Rachel McAdams is certainly one of the most versatile actresses in Hollywood. She has been a part of many respected and widely adored projects, some examples being The Notebook, The Vow, About Time, and the Doctor Strange film series. She has also been nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the 2015 movie, Spotlight. Despite these works and achievements, her most iconic character to this date has to be that of Regina George in the cult classic film, Mean Girls.
It is difficult to put into words just how significant this film is in pop culture and how impactful the character of Regina was. Not only did she speak some of the most iconic lines to this date, but she also started a completely new demographic of characters that can be seen in cinema to this day. Having seen this first hand, many fans will be surprised to find out that this role was initially given to Lindsay Lohan, who plays the central character in the film, however, the actress ended up passing this role.
Lindsay Lohan Was Going To Play Regina George
Lindsay Lohan’s character in Mean Girls is quite interesting when put up against that of Rachel McAdams’s Regina George. While at first glance, they look polar opposites, when one looks deeper into their characteristics and personalities, one starts to realize that they might not be that different after all. Many, who are passionate about this film, know Lohan’s character is the true antagonist of the film, which is something that is seen as she gets more comfortable in her new, extroverted life. With this, it is quite ironic to find out that Lohan was initially cast in the role of Regina.
The reason for her rejecting this role is even more interesting and sardonic is the fact that the actress ended up walking away from this role and felt more drawn towards that of Cady Heron. It was revealed that the reason why Lohan did not want to play the role of the mean girl Regina was that she wanted to play a traditional, ‘nice girl’. While this is extremely ironic, her reason for this was because she did not want the public to base her real personality and the type of person she is, based on actions and things, said by Regina George.
Rachel McAdams Managed To Steal The Spotlight
After Lindsay Lohan rejected this role, it ended up going to Rachel McAdams, who, in the opinion of many, was the best choice for this role. While there may be many aspects that can be credited to why she was chosen to play this role, for example, how spectate she was as an actress or her past experiences and works, it was quite an odd choice of the time. This was specifically because she was known for playing morally good characters, and just generally having a reputation for being a nice person.
It seemed, however, that none of this mattered to the producer of the film, Mark Waters. According to IMDb, it was revealed by him that one of the biggest reasons why he chose McAdams to play the role of Regina George was because of an ideology that he believed in. This ideology in question was that he thought that only nice people are capable of portraying, truly mean characters. He was quoted,
“only nice girls can play mean girls,”
This, obviously was a right choice, as despite her technically being the main antagonist of the movie, her character was one of the most memorable aspects of it, and will live on, having her special place in popular culture.
