his movie. And she had 1 relation connected her mind.

"I wanted to play Regina. I had conscionable played—in Confessions and Freaky—not the chill miss successful school," she recalled to Entertainment Weekly successful 2014. "I was inactive 17 years aged and I wanted to beryllium the chill miss connected set." But betwixt the occupation uncovering a Cady beardown capable to spell up against her Regina and the immense occurrence of Freaky Friday, it became wide to the powers-that-be that a alteration was necessary.

"Sherry Lansing, who was heading Paramount astatine the time, told us, 'We person to person Lindsay play the pb successful Mean Girls. It's conscionable not going to enactment having her play the villain, due to the fact that she present has an assemblage that won't judge that,'" Waters told Vulture successful 2014, revealing it was up to him to interruption the atrocious quality to the actress. "Lindsay benignant of begrudgingly said, 'Okay, I conjecture I'll play the lead. At slightest I get to person much lines.'"

2. Before Waters swapped Lohan retired of the Regina role, helium had respective actresses travel successful and work other her arsenic Cady. One of them was then-24-year-old Rachel McAdams.

"I retrieve watching her bash the scene," Waters told Vulture, "and aft it was over, I told her, 'I deliberation you're a movie star, but you're mode excessively aged for this character. You conscionable aren't going to beryllium capable to play the ingenue.' And she said, 'No, I understand, I get it.'"

When it came clip to find a caller Regina, however, casting McAdams became a no-brainer. As she told EW, "Mark said, 'I spot Cady a small spot younger, but I deliberation it makes consciousness if Regina benignant of grew up a small excessively fast.'"

3. Before McAdams could beryllium handed the relation of Regina, however, she had to sway the manager distant from different aboriginal co-star: Amanda Seyfried. The Mamma Mia! histrion was a superior favourite for the villainous pb anterior to becoming the delightfully daft Karen. "She tested for Regina and was benignant of brilliant, and precise antithetic than Rachel's approach. She played it successful a overmuch much ethereal but inactive benignant of scary way. She was much frightening, but oddly, little intimidating," Waters recalled, earlier adding that it was shaper Lorne Michaels who suggested her for "the dumb girl."

He continued, "So she came successful and work it and nailed it, and we got the champion of some worlds."

4. While it seems intolerable to ideate Mean Girls without SNL legends Tim Meadows and Amy Poehler successful the roles of Mr. Duvall and Mrs. George, respectively, Waters admitted that Paramount was wary.

"It's weird, but Paramount had a nervousness astir Saturday Night Live," helium told Vulture. "They'd been burned connected immoderate Saturday Night Live movies that had travel from Lorne , truthful they didn't privation many Saturday Night Live actors successful Mean Girls, due to the fact that past it mightiness consciousness similar an SNL movie and radical mightiness shy distant from it."

Meadows, who'd starred successful the flop adaptation of The Ladies Man for Paramount, took "a batch of warring with the studio," Waters added.

5. It's a bully happening that Waters got Poehler formed due to the fact that she coiled up being integral successful bringing mathlete Kevin Gnapoor's talent-show rap to life. In fact, Fey near it up to her erstwhile Weekend Update co-anchor to pen the bop for histrion Rajiv Surendra.

"She'll really springiness recognition to Amy for this, due to the fact that Amy is much of the rap person," Waters revealed. "Amy decidedly coached him connected however to bash the rap, and she really gave him immoderate of the moves and choreography for it." 

6. When Paramount handed Mean Girls implicit to the MPAA for the ratings board, they tried to slap the teen drama with an R rating, if you tin judge it. And the workplace had to combat backmost to guarantee that the intended assemblage for the movie could really spell retired and spot it.

"Even successful the PG-13 movie, we had to instrumentality a batch of things out," Fey told Variety successful 2018. "I retrieve thinking, If this was a movie astir a boys' school, 'Is your cherry popped?' wouldn't person to travel out." That enactment was replaced with the overmuch tamer "Is your muffin buttered?" Not everything was a concession connected the filmmakers' end, however. 

“The enactment successful the soil that I drew was the gag astir the wide-set vagina," Waters told Vulture. "The ratings committee said, 'We can’t springiness you a PG-13 unless you chopped that line.' We ended up playing the paper that the ratings committee was sexist, due to the fact that Anchorman had conscionable travel out, and Ron Burgundy had an erection successful 1 scene, and that was PG-13. We told them, 'You’re lone saying this due to the fact that it’s a girl, and she’s talking astir a portion of her anatomy. There’s nary intersexual discourse whatsoever, and to accidental this is restrictive to an assemblage of girls is demeaning to each women.’ And they yet had to backmost down.”

7. While it was Jonathan Bennett who was fortunate capable to inquire Lohan what time it was—October 3!—there were a fewer different contenders for the Aaron Samuels role.

In a 2014 interrogation with Cosmopolitan, Daniel Franzese (who played Damian) revealed that the portion primitively belonged to a recognizable histrion who got himself fired astatine the array read.

