Mean Girls star Rachel McAdams has explained why she turned down the opportunity to appear in a recent reunion with the cast.
Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert and Amanda Seyfried all reprised their respective roles from the 2004 film for a new Walmart advert, but McAdams’ Regina George was nowhere to be seen.
Explaining her decision not to appear in the ad, the Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret actress told Variety: “I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t that excited about doing a commercial if I’m being totally honest.
“A movie sounded awesome, but I’ve never done commercials, and it just didn’t feel like my bag. Also… I didn’t know that everyone was doing it. I would, of course, always love to be part of a Mean Girls reunion and hang with my Plastics, but yeah, I found that out later.”
The advert saw Lohan’s Cady Heron working as a guidance counsellor at North Shore High School, with Seyfried’s Karen Smith still working as a reporter and Chabert’s Gretchen Wieners still trying/failing to bring the word ‘fetch’ into popular usage.
McAdams said she was open to the idea of returning for Tina Fey’s movie adaptation of the Mean Girls stage musical, but it wasn’t to be.
“Tina and I sort of dabbled with a few ideas, but it was tough to make it all work in the end,” she explained. “I was really down for whatever she wanted to do. I think the direction it went in will be fantastic and I cannot wait to see it.”
The upcoming film is based on the 2004 movie and the 2018 Broadway musical, which were both written by Fey. Reneé Rapp, who played Regina in the stage adaptation, reprises her role in the film, starring alongside Angourie Rice as Cady Heron, originally played by Lindsay Lohan, and Auli’i Cravalho as Janis Ian.
Other cast members include Jaquel Spivey, Bebe Wood, Avantika Vandanapu, Jenna Fischer, Jon Hamm, Busy Philipps and Tim Meadows, who returns as Principal Duvall.
The first full-length trailer was released in November. You can watch it here.
Mean Girls is set to be released in cinemas on January 12, 2024.