"This different histrion hadn't shaved and helium didn't instrumentality his chapeau off; helium was playing it truly cool," Franzese said, acrophobic to ID the histrion and embarrass him. "People kept coming implicit to him like, 'You know, you should truly instrumentality your chapeau off.' And then, close aft the array read, helium got fired and they called Jonathan Bennett, who I conjecture was their 2nd choice."

8. And that's not each Franzese spilled. "Also, Lindsay precocious told maine that, adjacent earlier [the histrion who got fired], James Franco was considered for the relation of Aaron Samuels," helium added. "I thought that was truthful cool—Bennett was large but that would've been cool."

9. While Bennett whitethorn not person been the archetypal prime for Aaron, the histrion contends that helium got the gig due to the fact that helium bore a striking resemblance to Fey's erstwhile Weekend Update co-anchor Jimmy Fallon. As helium told Huffington Post successful 2015, "She said that's precisely 100 percent true."

10. As Fey explained to Entertainment Weekly successful 2014, "I tried to usage existent names successful penning due to the fact that it's conscionable easier." Case successful point? The addressed-but-hardly seen Glen Coco, named aft her older brother's bully friend.

"He's a movie exertion successful Los Angeles, and I ideate it's a symptom successful the butt for him," she explained to the publication. "Someone said to maine you could bargain a garment astatine Target that says 'You go, Glen Coco!' That was unexpected."

Other characters named aft existent people? Lizzy Caplan's Janis Ian, named aft the instrumentalist who was 1 of the earliest philharmonic guests connected SNL, and Damian, named aft Fey's precocious schoolhouse BFF—and existent TV Guide writer—Damian Holbrook. Cady, meanwhile, was named aft Fey's assemblage roommate Cady Garey. 

11. Aside from penning the movie's slayer script, Fey besides starred successful Mean Girls arsenic mathematics teacher and Mathletes advisor Ms. Norbury. But erstwhile it came to the mathematics jargon she scripted for herself to say, she had nary thought what she was talking about.

"It was an effort connected my portion to counteract the stereotype that girls can't bash math. Even though I did not recognize a connection I was saying," she told the NYT backmost successful 2004 earlier revealing precisely however she made those moments successful the publication marque sense. "My friend's fellow is simply a calculus teacher successful the Bronx. I took his acquisition plans."

12. Mean Girls is based connected Rosalind Wiseman's parenting book Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, and Other Realities of Adolescence, and, since it has nary fictional communicative to adapt, Fey was escaped to gully from her ain precocious schoolhouse experiences to make a plot while staying existent to what Wiseman's book.

And the writer has remained enthusiastic astir Fey's mentation of her work, but for 1 insignificant thing. "I bash not bash spot falls, I person ne'er done spot falls, I volition ne'er bash spot falls," she told The Atlantic in 2014. "I conscionable retrieve erstwhile I saw it the archetypal clip being like, 'Tina, I bash not bash that.'"

13. Remember that country wherever Poehler's Mrs. George is holding her dog, oblivious to the information that it's gnawing connected her bosom implant? Here's however they accomplished that.

"They, like, pinned a portion of a cocktail wiener into her bra," McAdams told EW. "I thought this canine was going to teardrop her apart. It was precise effective. She was specified a pro done it. She's trying to bash her lines and being truthful professional, and this canine is chomping connected her fake boob. I'll ne'er hide that."

14. According to Franzese, the archetypal publication contained a country for Damian that was chopped earlier it was adjacent filmed. "The archetypal ending shows what happened to Damian aft [junior year], and helium was going to audition for American Idol. Simon Cowell was going to telephone him chubby and past helium was going to tally up connected the signifier and punch him," helium told Cosmo. As the histrion told the magazine, determination were a batch of revisions to the archetypal ending, including a spot wherever Ms. Norbury busts Kevin G for selling ecstasy, truthful erstwhile she's investigated for being a cause pusher, determination are existent drugs successful her desk. 

"Janis and Damian person Kevin G. to spell to the schoolhouse committee erstwhile they sermon her punishment to confess that it was him, but Kevin G ne'er shows up," helium continued. "So Damian gets connected the podium and benignant of bulls--ts his mode done saying it was him to effort to support Miss Norbury."

15. Fey famously ne'er considered penning a sequel to the deed film, a determination she's gone connected grounds arsenic regretting. "At the clip we did privation to commencement the speech astir the sequel, and for immoderate crushed I was like, 'No!!! We shouldn't bash that!'" she told EW successful 2014. "Now I look backmost and I'm like, 'Why?' But now, no—it's excessively precocious now."

As she told Variety successful 2018, however, "Maybe it's better, due to the fact that we tin prevention each the vigor for this."

This being the Mean Girls philharmonic she wrote with hubby and 30 Rock composer Jeff Richmond that premiered successful 2017 earlier opening connected Broadway successful April 2018. Nominated for 12 Tony Awards and 9 Drama Desk Awards that year, it won Fey the grant for Outstanding Book of a Musical astatine the second and served arsenic inspiration for 2024's Mean Girls musical.